The Story of the Dalton Gang
The
story of the famous, or infamous Dalton Gang of the 1890's is not only history,
but since their last name is Dalton, I have searched the internet, libraries
and books to find all I could about these Dalton's and put it together in one
place. There have been thousands of books wrote about the Dalton Gang and we
all have read their story.
When
all Dalton boys were little, they played outlaws and natchlity they all were one
of the Dalton Gang. We grew up thinking we were related this Dalton Gang, but
the smart ones searched out the truth, and found out we weren't.
There
are a lot of different versions of the lives of the Dalton Gang in this article,
and this is what make's it so fascinating to read. There are a few photos also.
Of note there are lots of repeated stories here.
Researched, complied, formatted, indexed, wrote,
copied, copy-written,
and filed in the mind of Rodney G. Dalton in the
comfort of his easy chair in
Farr West, Utah in the United States of America in the
Twenty First-Century A.D.
Rodney G. Dalton This article was updated 3 February, 2014
The Start: Generations earlier, James Lewis Dalton's
(D'Alton) forbears had left France for Ireland. Their descendants ultimately
came to Kentucky from Virginia. James Lewis Dalton served an even 365
days under General Zachary Taylor as a fifer for Company I, Second Regiment of
Kentucky Foot Volunteers during the Mexican War. Lewis Dalton came west from
Kentucky to Missouri during the late 1840s. By 1850 Lewis Dalton was trading
horses and running a small saloon at Westport (now Kansas City). Lewis and
Adeline Younger Dalton had 15 children. The Daltons moved to Coffeyville,
Kansas in 1886 and lived there for a short time. Coffeyville, Kansas became the
hometown of "the Dalton boys." They went on train robberies and gun
battles throughout the West. The Dalton brothers, there
were ten of them, will always be remembered for the misdeeds of the four bad
ones, Grat, Bob, Emmett, and Bill. They rode across the Cherokee Strip a Century ago and pro vided a
never-ending source of stories for the news papers of the day, while most of
the Dalton family led honest and sedentary lives in the King fisher area. The
three brothers were credited with shootings and robberies from one end of the
country to the other. The rumor that the Daltons
might be headed for a particular town struck terror in the hearts of its
business men. Those who claimed to know said one good reason why the Daltons
were the way they were was be cause of their bad blood. Adeline Younger Dalton,
mother of the clan, was the aunt of another family of out laws, the YoungerÕs.
Her nephews, Cole, Bob, and Jim, rode the out law trail in the fashion of some
more of their relatives, Frank and Jesse James. The Dalton boys were the sons
of James Lewis and Adeline Younger Dalton, who had brought them out of Missouri
at the start of the Civil War and settled the family on a farm near
Coffeyville, Kansas, just north of the Indian Territory. It was a wild and law
less frontier town where the young boys grew up on the tales of their out law
relatives. When the new Oklahoma
Territory was opened in 1889, the Dalton family joined the land rush and the
father and older sons obtained claims near King fisher, Oklahoma. The claim that James and
Adeline Dalton chose was the SW ¼ of sec. 11, in town ship 17, north of
Range 8, west of the Indian Meridan in Oklahoma. This claim contained 160
acres, all bottom land, 6 miles north east of the town of King fisher,
Oklahoma. Times were hard in the new raw land. James Lewis Dalton, father of
the clan, re turned to Kansas to work in Coffeyville while Mrs. Dalton remained
on the claim with the children to prove it up. James Lewis Dalton died in
1890, leaving the family on their own. He was buried at the Robbins Cemetery in Dearing,
Kansas, near Coffeyville. Four of the sons served as
deputy marshals from time to time while the fifth moved to Montana and
eventually to California. Bill Dalton served with the State of California two
terms. Charles, Ben and Littleton Dalton took claims near King fisher. Henry
Coleman Dalton participated in the Cherokee Strip land rush and took a claim
near Enid, Oklahoma. One son, Frank Dalton, was a Deputy US
Marshal who was killed in the line of duty in 1887. Frank had been the most
stable of the brothers, well grounded and mature, and by all accounts Frank
kept his brothers in line. They respected him, and had at times rode with him
in posses. When killed, Frank had been tracking a horse thief in the Oklahoma
Territory. When he located the suspect on November 27, 1887, he confronted him
and a shootout erupted, resulting in Dalton being killed, two outlaws being
killed, and his deputy being wounded. One week later, on December 3, 1887, the
suspect was tracked by other lawmen, and another shootout erupted. In that
second shootout, Deputy U.S. Marshal Ed Stokley shot and killed the suspect,
but Stokley was also killed during the gunfight. Sam Wingo was a US Marshal who
ran with the gang robbing after he shot the wrong man in Arkansas, and escaped
custody in a subsequent shoot out with deputies. Perhaps hoping to avenge their brother's death, the three
younger Dalton boys—Gratton "Grat" Dalton (b. 1861), Bob Dalton
(b. 1869), and Emmett Dalton (b. 1871)—became lawmen. But in 1890, the
boys moved to the other side of the law. The children of James Lewis Dalton; b. 16
Feb. 1826, Kentucky, d. 16 July, 1890, married, 12 March 1851, Jackson, Co.,
MO. Died Kingfisher, O.T. and
Adeline Lee Younger; b. 15 Sep. 1835, Jackson, Co., MO; d. 24 Jan. 1925,
Kingfisher, OK. 1- Charles Benjamin "Ben"
Dalton - 1853 - 1936 2- Henry Coleman "Cole" Dalton
- 26 Nov. 1853 - 27 Feb. 1920 3- Louis Kossuth Dalton - 1855 - 1862 See
http://mykindred.com/cloud/TX/Documents/BeaElizabethDaltonHoax/sourcetime.php for an explanation of this often-quoted hoax. 5- Littleton Lee "Lit" Dalton -
2 Oct. 1857 - 2 Jan. 1942 6- Franklin "Frank" Dalton -
1859 - Nov. 27, 1887, Deputy U.S. Marshal killed in the line of duty. 7- Gratton Hanley "Grat" Dalton
- 30 Mar 1861 - 5 Oct 1892 8- William Marion "Bill" Dalton
- 1865 - 1894 9- Eva Dalton - 25 Jan 1867 - 28 Jan
1939, married John Whipple 10- Robert Rennick "Bob" Dalton
- 13 May 1869 - 5 Oct 1892 11- Emmet Dalton - 3 May 1871 12- Leona Randolph Dalton - 17 July 1875
- 18 April 1964 , never married 13- Nancy "Nannie" Dalton
Clute, March 1876 - 1902 14- Simon Noel "Sam" Dalton - 6
July 1879 - 13 Sept 1928 - twin 15- Hannah Adeline Dalton - 6 July 1879
- twin The Dalton Gang's Last Raid, 1892 The bodies of the dead gunmen
were first simply dumped in a heap in the town jail. The next morning, they
were placed on a hay wagon and photographed. There are many different versions,
with the bodies in different positions. The inset photo shows Emmett Dalton,
who was seriously wounded, but survived to serve a 14-year jail sentence. The most famous picture of the Gang Around 9:30 the morning of
October 5, 1892 five members of the Dalton Gang (Grat Dalton, Emmett Dalton,
Bob Dalton, Bill Power and Dick Broadwell) rode into the small town of Coffeyville,
Kansas. Their objective was to achieve financial security and make outlaw
history by simultaneously of Bob & Grat Dalton robbing two banks. From the
beginning, their audacious plan went astray. The hitching post where they
intended to tie their horses had been torn down due to road repairs. This
forced the gang to hitch their horses in a near-by alley - a fateful decision. To disguise their identity,
(Coffeyville was the Dalton's hometown) two of the Daltons wore false beards
and wigs. Despite this, the gang was recognized as they crossed the town's wide
plaza, split up and entered the two banks. Suspicious townspeople watched
through the banks' wide front windows as the robbers pulled their guns. Someone
on the street shouted, "The bank is being robbed!" and the citizens
quickly armed themselves - taking up firing positions around the banks. The ensuing firefight lasted
less than fifteen minutes. A brief moment in time in which four townspeople
lost their lives, four members of the Dalton Gang were gunned down and a small
Kansas town became part of history. David Elliott was editor of
the local newspaper and published a detailed account soon after the gun battle.
We pick up his story as the desperadoes dismount and head towards their
targets: "...After crossing the
pavement the men quickened their pace, and the three in the front file went
into C.M. Condon & Co.'s bank at the southwest door, while the two in the
rear ran directly across the street to the First National Bank and entered the
front door of that institution. The gentleman [the observer] was almost
transfixed with horror. He had an uninterrupted view of the inside of Condon
and Co.'s bank, and the first thing that greeted his vision was a Winchester in
the hands of one of the men, pointed towards the cashier's counter in the bank.
