jQuery .click() not working

use .on()

As your span is added dynamically so it is not present at the time DOM ready or page load.

So you have to use Event Delegation

Syntax

$( elements ).on( events, selector, data, handler );

like this

$(document).on('click','.delete_button',function(){
    // code here
});

or

$('parentElementPresesntAtDOMready').on('click','.delete_button',function(){
   // code here
});

your code becomes

$(document).ready(function () {
    $(document).on('click', '.delete_button', function () {
        var transaction_id = $(this).attr('id').replace('delete_', '');
        alert("Delete transaction #" + transaction_id);
        return false;
    });
});