James Campbell Besley (12 November 1879 – 6 February 1954) also known as "Handsome Jim" Besley, "Captain James Campbell Besley", "Captain Jim", "Captain Besley", "Colonel Besley" was an Australian explorer, amateur anthropologist, film producer, mine owner, polo player, rancher and entrepreneur who traveled the world.
Besley was also a prodigious charlatan, spinning fanciful stories regarding his birth, upbringing and career. Besley manipulated the media for decades, lying to them during their efforts to report his exploits.
Biography James Campbell Besley was born in Mt. Gambier, South Australia, the fourth of Mary Ann (née Harvey) and Bryan Charles Besley's eight children.
Traveling to America in 1898, three years later Besley embezzled $7,600 () by forging and cashing checks drawn on the US Army Signal Corps office account in St. Michael, Alaska. An international manhunt for Besley took over two years, ending when he was found 300 miles north of Pretoria, South Africa. Besley was returned to Alaska, stood trial and was acquitted by a sympathetic jury.
In 1913, during an expedition to find the source of the Amazon River, Besley's adventure was filmed by director Franklin B. Coates. The film was named The Captain Besley Expedition. A substantial portion of the expedition film footage was discovered stolen after the expedition returned to New York city. Returning a year later, another film, In the Amazon Jungles with the Captain Besley Expedition was produced.
Successful as a broker of silver mines in Alaska and Mexico, a champion polo player, he later owned a riding academy in Phoenix, Arizona. Besley died in St. Kilda, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Prodigious charlatan Many believe Besley's multiple (and often contradictory) "histories". The facts prove he continually misled many, including the press about basic aspects of his birth, upbringing, education, work and avocation. He spent decades manipulating the media to mislead the world about his life history, abilities, exploits and awards.
Fictitious biographical claims
Besley's self-described, wildly contradictory "personal histories" were dutifully retold by an eager press. They grew longer and more elaborate over the course of his life. Over the years, many have been fooled due to an elaborate, false "biography" of Besley's life compiled in the Press Reference Library's 1913 edition of "Western Edition Notables of the West, Vol. I".
Fictitious personal histories Besley claimed he had been born in London, England, traveled the world with his father from the age of seven and had served in the British Army. He claimed his father was "Inspector General of Forces in Australia and other British provinces" and an extensive landowner.
James Campbell Besley was actually born in Australia, never served in the British Army and never held any military rank (including the ranks of Captain, Lieutenant Colonel and Colonel).
Besley's father, Bryan Charles Besley was born in Oxfordshire, England in 1836 and moved with his mother and siblings to Australia in 1851. The elder Besley joined the police force, eventually becoming police Inspector-In-Charge of the largest district in Australia and also held the post of Sub-Protector of Aborigines.
Besley claimed he returned to England for college and entered Eton in 1889 to prepare for Oxford. He claimed he received a degree from Eton in 1893 and immediately entered Oxford, but did not finish, having left at the end of two years to take up the study of mining and metallurgy. There are no records of a "James Campbell Besley" attending Eton or Oxford.
In 1890, Besley actually served as Honorable Secretary at the Port Augusta and Flinders Jockey Club in Port Augusta, Adelaide. Besley left the Jockey Club in 1891 to join his brother Brian Charles Besley's business, B. C. Besley and Co., of Broken Hill as a stock and station agent.
Besley had been arrested twice in the Yukon Territories in 1903 for embezzlement, fraud and financial malfeasance. In 1908, Besley later gave an interview claiming he had "come to New York after spending the past eight years in Mexico" and further claiming during that time he had been "one of the mining engineers for the late Cecil Rhodes, the former Prime Minister of the Cape Colony". There are no contemporary records of Besley working for Prime Minister Rhodes. Besley was a proven resident of the Yukon Territories during the claimed time frame, from 1899 to 1903.
In 1909, Besley claimed "he was born in Australia of Kentucky parents and counts himself an American by descent". In the newspaper article, Besley commented on former President Teddy Roosevelt's trip to Nairobi, British East Africa. Besley said the public "need not fear or tremble for his (Roosevelt's) safety so far as the wild beasts are concerned". Besley said he had "been all over that section" killing "many lions and other beasts".
In February 1912, a newspaper described Besley as being "the most noble Roman of them all".
In June 1912 Besley claimed in an interview with the San Francisco Examiner he had wounded Mexican "General" José Gil in a duel at Navojoa, Sonora, Mexico and that Gil would soon die from lead poisoning due to the bullets Besley had fired into Gil's body. Six months later, the San Francisco Examiner reported "the General was killed by Besley" during the duel. There are no contemporaneous records of Besley's claimed duel. Instead, José Goycolea Gil lived and served as President of Navojoa, Mexico in 1925.
In 1948, Besley said he had been "born on an immense British Government land grant near Adelaide in the southern part of Australia". He claimed he had come "to the United States around 1900, passed through Arizona and went on to Old Mexico, where he purchased several ranches, including the San Carlos outfit".