He quickly recovered his lost wits, and realizing the truth of the situation,
he called out to the men in the store that 'The bank is being robbed!' Persons
at different points on the Plaza heard the cry and it was taken up and quickly
passed around the square. At the same time several
gentlemen saw the two men enter the First National Bank, suspecting their
motive, followed close at their heels and witnessed them 'holding up' the men
in this institution. They gave the alarm on the east side of the Plaza. A 'call
to arms' came simultaneously with the alarm and in less time than it takes to
relate the fact a dozen men with Winchesters and revolvers in their hands were
ready to resist the escape of the unwelcome visitors." As the townspeople arm
themselves, the desperados enter the two banks - Bill Powers, Dick Broadwell
and Grat Dalton the C.M. Condon bank, Bob and Emmett Dalton the First National.
Inside the Condon Bank, three employees are forced at gunpoint to fill a sack
with money. One brave teller declares to the robbers that the vault has a time
lock and can't be opened for another 10 minutes (this was untrue.) The robbers
decide to wait, however their plan is interrupted as the townspeople open fire: The C.M. Condon
Bank"...Just at this critical juncture the citizens opened fire from the
outside [of the Condon Bank] and the shots from their Winchesters and shot-guns
pierced the plate-glass windows and rattled around the bank. Bill Powers and
Dick Broadwell replied from the inside, and each fired from four to six shots
at citizens on the outside. The battle then began in earnest. Evidently
recognizing that the fight was on, Grat Dalton asked whether there was a back
door through which they could get to the street. He was told that there was
none. He then ordered Mr. Ball and Mr. Carpenter [two bank employees] to carry
the sack of money to the front door. Reaching the hall on the outside of the
counter, the firing of the citizens through the windows became so terrific and
the bullets whistled so close around their heads that the robbers and both
bankers retreated to the back room again. Just then one at the southwest door
was heard to exclaim: ' I am shot; I can't use my arm; it is no use, I can't
shoot any more.' " A similar scene played out at
the First National where Bob and Emmett Dalton forced the bank's employees to
fill their sack with money. Using the employees as shields, the robbers
attempted to escape the bank, only to be driven back inside by heavy gunfire: "...He [Bob Dalton] then
ordered the three bankers to walk out from behind the counter in front of him,
and they put the whole party out at the front door. Before they reached the
door, Emmett called to Bob to 'Look out there at the left.' Just as the bankers
and their customers had reached the pavement, and as Bob and Emmett appeared at
the door, two shots were fired at them from the doorway of the drug storeÉ
Neither one of them was hit. They were driven back into the bankÉ Bob stepped
to the door a second time, and raising his Winchester to his shoulder, took
deliberate aim and fired in a southerly direction. Emmett held his Winchester
under his arm while he tied a string around the mouth of the sack containing
the money. They then ordered the young men to open the back door and let them
out. Mr. Shepard complied and went with them to the rear of the building, when
they passed out into the alley. It was then that the bloody work of the dread
desperadoes began." Many of the townspeople
gathered in Isham's Hardware Store near the banks. Not only did the unarmed
citizens get rifles, shotguns, and ammunition, but the store also provided an
excellent view of the two banks and the alley where the gang had tied their
horses: "...The moment that Grat
Dalton and his companions, Dick Broadwell and Bill Power, left the bank [the
C.M. Condon Bank] that they had just looted, they came under the guns of the
men in Isham's store. Grat Dalton and Bill Powers each received mortal wounds
before they had retreated twenty steps. The dust was seen to fly from their
clothes, and Powers in his desperation attempted to take refuge in the rear
doorway of an adjoining store, but the door was locked and no one answered his
request to be let in. He kept his feet and clung to his Winchester until he
reached his horse, when another ball struck him in the back and he fell dead at
the feet of the animal that had carried him on his errand of robbery. Grat Dalton, getting under
cover of the oil tank, managed to reach the side of a barn that stands on the
south side of the alley... [At this point, Marshal Connelly ran across a vacant
lot into "Death Alley" from the south to the spot where the bandits
had tied their horses.] The marshal sprang into the alley with his face towards
the point where the horses were hitched. This movement brought him with his
back to the murderous Dalton, who was seen to raise his Winchester to his side
and without taking aim fire a shot into the back of the brave officer. Marshal
Connelly fell forward on his face within twenty feet of where his murderer
stood. The gang tied their horses at
the middle, left Dick Broadwell in the meantime had reached cover in the
Long-Bell Lumber Company's yards, where he laid down for a few moments. He was
wounded in the back. A lull occurred in the firing after Grat Dalton and Bill
Power had fallen. Broadwell took advantage of this and crawled out of his
hiding-place and mounted his horse and rode away. A ball from Kloehr's [John
Kloehr, a townsman] rifle and a load of shot from a gun in the hands of Carey
Seaman overtook him before he had ridden twenty feet. Bleeding and dying he
clung to his horse and passed out of the cityÉ His dead body was subsequently
found alongside of the road a half-mile west of the city. As Marshal Connelly fell, Bob
and Emmett Dalton - successfully escaping the First National Bank - ran down a
side alley and into 'Death Alley' from the north.] When the two Daltons reached
the junction of the alleys they discovered F.D. Benson in the act of climbing
through a rear window with a gun in his hand. Divining his object, Bob fired at
him point blank at a distance of not over thirty feet. The shot missed Mr.
Benson, but struck a window and demolished the glass. Bob then stepped into the
alley and glanced up towards the tops of the buildings as if he suspected that
the shots that were being fired at the time were coming from that direction. As
he did so, the men at Isham's took deliberate aim at him from their position in
the store and fired. The notorious leader of the Dalton gang evidently received
a severe if not fatal wound at this moment. He staggered across the alley and
sat down on a pile of dressed curbstones near the city jail. True to his
desperate nature he kept his rifle in action and fired several shots from where
he was seated. His aim was unsteady and the bullets went wildÉ He arose to his
feet and sought refuge alongside of an old barn west of the city jail, and
leaning against the southwest corner, brought his rifle into action again and fired
two shots in the direction of his pursuers. A ball from Mr. Kloehr's rifle
struck the bandit full in the breast and he fell upon his back among the stones
that covered the ground where he was standing. After shooting Marshal
Connelly, Grat Dalton made another attempt to reach his horse. He passed by his
fallen victim and had advanced probably twenty feet from where he was standing
when he fired the fatal shot. Turning his face to his pursuers, he again Grat Dalton and Dick
Broadwell attempted to use his Winchester. John Kloehr's rifle spoke in
unmistakable tones another time, and the oldest member of the band dropped with
a bullet in his throat and a broken neck. Emmett Dalton had managed to
escape unhurt up to this time. He kept under shelter after he reached the alley
until he attempted to mount his horse. A half-dozen rifles sent their contents
in the direction of his person as he undertook to get into the saddleÉ Emmett
succeeded in getting into the saddle, but not until he had received a shot through
the right arm and one through the left hip and groin. During all this time he
had clung to the sack containing the money they had taken from the First
National Bank. Instead of riding off, as he might have done, Emmett boldly rode
back to where Bob Dalton was lying, and reaching down his hand, attempted to
lift his dying brother on the horse with him. 'Its no use,' faintly whispered
the fallen bandit, and just then Carey Seamen fired the contents of both
barrels of his shot-gun into Emmett's back. He dropped from his horse, carrying
the sack containing over twenty thousand dollars with him, and both fell near
the feet of Bob, who expired a moment thereafter." Source: Eye Witnesses to
History. The Dalton Gang Members: Gratton Hanley
"Grat" Dalton was born near Lawrence, Kansas, on March 30, 1861. He
was living in California when his brother Frank, a U.S. Deputy Marshal for the
Federal Court of Fort Smith, Arkansas, was shot and killed in an ambush. Grat
returned to Indian Territory and picked up where Frank left off, becoming a
U.S. Deputy Marshal for the Muskogee Court. But he soon got a bad reputation as
a lawman, and decided to go to the other side of the law and started robbing
trains. William St. Power, alias Bill
Power, alias Tom Evans was a drifter. He met Emmett Dalton while working on a
ranch in Indian Territory. There is not much known about Bill Power other than
he drifted in to the Territories from Texas with a trail herd from the Pecos.
