ALL THOSE IMPOSTORS

One thing Jesse James and Billy the Kid had in common was a host of impostors.

James’ son, Jesse Edward, said he knew of 26 such men masquerading as his father. One well-known impostor was John James, who in January 1932 took a speaking engagement at the Royal Hotel in Excelsior Springs, Mo., claiming to be James. He insisted the Ford brothers had actually killed a man named Charlie Bigelow and passed him off as Jesse. Many people believed the speaker’s claims, until Jesse Edward James’ wife Stella arrived in town with a pair of her late father-in-law’s size 6½ boots, along with Frank Milburn, the cobbler