Fictitious Australian gold rush history Besley claimed he had joined the rush to the gold fields of Kalgoorlie and Coolgardie in Western Australia and had been successful in finding gold. In 1894, Besley had instead applied for an Australian mining homestead lease on 4,154 acres of potential mining land and was refused. He lost two subsequent appeals for the mining lease. His brother B. C. Besley managed the Conrad Stannite Mines, Ltd., located at Borah Creek, New South Wales, Australia and founded the Broken Hill Polo Club in Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia. B. C. Besley's horse "Fly" won the club's first Cup match.
Fictitious military service histories Besley often falsely referred to himself as "Captain" Besley and "Colonel" Besley. He neither earned nor held an actual military rank, nor did he serve in any military capacity.
Besley claimed he served in the second Boer War, having been personally commissioned by Lord Kitchener to organize the "Boer Scouts" while he was surveying South Africa while serving as "private secretary" to Prime Minister Rhodes. Besley also claimed he was commissioned a Major during that war, and was placed at the head of the Carabiniers. He said when the Boer War ended in 1902, he voluntarily discarded the title of "Major". There are no records of a "James Campbell Besley" serving in the Boer War.
In a February 1913 news article, Besley's wife reported his claims of Captaincy and of serving in the Boer War were false. She said "from the time they met in 1898 till their marriage he was either in Alaska or California as she was corresponding with him all that time". These facts have been ignored by the press and researchers for decades as they continue to report Besley's purported exploits.
A September 1913 newspaper article said Besley "was one of the Irregular Horse (the South African Mounted Irregular Force militia)... before the siege of Mafeking" and further claimed Besley had served with Kitchener's Scouts, the Imperial Light Horse (Regiment) and had "seen service" in Borneo and Australia.
In 1914, Besley said in an interview "though he is a Britisher and has seen service under the British fiag, he is not an officer in the regular army". He said he instead held "a Captain's commission in the Rhodesia Light Horse, in which corps he fought during the Boer War". There are no records of a "James Campbell Besley" serving in the Rhodesian army.
In 1919, Besley claimed to be a Lieutenant Colonel "from London, England". It was reported "When England entered the Great War, Colonel Besley, then a captain, joined the English colors. He soon was in the middle of things, got wounded, promoted and honorably discharged".
In 1924, "Captain" Besley visited a Brisbane, Australia newspaper claiming he was a veteran Captain of the 7th Infantry Battalion of the British Columbia Regiment of the Canadian Army. He said he and his traveling partner were attempting an around the world bicycle tour, both hoping to win a £1,000 prize. There are no records of a "James Campbell Besley" serving in the Canadian army. During the interview, Besley claimed he had been born at Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, South Africa.
By the 1930s, Besley was often referring to himself as "Colonel" J. Campbell Besley.
In 1938 it was reported that "Colonel" Besley was "a retired British Army officer and a veteran polo player" who had played polo "many years in India while on duty there with the British Army".
Arrival in America Besley is first mentioned in the US press as staying at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, California on 9 April 1898. Besley listed his address as "City".
Alaskan embezzlement, forgeries, arrests and trial Embezzlement and arrest Besley's brother Brian Charles Besley invested in the North British American Trading and Transportation Company, founded by Pat Galvin, a former Helena, Montana Chief of Police and one of the first millionaires in the Klondike gold rush. Capitalized at $3,500,000 (), the company was organized to provide transportation and trade to the Alaskan gold rush and enjoyed virtually unlimited credit on the Bank of England. Besley was hired by the company as accountant and traffic manager. A local newspaper named Besley one of Galvin's "false friends" who had caused Galvin "considerable losses".
In 1899 it was reported Besley had spent $40,000 () of Galvin's money in Dawson City, Yukon, Alaska Territory providing food for a woman named "Lucille". Later, Galvin had to settle a claim made by Dawson Café Royal restaurant owner Jack Timmons for Besley's having ordered $1,435.00 () for "female friends".
Galvin's North British American Trading and Transportation Co. went bankrupt and was succeeded by the Trading & Exploration Co., chartered in London, England in 1899.
The Trading & Exploration Co. invested power of attorney in William White and sent him from London to investigate the company's finances in Dawson City. White reported "I called on the general manager, James Besley, and arranged to discuss business matters with him next day. I found him settled over the warehouse with his living quarters there, a Chinese cook and a very comfortable apartment... That evening I dined with Besley and we had a talk about the company's affairs, covering the mining and commercial business, over all of which he appeared to have had control. The following day we got down to serious work, and it wasn't long before I ascertained that it was impossible to make much headway, as the books, vouchers, etc., had all been destroyed by fire, said to have been of 'an accidental nature'. He (Besley) had a set of books showing only transactions since the date of the fire. I remarked that there was no sign of fire in the office and wondered how the books could have been burned, but he could throw no light on it. After further investigation I came to the conclusion that Besley himself had made away with the books, etc., in order to cover up evidence of his guilt as the one who had destroyed the company's property and robbed it of its assets... I was obliged next day to have a warrant issued for his arrest on a charge of embezzlement".