He was also known as Tim Evans. He is buried in CoffeyvilleÕs Elmwood Cemetery
next to the other gang members. Robert Rennick
"Bob" Dalton - 1869 to 1892 Raised on the border of
Indian Territory near Coffeyville, Kansas, the Dalton brothers originally were
on the side of the law. Oldest brother Frank Dalton (June 8, 1859 - November
27, 1887) was a U. S. Deputy Marshal for the Federal Court of Fort Smith,
Arkansas, but he was shot and killed in an ambush by the Smith-Dixon Gang. His
younger brother Grat Dalton took up where Frank left off, becoming a U.S.
Deputy Marshal for the Muskogee court. Bob Dalton was a U. S. Deputy Marshal
for the Federal Court in Wichita, Kansas, working in and out of the Osage
Nation. Youngest brother Emmett worked as a member of some of his brother's
posses. Bob Dalton is buried in the CoffeyvilleÕs Elmwood Cemetery. Emmett Dalton 1871 to 1937 It was Emmett, while working
as a cowboy on the Bar X Bar Ranch near the Pawnee Agency, who met two of the
Gang's members, Bill Doolin and William St. Power, alias Bill Power, alias Tom
Evans. Not much is know about Bill Power, other than he drifted into the Twin
Territories of Oklahoma and the Indian Nation from Texas with a trail herd from
the Pecos. Emmett also met future Gang members working on the ranches nearby.
They were Charlie Pierce, George "Bitter Creek" Newcomb, Charlie
"Black-Faced Charlie" Bryant, and Richard "Dick" Broadwell,
alias Texas Jack, alias John Moore. Emmett was sentenced to life
in the state prison at Lansing, Kansas, by Judge J.D. McCue of the Montgomery
County District Court for second degree murder. He spent 15 years in prison
before winning a parole. The remaining years of EmmettÕs life were spent on the
stage, writing a book on the family and the Raid and as a real estate dealer in
California. He died in Los Angeles on July 13, 1937. Richard ÒDickÓ Broadwell, aka: Texas
Jack, John Moore (18??-1892) - Dick Broadwell was from a prominent family near
Hutchinson, Kansas and at the opening of Oklahoma Territory he staked a claim
to a homestead in the Cowboy Flats area. There, he met and a young lady who
owned the homestead next to his and asked her to marry him. After their
marriage, she persuaded him to sell both claims and move with her to Fort
Worth, Texas, where she disappeared with their money. The embittered Broadwell
returned to the Indian Territory and started work on the ranches where he met
the members of the Dalton Gang. Soon, he was robbing banks and trains
throughout Kansas and Oklahoma. He was killed during the attempted double bank
robbery in Coffeyville, Kansas on October 5, 1892. His family claimed his body
and returned with it to Hutchison, Kansas. However, he was buried at night in
an unmarked grave. The exact location is unknown but is most likely somewhere
in the Broadwell plot in the Hutchison Cemetery. Charley Pierce (18??-1895) -
After unsuccessfully racing horses in Pawnee, Oklahoma, Pierce became a member
of the Dalton Gang during the 1890's. After most of the gang's members were
killed during the Coffeyville, Kansas raid on October 5, 1892, Pierce joined
Bill Doolin's Oklahombres. He participated in several holdups, but his final
battle occurred on May 2, 1895. After the Doolin Gang split up, Pierce and
George "Bitter Creek" Newcomb rode to the Dunn Ranch on the Cimarron
River to visit Newcomb's lover, the famous "Rose of Cimarron." George ÒBitter CreekÓ Newcomb, aka:
SlaughterÕs Kid (18??-1895) - George Newcomb, who was known as "Bitter
Creek" Newcomb, came from Fort Scott, Kansas. Starting his career as a cowboy at the age of twelve, he
worked for C. C. Slaughter on the
Long S Ranch in Texas before drifting into Indian Territory. Newcomb was a
member of both the Dalton and the Doolin Gangs, both of which robbed a number
of banks and trains. By May 1895,
he had a $5,000 reward on his head. When he and Charley Pierce stopped to see
NewcombÕs teenage girlfriend, Rose Dunn, her brothers turned them in for the
reward. Both Newcomb and Charley Pierce were shot and killed by lawmen. His
father James Newcomb claimed the body and buried George on the family farm near
Nine Mile Flats, southwest of Norman, Oklahoma, on the north bank of the
Canadian River. They also planned to collect some $900
owed to Newcomb by Rose's brothers. However, as they approached the house the
pair of outlaws were ambushed, shot out of their saddles by Rose's brothers who
wanted to collect the large county on their heads. Both bodies were then taken
to Guthrie, but Newcomb was still alive. When he sat up and begged for water,
he received another bullet for his efforts. Criminal History: March 21, 1890 -- Pawhaska,
Indian Territory -- Bob and Emmett Dalton arrested on charges of introducing
intoxicating liquor into the Osage Nation. July 1890 -- Claremore,
Indian Territory -- Bob, Grat and Emmett Dalton accused of stealing horses. Bob
and Emmett flee to California. Grat arrested, but subsequently released for
lack of evidence; he then joined his brothers in California. February 6, 1891 -- Alila,
California -- A Southern Pacific train robbed. Grat and Bill Dalton arrested
for the crime. Bob and Emmett flee to Oklahoma. May 1891 --Wharton, Oklahoma
Territory -- Five members of the Gang rob a Santa Fe train, making away with
$500. August 1891 -- Hennessy,
Oklahoma Territory -- Deputy Marshal Ed Short arrests Charley Bryant. While
taking him to Wichita, Kansas, the prisoner secures a handgun. Both men are
killed in the ensuing gunfight. September 1891 -- Lillietta,
Indian Territory -- Four members of the gang rob a Missouri Kansas & Texas
train, making away with $2,500. September 18, 1891 --
California -- Grat Dalton escapes from jail and returns to Oklahoma to join up
with his brothers. June 1, 1892 -- Red Rock,
Oklahoma Territory -- Seven members of the gang rob a Santa Fe train and make
away with $50. July 14, 1892 -- Adair,
Indian Territory -- Eight members of the gang rob a Missouri Kansas & Texas
train. In a shoot-out with railroad guards, an innocent bystander is wounded,
another wounded. Two guards are also wounded. Total amount of take is never
disclosed. The Dalton Gang Hideout Stay Tuned History of the Dalton Gang Hideout; with
permission from "The Dalton Gang and Their Family Ties" by Nancy
Ohnick. The Preservation of an Outlaw Hideout In the southern part of Meade, Kansas,
four blocks south of highway 54, still stands the two-room house that was first
occupied by Mr. and Mrs. J.N. Whipple. Eva Dalton, sister of the infamous
outlaws, married J.N. Whipple October 15, 1887, at which time they moved into
the newly constructed house Whipple had built for his bride. The house was on
the outskirts of town in those days, the landscape dropped sharply from the
house to a streambed to the south where water occasionally flowed into Crooked
Creek to the east. A sharp bluff to the south of the streambed formed a canyon
of sorts, later dubbed, "Gallop Away Canyon." Taking advantage of the
landscape, Whipple built his house half underground with one exposed wall and a
door leading from the basement to the south. Their barn also was half sheltered
by the earth in the hill below. Eva Dalton came to Meade shortly after
the town was established in 1885. She was engaged in a millinery business with
Florence Dorland, who later married R.A. Harper, an early-day Meade County
rancher. Whipple operated a mercantile store in on the northwest corner of the
square. Fairly successful as a businessman, he was reported to have been a good
poker player, often holding games at the Whipple home. The Dalton brothers were reportedly seen several times in
Meade before a price was set on their heads, but their sister was never heard
to mention their names after they became famous. The Whipples left Meade by early 1892,
and their property was sold under foreclosure. Soon after, the H.G. Marshall
family moved into he house. The new occupants discovered a tunnel from the
house to the barn. Inside the house the mouth of the tunnel was hidden by a
small closet beneath the stairway leading to the two-room basement of the
place. The tunnel was constructed by placing beams of wood across a deep rain
wash which were then covered with earth. It was barely large enough for a man
to walk through in a stooped position. From the house the tunnel led into a
small feed room in the barn, which hid the tunnel entrance. One of the Marshall daughters, Mrs. Roy
Talbott, often told the story that several times horseback riders came up the
