J. Frank Dalton - The Granbury Cemetery Exhumation (May 30, 2000)

The Granbury Cemetery Exhumation (May 30, 2000)

Bud Hardcastle - an amateur historian and used car salesman from Purcell, Oklahoma, and a long-time researcher of the Jesse James/J. Frank Dalton mystery - is one of those who (for several reasons) has been unwilling to accept the conclusions of the Starrs exhumation team. In the mid-1990s, Hardcastle joined forces with three sons of Jesse Cole James. These brothers - Jessie Quanah James, Sr., Burleigh Dale James, and Charles A. James - all believed that Dalton was their grandfather, and that Dalton really was the famous outlaw Jesse James. J. Frank Dalton was buried in the Granbury Cemetery at Granbury, Hood County, Texas. Hardcastle and the three James brothers decided to request an exhumation order from the Hood County (Texas) Court, so they could have Dalton's remains exhumed and DNA-tested in an attempt to determine - once and for all - if Dalton really was Jesse James.

Attorneys for Hardcastle and his associates filed a request for an exhumation order with the Hood County Clerk's Office on June 14, 1996. At the exhumation hearing held in September 1996, Hood County judge Don Cleveland denied their request, ruling that the attorneys had not provided him with any compelling evidence as to why he should approve the request. On July 20, 1999, Hardcastle's attorney Steven J. Reid filed a second request for an exhumation order with the Hood County Clerk's Office. It appears that after filing the second request on July 20, 1999, attorney Reid filed at least one "Amended Application for Exhumation." These "amended applications" contained detailed genealogical and historical information which Hardcastle and his associates considered to be the "compelling evidence" which Judge Cleveland had stated was lacking at the time of the first exhumation hearing in September 1996. Hood County judge Linda Steen approved this request at an exhumation hearing held on February 17, 2000.

The exhumation of J. Frank Dalton's remains at Granbury Cemetery was conducted on May 30, 2000, but unfortunately the wrong remains - the remains of William Henry Holland (1882-1927) - were exhumed. Consequently, most researchers believe that J. Frank Dalton's remains have yet to be exhumed and DNA-tested, but rumors have been circulating in the treasure-hunting and conspiracy communities that Dalton's remains were secretly exhumed - shortly after the failed public exhumation - and that DNA-testing of the remains has been completed. If this is indeed the case, the test results of Dalton's DNA analysis have never been revealed to the public.