Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/J. Frank Dalton


 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was   keep. \ Backslash Forwardslash / (talk) 22:11, 23 August 2009 (UTC)

J. Frank Dalton

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This article is about someone who, from 1948 to his death in 1951, fraudulently claimed to be Jesse James. It has been repeatedly filled with overlong nonsense, most of it unsourced or poorly sourced. Per WP:ONEEVENT, there is really no reason for a separate bio. I have put one short, sourced paragraph on this person in the main Jesse James article, which is about all the weight it deserves. This article should have its history deleted and then a protected redirect to Jesse James should be created at this title. *** Crotalus *** 16:59, 10 August 2009 (UTC) 'Keep - There is a huge controversy now raging in various historical, genealogical and treasure-hunting circles whether or not J. Frank Dalton was really the outlaw Jesse Woodson James. In REALITY, very little about this issue has ever been DEFINITIVELY PROVEN one way or the other. Evidence exists that J. Frank Dalton was recognized or known as Jesse Woodson James by certain people as early as the late 1880s, and that Dalton had been recognized as Jesse Woodson James by various people THROUGHOUT the whole time period extending from the late 1880s-1951. Therefore, strictly speaking, it simply isn't true that Dalton was reputed to be Jesse Woodson James beginning in 1947/1948. It was on May 19, 1948 ( on the front page of the "Lawton Constitution" newspaper ) that an affidavit was made public that Dalton had written on April 24, 1948, stating that he was in fact the famous outlaw Jesse Woodson James. This newspaper article was the first the general public became aware that Dalton might be Jesse Woodson James, but there were several people ( who could be cited ) extending all the way back to the 1880s who were well aware of this possibility. Much of the controversy currently surrounding this issue is based on the provocative research findings of 3 men: (1) Henry J. Walker ( 1908-1970 ), who studied the life of Dalton for about 13-14 years and published his findings in a book titled "Jesse James THE OUTLAW" ( 1961 ); (2) Rudy Turilli ( 1919-1972 ), who scoured the U. S. for about 18 years for facts about Dalton, and then published his findings in a booklet titled "I Knew Jesse James" ( 1966 ) (3) Orvus Lee Howk ( 1905-1984 ), whose in-depth 35-year research into the life of Dalton resulted in two books on the subject, namely, "Jesse James and the Lost Cause" ( 1961 )( written under the pseudonym Jesse L. James ), and "Jesse James Was One of His Names" ( 1975 ) by Del Schrader and Jesse James III ( = Howk ). Additionally ( and very importantly ), many of the results of the PRESUMED exhumation of Jesse Woodson James at Mt. Olivet Cemetery ( Clay County, Missouri ) in 1995 are questionable and widely disputed, and the implications of the failure to exhume J. Frank Dalton at Granbury, Texas in 2000 have kept the debates surrounding Dalton at a high level of engagement among people who are concerned with these historical mysteries and issues. Unfortunately, many people who are NOT well-informed on these subjects appear to be of the opinion that within the last 14-15 years it has finally been IRREFUTABLY PROVEN that J. Frank Dalton was nothing more than a Jesse James imposter, but, IN REALITY, to date no such IRREFUTABLE PROOF has ever been produced by anyone. This Wikipedia article is an attempt to gather together in one place some of the better-known information on J. Frank Dalton, in order to help stimulate objective research into his life. In my opinion this is an important and interesting topic which definitely deserves its own article. I disagree that the article as written contains a lot of nonsense, rather it is simply an account of many of the odd facts, events and topics involved in J. Frank Dalton's life. Some of these events and topics may appear to some readers to have the character of nonsense, but anyone who actually takes the time to research Dalton's life will find these events and topics to be very real indeed ( although quite unusual ). The subject of Dalton's life is definitely a difficult and convoluted topic which cannot be satisfactorily treated in a brief or summary manner. ( This opinion was written on Aug. 21, 2009 )  Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, JForget  22:00, 16 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Keep As the Gbooks hits show, he was a notable imposter. An article containing unsourced or poorly sourced parts in not a reason for deletion, it is a reason for improvement. Edward321 (talk) 00:11, 11 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Keep Agree with everything said above Fleerz (talk) 23:52, 16 August 2009 (UTC)
 *  Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion so consensus may be reached.
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.