canyon to the barn; placed their hoses in the barn and came on into the house
through the tunnel. When the surprised riders learned that another family occupied
the house, other than the Whipples, they immediately fled back through the
tunnel, mounted their horses and galloped away. Legend has it that many of the old-timers
of Meade were very friendly with the Dalton Gang and thus the gang never raided
the Meade banks or committed any overt acts in this vicinity. Old timers were
always tight lipped about the notorious brothers. Raid on Coffeyville: Following the Adair train
robbery the Dalton Gang split up and went their separate ways. With the law on
their trail, the Daltons decided to carry out one last robbery and get enough
money to leave the country. A plan was devised to rob two banks in the same
town at the same time, thus getting the money they needed while also going down
in history by accomplishing something that no other gang had ever even
attempted. The perfect town for the robbery was Coffeyville, Kansas, their old
home town. Early in the morning of
October 5, 1892, Bob, Grat and Emmett Dalton, along with Bill Power and Dick
Broadwell, rode into Coffeyville and tied their horses in the alley across from
the town's two banks. Bob and Emmett walked into the First National Bank, while
the other three went into the Condon Bank. But the Daltons' plan began going
wrong almost as soon as they rode into town. At least one Coffeyville
citizen recognized the Daltons and notified the Marshall. While the bandits
were inside the banks, citizens were arming themselves with weapons and taking
up positions to defend the town. Meanwhile, Cashier C.M. Ball of the Condon
Bank stalled the robbers by claiming that the time lock on the vault had not
released. As the gangs emerged from the two banks they found themselves under
fire from the Coffeyville citizenry. The ensuing gunfight lasted
no more than twelve minutes. By the time it was over four of the bandits -- Bob
and Grat Dalton, Bill Power, and Dick Broadwell -- were dead and Emmett Dalton
was seriously wounded. Four Coffeyville citizens -- including the town Marshall
-- were also killed, and another three were wounded. The citizens of Coffeyville
put the bodies of the four dead gang members on public display and sent copies
of the photo below to major newspapers across the country. After Coffeyville: Bob and Grat Dalton, along
with Bill Powers, were buried in Elmwood Cemetery in Coffeyville. Broadwell's
body was returned to Hutchinson, Kansas, by his relatives. Coffeyville
Kansas' Elmwood Cemetery is best known as the burial site of 3
members of the Dalton gang and two town defenders. Coffeyville was where the
Dalton Gang, made up of Grat Dalton, Bob Dalton, Emmett Dalton, Bill Power, and
Dick Broadwell, met their fate when they tried to rob two banks at the same
time. The Dalton Gang arrived in
Coffeyville early in the morning of October 5, 1892, expecting to tie their
horses up next to one of the banks. But the hitching post had been removed and
instead of leaving one of their members to hold the horses, they decided to
hitch the horses down an alley at the far side of the plaza. One of the members of the
Dalton Gang was recognized as they crossed the square and Coffeyville's
citizens were ready for the gang when they left the banks. There was a running gun
battle in which eight men died and four were wounded. Except for Emmett Dalton,
alll of the Dalton Gang members were killed. Four of Coffeyville's defenders
(Lucius Baldwin, Charles Brown, Marshal C.T. Connelly, and George Cubine) were
also killed. Although Emmett Dalton was severely wounded and not expected to
live, he recovered and served 14 years in jail before being pardoned. He lived
until July 13, 1937 Bob Dalton, Grat Dalton and
Bill Powers are buried in the same plot. For years, their graves were marked
with only the metal pipe which was the hitching post to which they tied their
horses on the day they died. Today the graves of three Dalton gang members are
marked with a stone purchased years later by their brother Emmett. The graves of two of the
Coffeyville Defender's, Charles Brown & George Cubine, are nearby. As is
the grave of Frank Dalton (brother of the gang members), who was killed in
1887, in the line of duty as a U.S. Deputy Marshal. All of the graves face to
the west. Elmwood Cemetery is easy to
find. Take Eldridge Street west from the Brown Mansion off south 169 Highway Signs
clearly mark the way and will lead you through Elmwood Cemetery to the Dalton
gang graves and the map in the picture below. In March 1893, Emmett Dalton
pled guilty to murder, and was sentenced to life in the state prison at
Lansing, Kansas, by Judge J.D. McCue of the Montgomery County District Court.
He spent 15 years in prison before winning a parole from Kansas Governor Hoch,
on November 4, 1907. On September 1, 1908, he married Julie Johnson Gilstrap
Lewis, in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. The couple lived in Bartlesville for a couple
of years before moving to California. The remaining years of Emmett's life were
spent on the stage, writing a book on the Dalton family and the Raid, and as a
real estate dealer in California. In May 1931, the couple returned to
Coffeyville for a visit, and were treated as celebrities. While there, Emmett
had a marker placed on his brothers' graves. He died in Long Beach, California,
on July 13, 1937. Emmet
Dalton in Prison Bill Doolin, Bitter Creek
Newcomb, and Charlie Pierce continued to terrorize the territories for several
more years. Along with another Dalton boy, Bill, they came to be known as the
Doolin-Dalton Gang. Another story about the Dalton Gang: The Daltons; transcribed by Janice Rice. The Dalton family lived in lower Kansas,
near Coffeyville, which was situated almost directly upon the border of the
Nations. They engaged in farming, and indeed two of the family were respectable
farmers near Coffeyville within the last three or four years. The mother of the
family still lives near Oklahoma City, where she secured a good claim at the
time of the opening of the Oklahoma lands to white settlement. The father,
Lewis Dalton, was a Kentucky man and served in the Mexican war. He later moved
to Jackson county, Missouri, near the home of the notorious James and Younger
boys, and in 1851 married Adelaide Younger, they removing some years later from
Missouri to Kansas. Thirteen children were born to them, nine sons and four
daughters. Charles, Henry, Littleton and Coleman Dalton were respected and
quiet citizens. All the boys had nerve, and many of them reached office as
deputy marshals. Franklin Dalton was killed while serving as deputy United
States marshal near Fort Smith, in 1887, his brother Bob being a member of the
same posse at the time his fight was made with a band of horse thieves who
resisted arrest. Grattan Dalton, after the death of his brother Franklin, was
made a deputy United States marshal, after the curious but efficient Western
fashion of setting dangerous men to work at catching dangerous men. He and his
posse in 1888 went after a bad Indian, who, in the melee, shot Grattan in the
arm and escaped. Grattan later served as United States deputy marshal in
Muskogee district, where the courts certainly needed men of stern courage as
executives, for they had to deal with the most desperate and fearless class of
criminals the world ever knew. Robert R. Dalton, better known as Bob
Dalton, served on the posses of his brothers, and soon learned what it was to
stand up and shoot while being shot at. He turned out to be about the boldest
of the family, and was accepted as the clan leader later on in their exploits.
He also was a deputy United States marshal at the dangerous stations of Fort
Smith and Wichita, having much to do with the desperadoes of the Nations. He
was chief of the Osage police for some time, and saw abundance of violent
scenes. Emmett Dalton was also possessed of cool nerve, and was soon known as a dangerous man to
affront. All the boys were good shots, but they seemed to have cared more for the Winchester
than the six-shooter in their exploits, in which they were perhaps wise, for
the rifle is of course far the surer when it is possible of use; and men mostly
rode in that country with rifle under leg. Uncle Sam is obliged to take such
material for his frontier peace officers as proves itself efficient in serving
processes. A coward may be highly moral, but he will not do as a border deputy.
