I believe that was the same story included in Ron Hansen <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Hansen_(novelist)>'s historical novel, *The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Assassination_of_Jesse_James_by_the_Coward_Robert_Ford_(novel)>* (1983). Thanks! Jon On Sun, Mar 26, 2017 at 3:26 PM, Barbara Schmidt <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > The only anecdote I have seen is one reported by Opie Read in his book > _Mark Twain and I_ (1940) -- and unsubstantiated. Read states Twain told a > group of men that he met James in a "small town store" in Missouri and > James told Twain "Guess you and I are 'bout the greatest in our line" > (Read, p. 11). > > Writer Max McCoy used the report of this meeting to write a novel of > alternative history with James proceeding to tell his life story to Twain. > McCoy's book is titled _Jesse: A Novel of the Outlaw Jesse James_ (1999) > and rereleased in 2016. > > Barb >