Eric James's Blog (69)

Hank Williams at age 13, courtesy of Jason Wilburn, Sure Fire Music, Co.

Frank James’ pocket watch says, it’s time to go up for bid.

Frank’s watch, his letters, photo albums, and assorted memorabilia from the collection of the late Wilbur Zink will be auctioned on June 22, 2013.…

How can you tell a blood relative of Jesse James? Just look at the ears.

Every few weeks I receive photographic images that are claimed to be of Jesse James, or Frank James, or of the two together. More often, they are pictures of some claimed relative to the James. Most every image can be promptly dismissed. But sometimes, when the physical resemblance appears close, the first thing I look at are the ears. …

I awoke this morning to the news my good friend Jack Koblas finally succumbed to his three year battle with Parkinsons. Jack did not go without a fight.

Most people who know Jack’s books about Jesse James didn’t know he was a prodigious author outside the JJ genre. In the past year, Jack published a book of poetry. Our joke was, he was gathering together all the lovely women he had wooed with his poems, hoping that if his time came one might write a final poem for him.

As…

For 40 years, my cousins & former neighbors Robert & Mary Stith Hamlin threw an annual New Years bash. Robert is a descendant of the Samuels family of Dr. Reuben Samuels who married Frank & Jesse James' widow mother Zerelda. And, yes, they are funeral directors. A couple of years ago they threw in the towel. But this video carries on. From all of us to all of you, Happy New Year.…

OK, whose going to write a book about the apocalypses of the Old West? 'Cause today's apocalypse is a dud.

Where's the doom? Instead, there's snow on the ground & Christmas is coming. There's little food in the house & I'll have to go shopping. And I've got a bazillion batteries for sale, because I was planning to.light the way! 

Somehow, I guess, the apocalypse has been put on hold. Probably, because of…

I'm all set to give a talk and sign books this Saturday in Midway, Kentucky, birthplace of Frank & Jesse James' mother, Zerelda Cole.



The local paper, the Woodford Sun, reports I'll be in these parts. They also point out that the James brothers and Quantrill used to steal horses from the horse farms around here...as if I might be coming around to do the same.

I do have a real problem though. My host, Bill Penn of the Historic Midway Museum Store, tells me the…

This year I'm particularly grateful to all among the family of Frank & Jesse James who worked with me and made contributions toward bringing my history of the Jesse James family to publication.

Yesterday, the day before Thanksgiving, I received an email from one of them who had just received her copy of the book. She expressed regret that Thanksgiving would prevent her from jumping right into the book, and that reading the book would have to wait until after Thanksgiving…

I'll be waiting for you tomorrow at the Kentucky Book Fair at the Convention Center in Frankfort, Ky. I'll be signing Jesse James Soul Liberty Vol. I there from 9-4:30. This will be a good time to start your collection of all five…

Jesse James' great grandson, the late Judge James R. Ross (1926-2007), sentenced me to 10 years of hard labor. "Why don't you write about the James family? Everyone writes about Frank & Jesse. No one ever writes about our family."

The problem was... Behind the James family's wall of…

Last weekend here in Danville, Ky. at a wedding reception for Sarah Hamlin-Kuchenbrod, a cousin from…

Sign me up for a front row seat.

Publication of my book is coming down to the wire. Have a peek, if you…

You know who they are. A friend of mine sent me this pic of paintings by Michael Downs…

Better than Webster's…

Remember when Ted Turner bought MGM Studios and started colorizing all those classic old black & white movies of the ‘20s & ‘30s?

Today comes artist M.A. Ludwig to show us what Jesse James & Billy the Kid would look in color. Not only can we see a color depiction, we also can get a better view of their dress. Too bad Bill Koch spent his $2.3 Million for the Billy the Kid tintype. For a lot less, he could see what his tintype shows in its original condition.

Check…

Everyday here at the James Preservation Trust requests come in for factual information. The fake & faker stuff gets blown out fairly easily. Queries about the partisan or outlaw careers of F & JJ get referred to published authorities or directed to authoritative resources. We handle most of the stuff related to the James family itself.

Today, however, produced the most unusual request ever to come in. The question came from Germany. The questioner asked is, " what his [Jesse…

Yeah, and you might end up shooting yourself in the back. Great article.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/22/fire-gun-in-space-what-would-happen_n_1293926.html

OK, who will be the first author to write a Western space novel? I can see one now...Jesse James in Space.

Move over Wyatt Earp. About two galaxies.

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MEMO: Establish a division to authenticate tattoos.

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In the Wild West a fool was born everyday. Nothing has changed.

This fool thought he was getting a tattoo of Doc Holliday. The tattoo he got is of John Escapule.…

Received this little greeting among my email today.