The personal character of some of the most famous Western deputies would
scarcely bear careful scrutiny, but the government at Washington is often
obliged to wink at that sort of thing. There came a time when it remained
difficult longer to wink at the methods of the Daltons as deputies. In one case
they ran off with a big bunch of horses and sold them in a Kansas town. On
account of this episode, Grattan, William, and Emmett Dalton made a hurried
trip to California. Here they became restless, and went back at their old
trade, thinking that no one even on the Pacific Slope had any right to cause
them fear. They held up a train in Tulare county and
killed a fireman, but were repulsed. Later arrested and tried, William was
cleared, but Grattan was sentenced to twenty years in the penitentiary. He escaped
from jail before he got to the penitentiary, and rejoined Emmett at the old
haunts in the Nations, Emmett having evaded arrest in California. The Southern
Pacific railway had a standing offer of $6,000 for the robbers at the time they
were killed. The Daltons were now more or less obliged to hide out, and to make
a living as best they could, which meant by robbery. On May 9, 1891, the Santa
Fe train was held up at Wharton, Oklahoma Territory, and the express car was
robbed, the bandits supposedly being the Daltons. In June of the following year
another Santa Fe train was robbed at Red Rock, in the Cherokee strip. The
'Frisco train was robbed at Vinita, Indian Territory. An epidemic of the old
methods of the James and Younger bands seemed to have broken out in the new
railway region of the Southwest. The next month the Missouri, Kansas and Texas
train was held up at Adair, Indian Territory, and a general fight ensued
between the robbers and the armed guard of the train, assisted by citizens of
the town. A local physician was killed and several officers and citizens
wounded, but none of the bandits was hurt, and they got away with a heavy loot
of the express and baggage cars. At Wharton they had been less fortunate, for
though they killed the station agent, they were rounded up and one of their
men, Dan Bryant, was captured, later killing and being killed by United States
deputy Ed. Short, as mentioned in an earlier chapter. Dick Broadwell joined the Dalton gang
about now, and they nearly always had a few members besides those of their own
family; their gang being made up and conducted on much the same lines of the
James boys gang of Missouri, whose exploits they imitated and used as text for
their bolder deeds. In fact it was the boast of the leader, Bob Dalton, in the
Coffeyville raid, that he was going to beat anything the James boys ever did:
to rob two banks in one town at the same time. Bank robbing was a side line of
activity with the Daltons, but they did fairly well at it. They held up the
bank at El Reno, at a time when no one was in the bank except the president's
wife, and took $10,000, obliging the bank to suspend business. By this time the
whole country was aroused against them, as it had been against the James and
Younger boys. Pinkerton detectives had blanket commissions offered, and railway
and express companies offered rewards running into the thousands. Each train
across the Indian Nations was accompanied for months by a heavily armed guard
concealed in the baggage and express cars. Passengers dreaded the journey
across that country, and the slightest halt of the train for any cause was sure
to bring to the lips of all the word of fear, "the Daltons!" It seems
almost incredible of belief that, in these modern days of fast railway service,
of the telegraph and of rapidly increasing settlements, the work of these men
could so long have been continued; but such, nonetheless, was the case. The law
was powerless, and demonstrated its own unfitness to safeguard life and
property, as so often it has in this country. And, as so often has been the
case, outraged society at length took the law into its own hands and settled
the matter. The full tale of the Dalton robberies and
murders will never be known, for the region in which they operated was
reticent, having its own secrets to protect; but at last there came the climax
in which the band was brought into the limelight of civilized publicity. They
lived on the border of savagery and civilization. Now the press, the telegraph,
the whole fabric of modern life, lay near at hand. Their last bold raid,
therefore, in which they crossed from the country of reticence into that of
garrulous news gathering, made them more famous than they had ever been before.
The raid on Coffeyville, October 5, 1892, both established and ended their
reputation as desperadoes of the border. The rumor got out that the Daltons
were down in the Nations, waiting for a chance to raid the town of Coffeyville,
but the dreaded attack did not come off when it was expected. When it was
delivered, therefore, it found the town quite unprepared. Bob Dalton was the
leader in this enterprise. Emmett did not want to go. He declared that too many
people knew them in Coffeyville, and that the job would prove too big for them to handle. He
consented to join the party, however, when he found Bob determined to make the
attempt in any case. There were in the band at that time Bob, Emmett, and
Grattan Dalton, Bill Powers and Dick Broadwell. These lay in rendezvous near
Tulsa, in the Osage country, two days before the raid, and spent the night
before in the timber on Onion creek, not far below town. They rode into
Coffeyville at half-past nine the following morning. The street being some what
torn up, they turned aside into an alley about a hundred yards from the main
street, and, dismounting, tied their horses, which were thus left some distance
from the banks, the First National and the bank of C. M. Condon & Co.,
which were the objects of their design. Grattan Dalton, Dick Broadwell and Bill
Powers stepped over to the Condon bank, which was occupied at the time by C. T.
Carpenter, C. M. Ball, the cashier, and T. C. Babb, a bookkeeper. Grattan
Dalton threw down his rifle on Carpenter, with the customary command to put up
his hands; the others being attended to by Powers and Broadwell. Producing a
two- bushel sack, the leader ordered Carpenter to put all the cash into it, and
the latter obeyed, placing three thousand dollars in silver and one thousand in
currency in the sack. Grattan wanted the gold, and demanded that an inner safe
inside the vault should be opened. The cashier, Ball, with a shifty falsehood,
told him that they could not open that safe, for it was set on a time lock, and
no one could open it before half-past nine o'clock. He told the outlaw that it
was now twenty minutes after nine (although it was really twenty minutes of
ten) ; and the latter said they could wait ten minutes. He was, however,
uneasy, and was much of the mind to kill Ball on the spot, for he suspected
treachery, and knew how dangerous any delay must be. It was a daring thing to
do to sit down in the heart of a civilized city, in broad daylight and on the
most public street, and wait for a time lock to open a burglar-proof safe.
Daring as it was, it was foolish and futile. As the robbers stood uneasily
guarding their prisoners, the alarm was spread. A moment later firing began,
and the windows of the bank were splintered with bullets. The robbers were
trapped, Broadwell being shot
through the arm, probably by P. L. Williams from across the street. Yet they
coolly went on with their work as they best could, Grattan Dalton ordering Ball
to cut the string of the bag and pour out the heavy silver, which would have
encumbered them too much in their flight. He asked if there was not a back way
out, by which they could escape. He was shown a rear door, and the robbers
stepped out, to find themselves in the middle of the hottest street fight any
of them had ever known. The city marshal, Charles T. Connolly, had given the
alarm, and citizens were hurrying to the street with such weapons as they could
find at the hardware stores and in their own homes. Meantime Bob and Emmett
Dalton had held up the First National Bank, ordering cashier Ayres to hand out
the money, and terrorizing two or three customers of the bank who happened to
be present at the time. Bob knew Thos. G. Ayres, and called him by his first
name, "Tom," said he, "go into the safe and get out that money
get the gold, too." He followed Ayres into the vault, and discovered two
packages of $5,000 each in currency, which he tossed into his meal sack. The
robbers here also poured out the silver, and having cleaned up the bank as they
supposed, drove the occupants out of the door in front of them. As they got
into the street they were fired upon by George Cubine and C. S. Cox; but
neither shot took effect. Emmett Dalton stood with his rifle under his arm,
coolly tying up the neck of the sack which held the money. They then both
stepped back into the bank, and went out through the back door, which was
opened for them by W. H. Shepherd, the bank teller, who, with Tom Ayres and B.
S. Ayres, the bookkeeper, made the bank force on hand. J. H. Brewster, C. H.
Hollingsworth and A. W. Knotts were in the bank on business, and were joined by
E. S. Boothby; all these being left unhurt. The firing became general as soon
as the robbers emerged from the two bank buildings. The first man to be shot by
the robbers was Charles T. Gump, who stood not far from the First National Bank
armed with a shotgun. Before he could fire Bob Dalton shot him through the hand, the same bullet disabling his
shotgun. A moment later, a young man named Lucius Baldwin started down the alley,
armed with a revolver. He met Bob and Emmett, who ordered him to halt, but for
some reason he kept on toward them. Bob Dalton said, "I'll have to kill
you," and so shot him through the chest. He died three hours later. Bob
and Emmett Dalton now passed out of the alley back of the First National Bank,
and came into Union street. Here they saw George B. Cubine standing with his
Winchester in his hands, and an instant later Cubine fell dead, with three
balls through his body. Near him was Charles Brown, an old man, who was also
armed. He was the next victim, his body falling near that of Cubine, though he
lived for a few hours after being shot. All four of these victims of the
Daltons were shot at distances of about forty or fifty yards, and with rifles,
the revolver being more or less uncertain at such ranges even in practiced
hands. All the gang had revolvers, but none used them. Thos. G. Ayres, late
prisoner in the First National Bank, ran into a store near by as soon as he was
released, caught up a Winchester and took a station near the street door, waiting
for the bandits to come out at that entrance of the bank. Here he was seen by
Bob Dalton, who had gone through the alley. Bob took aim and at seventy-five
yards shot Ayres through the head. Friends tried to draw his body back into the
store, but these now met the fire of Grattan Dalton and Powers, who, with the
crippled Broadwell, were now coming out of their alleyway. T. A. Reynolds, a
clerk in the same store, who went to the door armed, received a shot through
the foot, and thus made the third wounded man then in that building. H. H.
Isham, one of the owners of the store, aided by M. A. Anderson and Charles K.
Smith, joined in the firing. Grattan Dalton and Bill Powers were shot mortally
before they had gone more than a few steps from the door of the Condon bank.
Powers tried to get into a door when he was shot, and kept his feet when he
found the door locked, managing to get to his horse in the alley before he was
killed by a second shot. Grattan Dalton also kept his feet, and reached cover
back of a barn about seventy yards from Walnut Street, the main thorough- fare.
