WILL THE REAL JESSE JAMES STAND UP AND SHOOT THE BEAR? - Bob Hightower, Sr. was, in the purest sense of the word, a promoter. In February of 1920, Hightower painted bear paw prints on the sidewalk leading into the Crystal Theater. A policeman followed the tracks into the theater "loaded for bear." The less than amused policeman had the last laugh when he fined Hightower $25.00 for defacing the sidewalk.
This time he outdid himself. Hightower, manager of the Ritz and Rose Theaters, was bringing in a true legend to the Dublin theaters on March 26, 1938. Hightower expected so much interest in the show that he hired a policeman and fireman to handle the crowds. The star of the traveling show claimed that he was the real Jesse James. He claimed that he and his cousin, Bob Ford, changed his clothes with those of Charles Bigelow, a bandit. It was Bigelow who was shot. The purported James claimed to have attended his own funeral disguised as a preacher and serving as his own pallbearer. The man even claimed that he helped in digging his own grave out in front of his mother's window. The man was also known as John James, who was sentenced to jail for manslaughter in Illinois in 1926. James failed to report to his parole officer and was arrested nearly five months later in Charleston, West Virginia. DCH, 2/13/20; 3/24,25/& 7/2, 1938.
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