He stood at bay here, and kept on firing. City marshal Connolly, carrying a
rifle, ran across to a spot near the corner of this barn. He had his eye on the
horses of the bandits, which were still hitched in the alley. His back was
turned toward Grattan Dalton. The latter must have been crippled somewhere in
his right arm or shoulder, for he did not raise his rifle to his face, but
fired from his hip, shoot- ing Connolly down at a distance of about twenty feet
or so. There was a slight lull at this point of the street fight, and during
this Dick Broadwell, who had been wounded again in the back, crawled into
concealment in a lumber yard near by the alley where the horses were tied. He crept
out to his horse and mounted, but just as he started away met the livery man,
John J. Kloehr, who did some of the best shooting re- corded by the citizens.
Kloehr was hurrying thither with Carey Seaman, the latter armed with a shotgun.
Kloehr fired his rifle and Sea- man his shotgun, and both struck Broadwell, who
rode away, but fell dead from his horse a short distance outside the town. Bob
and Emmett Dalton, after killing Cubine and Brown and shooting Ayres, hurried
on to join their companions and to get to their horses. At an alleyway junction
they spied F. D. Benson climbing out of a window, and fired at him, but missed.
An instant later, as Bob stepped into full view of those who were firing from the Isham store, he was struck by a ball and badly wounded.
He walked slowly across the alley and sat down on a pile of stones, but like
his brother Grattan, he kept his rifle going, though mortally shot. He fired
once at Kloehr, but was unsteady and missed him. Rising to his feet he walked a
few paces and leaned against the corner of a barn, firing two more shots. He
was then killed by Kloehr, who shot him through the chest. By this time Grattan
Dalton was feebly trying to get to his horse. He passed the body of Connolly,
whom he had killed, faced toward his pursuers and tried to fire. He, too, fell
before Kloehr's Winchester, shot through the throat, dropping close to the body
of Connolly. Emmett Dalton was now the only one of the band left alive. He was
as yet unwounded, and he got to his horse. As he attempted to mount a number of
shots were fired at him, and these killed the two horses belonging to Bob
Dalton and Bill Powers, who by this time had no further use for horses. Two
horses hitched to an oil wagon in the street were also killed by wild shots. Emmett
got into his saddle, but was shot through the right arm and through the left
hip and groin. He still clung to the sack of money they had taken at the First
National Bank, and he still kept his nerve and his wits even under such
pressure of peril. He might have escaped, but instead he rode back to where Bob
was lying, and reached down his hand to help him up behind himself on the
horse. Bob was dying and told him it was no use to try to help him.
As Emmett stooped down to reach Bob's arm, Carey Seaman fired both
barrels of his shotgun into his back, Emmett dropping near Bob and falling upon
the sack, containing over $20,000 in cash. Men hurried up and called to him to
throw up his hands. He raised his one unhurt arm and begged for mercy. It was
supposed he would die, and he was not lynched, but hurried away to a doctor's
office near by. In the little alley where the last scene of this bloody fight
took place there were found three dead men, one dying man and one badly
wounded. Three dead horses lay near the same spot. In the whole fight, which
was of course all over in a few moments, there were killed four citizens and
four outlaws, three citizens and one outlaw being wounded. Less than a dozen
citizens did most of the shooting, of which there was considerable, eighty
bullet marks being found on the front of the Condon bank alone. The news of
this bloody encounter was instantly flashed over the country, and within a few
hours the town was crowded with sightseers who came in by train loads. The dead
bandits were photographed, and the story of the fight was told over and over
again, not always with uniformity of detail. Emmett Dalton, before he was sent
to the penitentiary, confessed to different crimes, not all of them hitherto
known, which the gang had at different times committed. So ended in blood the
career of as bloody a band as might well be discovered in the robber history of
any land or time of the world. Indeed, it is doubtful if any country ever saw
leagues of robbers so desperate as those which have existed in America, any
with hands so red in blood. This fact is largely due to the peculiar history of
this country, with its rapid development under swift modern methods of
transportation. In America the advance to the westward of the fighting edge of
civilization, where it meets and mingles with savagery, has been more rapid
than has ever been known in the settlement of any country of the world.
Moreover, this has taken place at precisely that time when weapons of the most
deadly nature have been invented and made at a price permitting all to own them
and many to become extremely skilled with them. The temptation and the means of
murder have gone hand in hand. And in time the people, not the organized law
courts, have applied the remedy when the time has come for it. Today the Indian
Nations are no more than a name. Civilization has taken them over. The Dalton Raid at Coffeyville; Transcribed
by Sheryl McClure From the 1903 "History of Montgomery
County Kansas"
In all the annals of crime in our country,
few if any, events have furnished more dramatic incidents or created more of a
sensation than the raid of the Daltons at Coffeyville, on the morning of
Wednesday, October 5th, 1892. There have been other bank robberies where larger
amounts of money have been at stake, and some in which better known bandits and
outlaws have participated, but in the sanguinary nature of the struggle, the
number of shots fired, and the victims on both sides, the Coffeyville affair
must stand preeminent. ÒThe Dalton Gang," whose leaders organized and
perpetrated this raid had already acquired an unenviable reputation as outlaws
and train robbers, and were ready for any crime if the stakes were large
enough. Three of the Dalton brothers, with two ordinary criminals of the sort
that could be picked up almost anywhere in the Indian Territory, constituted
the party. The Dalton family originally consisted of Lewis Dalton and his wife,
whose maiden name was Adaline Lee Younger, and who was born in Cass County,
Missouri, in the neighborhood whence came other Youngers, who achieved
notoriety as bank robbers. They were the parents of thirteen
children, of whom two died in infancy. The family were not strangers at
Coffeyville, having settled in that vicinity in 1882 and remained there until
the opening of Oklahoma in 1889. In fact, Lewis Dalton remained in this county
until his death, at Dearing, in 1890. The rest of the family went to Oklahoma
and took up claims. The old people seem to have been peaceable and law-abiding,
but three of the boys became deputy United States marshals in the Indian
Territory, one of them also serving for a short time as chief of police of the
Osage Nation. Familiarity with crime and positions seems to have developed a
passion for criminal adventure, which may have been also to some extent, a
matter of heredity on their motherÕs side. Gratton, Emmet and Robert were the
Daltons in the gang, and the two other members of the quintette who raided the
Coffeyville banks were known as Bill Powers and Dick Broadwell. Robert, the
leader of the gang, was only 22 years of age, while Emmet was a mere boy two
years younger. Gratton was 31. The Daltons are credited with having
stolen a herd of cattle in the territory about two years previous to the events
to be here narrated, and so far as known, they took the first degree in
outlawry at that time. In the early part of 1891, Gratton, William and Emmet
Dalton were arrested for train robbery in Tulare county, California. Emmet
escaped, William was acquitted, and Gratton was convicted and sentenced to
twenty years in the penitentiary. He escaped from the county jail before being
taken to Folsom, and there was a standing reward of $6,000 offered for Gratton
and Emmet by the Southern Pacific Railway at the time these men met their fate
at Coffeyville. In early 1891 there was a train robbery by masked men at
Wharton, Indian Territory, on the Santa Fe Railroad; and in July of the same
year another at Adair, on the Missouri Kansas & Texas, both of which were
credited to the Daltons. On the morning of the Coffeyville raid,
the five men mentioned were seen by several people riding toward that city, and
they were taken, in every instance, for a United States Deputy Marshal and his
posse. They came in on the main road from the west, turned south one block from
the business part of town and hitched their horses in the alley running back
from Slossen's drug store, which has since become famous as "the Alley of
Death." They then started down the alley, Gratton, with Powers and
Broadwell in front, and Emmet and Bob following. Next they crossed the
sidewalk, on emerging from the alley, they passed within five feet of a citizen
who was acquainted with them well enough to recognize them in spite of the
disguises they had assumed on going into a locality where they were so well
known. A moment later he saw the three men who were in front enter C. M. Condon
& Co.'s bank and present a Winchester at the cashier's counter. He raised
the alarm at once. Meantime the other two had crossed Union
street and entered the First National bank. They were followed by some citizens
who suspected their object and the alarm was speedily raised on the east side
of the plaza, also. Immediately half a dozen men rushed to the hardware stores
of Isham Bros. & Mansur and A. P. Boswell & Co., on the east side of
Union street, and proceeded to provide themselves with rifles and ammunition,
determined that the bank robbers should not get away if it was possible to
prevent it. In Condon & Co.'s bank were C. T.
Carpenter, one of the proprietors; Chas Ball, the cashier, and T. C. Babb, the
bookkeeper. The leader of the raiders, Grat. Dalton, ordered the men behind the
counter to throw up their hands; and on looking up from his work at the desk,
Mr. Carpenter saw three Winchesters aimed at his head, and heard such
reassuring words as these: ÒWe have got you, G-- d-- you! Hold up your
hands," As soon as Dalton had passed around into the inside of
the enclosure at the bank, he ordered Mr. Ball to hold a grain sack he had
brought with him, while Carpenter was told to put the money in the canvas sacks
in the safe into it. There was $3,000 in silver in the three sacks, and when he
had got that Dalton ordered Mr. Ball to open the burglar proof chest in the
vault. Ball replied: ÒIt is not time for it to open." ÒWhat time does it open?" asked
Gratton. ÒHalf past nine," answered Ball,
guessing what o'clock it might be, sparring for time. ÒWhat time is it now?" queried the
bandit. ÒTwenty minutes past nine." glibly
answered Ball, looking at his watch. As a matter of fact, it was twenty
minutes of ten, but Dalton did not know this and calmly proposed to wait until
the chest could be opened. In a moment or two he began to suspect the truth and
turned on Ball and cursed him and threatened to put a bullet through him. With
the money from the counter the robbers now had $4,000, but the firing which had
begun from the outside was getting so hot that the robbers ordered the sack
carried into the back room, where the currency was sorted out and the silver
left. The bankers and two customers who happened to be in when the raid was
made, were lying on the floor now to escape the rain of bullets that came
crashing through the plate glass. Broadwell had already received a bullet in
the arm that disabled him, and the robbers made haste to get out into the
street whence they had come. Meanwhile, a good deal had been happening
at the First National across the street. Bob Dalton and Emmet entered here
about the same time the other three men went into Condon's. They covered the
cashier, Thomas G. Ayers, and the teller, W. H. Shepard, with their guns and
ordered everyone present to hold up his hands. The men in the bank in front of
the counter at the time were J. H. Brewster, the well known contractor, who built
the county court house, A. W, Knotts, who was afterward deputy sheriff, and C.
L. Hollingsworth. Leaving Emmet on guard in
front, Bob went around to the rear and entered the private room, where he found
Bert Ayres, the bookkeeper, and ordered him to go to the front and get the
money on the counter. He then ordered the cashier to bring out the money that
was in the safe, and not satisfied with what he got went into the vault himself
and took two packages of currency containing five thousand dollars each and
added them to the collection in his sack, which now amounted to $20,000.
Ordering the bank force and customers out before them, the bandits started to
go out the front door, but soon shots drove them back and they then retreated
by a back door. Right at this time the murderous work
began. So far, only two men had been wounded, Broadwell, on the inside of
Condon's bank, and Charles T. Gump, who had taken a position outside of the
First National with a gun ready to shoot at the robbers when they started out.
Bob Dalton fired a shot which struck him in the hand and disabled him. When the
two robbers emerged from the rear door of the First National, having the
teller, Mr. Shepard with them, they came across Lucius L. Baldwin, a clerk from
Reed Brothers' store. He was holding a revolver at his side and corning forward
as if to join the others. Both the Daltons leveled their Winchesters at him and
commanded him to stop. For some reason he failed to obey and kept moving toward
them, Bob remarked, ÒI'll have to get that man," and pulled the trigger
which sent a bullet through Baldwin's breast near the heart. He was only about
fifty feet away at the time. He was picked up by friends and carried away but
only survived for about three hours. The Daltons ran north up the alley to
Eighth street and turned west when they reached that street. When they got as
far as Union Street on the east side of the Plaza, they looked down that street
to the south and fired a couple of shots, apparently for the purpose of frightening
their assailants away. By the time they had reached the middle of the street on
their way across to the "Little block" in the center of the Plaza,
they discerned George Cubine standing in the doorway of Rammel (Ramel?)
Brothers' drug store, which adjoined the First National bank building on the
north. He had a Winchester in his hand and was looking the other way, toward
the door of the bank from which he was expecting to see the outlaws emerge.
They each fired twice at him, and as the four shots rang out, he fell to the
pavement lifeless, with one bullet through his heart, another through his left
thigh and a third through his ankle. The fourth ball went astray and crashed
through the plate glass window of the store behind him. Charles Brown, an old man
whose place of business was next north of the drug store, rushed out to assist
the fallen man; but seeing that he was dead, seized the Winchester Cubine had
and turned it on his slayers. Four more deadly shots rang out from the bandits'
guns, and Brown fell bleeding and dying. He survived three hours in dreadful
agony and then passed away. These three murders had been committed in
less time than it has taken to tell it. By this time the Daltons caught sight
of another man who was watching the entrance of the bank, ready to fire when
they should emerge. When turned out of the bank at the time the outlaws started
to come out the front way, Cashier Ayres ran into Isham's hardware store, just
to the south, and procured a Winchester, with which he took a position in the
doorway, where he could command the entrance to the bank. As they were stepping
up on to the sidewalk on the west side of Union street, and across the street
from the Eldridge House, Bob took deliberate aim at Ayres, who was about
seventy-five yards distant, and fired a bullet which struck him in the cheek,
just below his left eye and came out at the back of his head near the base of
the skull. He fell bleeding and unconscious and for days hung between life and
death, but finally recovered. Just at this time, Gratton and his
companions had reached the alley adjoining Slosson's store, up which they had
left their horses, and before the prostrate form of Mr. Ayres could be removed
they fired nine shots into the front of the building where he lay. Bob and
Emmet proceeded west on Eighth street and were not noticed again until they
reappeared near the junction of the two alleys, having come down back of Wells
Brothers' store. Their escape would have been comparatively easy, had they not
returned to that spot, but made a break for the open country and taken the
first horse they came across. As it was, the whole force, of the bandit
band was now gathered in what has since been known as "the Alley of
Death," and there they all fell beneath the bullets of the volunteers for
law and order, though not until another good citizen lost his life. For the
facts thus far published we are indebted to the painstaking and carefully
written work published by Colonel D. Stewart Elliott, of the Coffeyville
Journal, entitled: "Last Raid of the Daltons;" and for the story of
the concluding scenes of that raid we can do no better than to reproduce the
chapter of that work on "The Alley of Death" almost verbatim. When the alarm was first given that the
banks were being robbed, Henry Isham, the senior member of the firm of Isham
Brothers & Mansur, was busy with a customer, as were two clerks in the
store, Lewis T. Dietz and T. Arthur Reynolds. This store not only adjoined the
First National bank on the south, but from its front a clear view is to be had
across the Plaza and up the alley at the west side to which the Daltons first
came and to which they finally retreated. Mr. Isham dismissed his customer,
closed his safe, and, grasping a Winchester, stationed himself near a steel
range in the front of the store where he could see all that was going on in the
front part of Condon's bank. Dietz snatched a revolver and stationed himself
close to Isham, while Reynolds, having observed the robbers enter the banks,
was so eager to prevent their escape that he seized a Winchester, ran out upon
the sidewalk and commenced firing upon the robber who was stationed near the
southeastern door of the Condon bank. A shot from the latter's rifle struck
some intervening object and glanced and hit Reynolds on the right foot at the
base of the little toe, coming out at the instep. He was the third man wounded
in the store, and was now forced to leave the field. Indeed, with its blood bespattered
floor, the store now began to look like a slaughter house or a section of a
battle field. M. N. Anderson, a carpenter, who had been at work a couple of
blocks away, now arrived and took the Winchester Reynolds had dropped and
stationed himself beside Isham, where he performed valiant service until the
close of the engagement. Charles K. Smith, a young man from a barber shop near Ishim's
store, also procured a Winchester and joined the forces in the hardware store
in time to help exterminate the gang. From five to nine shots were fired by
each man who handled a Winchester at this point. The principal credit, however,
for the successful and fatal work done at the store was due to Mr. Isham. Cool
and collected, he gave directions to his companions and at the same time kept
his own gun at work. The moment that Grat. Dalton and his
companions, Dick Broadwell and Bill Powers, left the Condon bank after looting
it, they came under the guns of the men in Isham's store. Grat, Dalton and Bill
Powers each received mortal wounds before they had gone twenty steps. The dust was
seen to fly from their clothing, and Powers in his desperation attempted to
take refuge in the doorway of an adjoining store, but the door was locked and
no one answered his request to be let in. He kept his feet and clung to his
Winchester until he reached his horse, when another ball struck him in the back
and he fell dead at its feet. Grat. Dalton, getting under cover of an oil tank
which had been driven into the alley just about the time the raid was made,
managed to reach the side of a barn on the south side of the alley, about two
hundred feet from Walnut street. The point where he stopped was out of the
range of the guns at Isham's on account of an intervening outside stairway. He
stood here for a few minutes firing wild shots down the alley toward the Plaza. About this time John J. Kloehr, a
liveryman, Carey Seaman and the City Marshal, Charles T. Connelly, who were at
the south end of the Plaza, near Reeds' store, started up Ninth street so as to
intercept the gang before they could reach their horses. Connelly ran across a
vacant lot to an opening in the fence at the alley, right at the corner of the
barn where Grat. Dalton was still standing. There he sprang into the alley,
facing the west where the horses were hitched. This movement brought him with
his back toward the murderous Dalton, who was seen to raise his Winchester to
his side and, without taking aim, fired a shot into the back of the brave
officer. Connelly fell forward on his face, within twenty feet of where his
murderer stood. He breathed his last just as the fight ended. Dick Broadwell, in the meantime, had
reached cover in the Long-Bell Lumber Company's yards, where he lay down for a
few moments. He was wounded in the back. A lull occurred in the firing after
Grat Dalton and Bill Powers had fallen. Broadwell took advantage of this and
crawled out of his hiding place, mounted his horse and rode away. A bail from
Kloehr's rifle, and a load of shot from a gun in the hands of Carev Scanlan,
overtook him before he had ridden twenty feet. Bleeding and dying he clung to
his horse and passed out of the city over a portion of the road by which the
party entered it not more than twenty minutes before. His body was subsequently
found by the roadside half a mile west of the city, and his horse with its
trappings was captured near where he fell. Almost at the same moment that Marshal
Connelly went down before the deadly rifle of Grat. Dalton, Bob and Emmet
emerged from the alley by which they had left Eighth street in their effort to
rejoin the rest of the party where their horses had been left. They had not met
with any resistance in passing from where they had shot Cubine, Brown and
Ayres, as the firing toward the south end of the Plaza had attracted general
attention in another direction. The north and south alley through which they
reached "the Alley of Death," has its terminus opposite the rear end
of Slossin's store. When they reached the junction of the alleys, they
discovered F. D. Benson climbing through a rear window with a gun in his hand.
Divining his object, Bob fired at him point blank, at a distance of not over
thirty feet. The shot missed. Bob then stepped into the alley and glanced up at
the tops of the buildings as if he suspected the fusilade that was pouring into
the alley came from that direction. As he did so, the men at Isham's took
deliberate aim from their positions in the store and fired at him. The
notorious leader of the Dalton gang evidently received a severe if not fatal
wound at this time. He staggered across the alley and sat down on a pile of
dressed curbstones near the city jail. Still true to his desperate nature, he
kept his rifle in action and fired several shots from where he was sitting. His
aim, though, was unsteady and the bullets went wild. While sitting on the rocks
he espied John Kloehr on the inside of the fence near Slosson's store. He tried
to raise his Winchester to his shoulder, but could not, and the shot intended
for Kloehr struck the side of an outhouse and failed in its mission. Bob Dalton
then made his supreme effort. He arose to his feet and sought refuge alongside
of an old barn west of the city jail, and, leaning against the southwest corner
of the building he brought his rifle into action again and fired two shots in
the direction of his pursuers. They were his last shots. A ball from Kloehr's
rifle struck him full in the breast and he fell over backward among the stones
which covered the ground there, and which were reddened with his life blood. After shooting Marshal Connelly, Grat.
Dalton made another attempt to reach his horse. He passed by his fallen victim,
and had advanced probably twenty feet from where he was standing when he fired
the fatal shot then turning his face to his pursuers he again attempted to use
his Winchester. John Kloehr's rifle blazed out again now, and the oldest member
of the band dropped with a bullet in his throat and a broken neck. He fell
within a few feet of the dying marshal. Up to this time Emmet Dalton had managed
to escape untouched. He kept under shelter after he reached the alley until he
attempted to mount his horse. A half dozen rifles were then fired in his
direction, as he undertook to get into the saddle. The two intervening horses
belonging to Bob Dalton and Bill Powers were killed by some of the shots intended
for Emmet; and the two horses attached to the oil tank-wagon being directly in
range received fatal wounds. Emmet succeeded in getting into the saddle, but
not until he had received a shot through the right arm and another through the
left hip and groin. During all this time he had clung to the sack containing
the money he had taken from the First National bank. And then, instead of
riding off, as he might have done, Emmet boldly and courageously rode back to
what he must have known was almost certain death and came up beside where Bob
was lying and attempted to lift his dying brother onto the horse with him.
"It's no use," faintly whispered the fallen bandit, and just then
Carey Seaman fired the contents of both barrels of his shot-gun into Emmet's
back, as he was leaning over the prostrate form of his leader and tutor in
crime. The youthful desperado dropped from his horse and the last of the Dalton
gang was helpless. In falling, the sack containing the twenty thousand dollars
he had periled his soul and body to get went down with him, and he landed at
the feet of his brother, Bob, who breathed his last a moment later. Citizens who had followed close after the
robbers, and some of whom were close at hand when they fell, immediately
surrounded their bodies. Emmet responded to the command to hold up his hands by
raising his uninjured arm and making a pathetic appeal for mercy. Lynching was
suggested, but better councils prevailed and he was taken to the office of a
surgeon, who dressed his wounds. He recovered with. the quick elasticity of
youth and was taken to the jail at Independence, where, in the following March,
he pleaded guilty to murder in the second degree and was sentenced to a
ninety-nine years' term in the penitentiary, ten of which he has already
served. His aged mother is untiring in her efforts to secure pardon and freedom
for her wayward boy, but no governor has yet dared to brave the indignation of
the friends of the victims of the raid by granting her prayer. Less than fifteen minutes had elapsed
from the time the raiders entered the banks until four of them were dead and
the others helpless with wounds. And it was only twelve minutes from the firing
of the first shot until the last one sounded the knell of the Dalton gang. Summarizing the reports, it appears that
eighty bullet marks and numerous evidences of the impact of small shot were
visible on the south front of Condon's bank when the battle ended. Not more
than fifteen guns were actively engaged in the fight on both sides; and yet
eight people were killed and three wounded. While all the citizens who were
killed or wounded were armed, George Cubine was the only one of them who had
fired a shot before being struck down, missing the scores of bystanders and
onlookers about the Plaza, including many girls and little children, not one
was struck by a short or bullet. It was war, a very sanguinary war, while it
lasted, the percentage of victims to combatants being greater than in any
battle that was not a massacre; but no wild shooting was done. While the people of Coffeyville wiped out
the outlaw gang at a terrible cost of valuable lives, they insured their city
against any more such visitations during the lifetime of the present
generation, and conferred a service upon the state and upon society by
demonstrating how risky and unprofitable such raids are likely to prove. John J. Kloehr's version of the Coffeyville raid: The New York Sun, April 8, 1906: I don't
like to tell this story. I have never told it before, that is, with anything
like completeness. Just a word or two about the Daltons
before beginning the story of their final raid. They were Kentuckians, born and
bred. They were cousins by marriage of the notorious Younger's and James's. In
them the lust of slaughter was inborn. In 1889 the Dalton family, father and
mother and thirteen children, among them the three who met their death here
– Bob, Emmet and Grattan – came to Kansas. They settled on a farm
in Montgomery county, where they remained until the opening of the Territory.
Then began the life of adventure that proved their undoing. First, United
States deputy marshals, then train robbers, whisky peddlers, and bandits in the
mountain passes of California; then, the final act, bank robbers. On October 4, 1892, five men, Tim Evans,
or Powers, Grat Dalton, Bob Dalton, Emmet Dalton and Dick Broadwell, the last
having been enlisted in the scheme a day or two before, rode up from the Indian
Territory from that part known as the Cherokee nation. They passed the night hiding in the
wooded fastnesses along the banks of the Verdigris River, on which this town
stands. Early on the morning of the 5th they took up their journey again, their
bloodied horses refreshed by rest and food. For miles they followed one of the main
roads into Coffeyville, the road that becomes Eighth street when it enters the
town. As they neared the town they were noticed
by many people riding to and from the city. The Daltons, who were, of course,
well known in Coffeyville, were disguised by false beards and other means. Long
cloaks concealed their weapons – Winchester rifles and heavy Colt's
revolvers. They looked, as they intended, like a party of deputy United States
marshals on official business. This was an occurrence too common to excite
wonderment or remark. As they rode up Eight street many eyes
were turned upon them, but without the slightest suspicion. It was evidently
their intention to tie their horses on Eighth street, where they would be
readily accessible when the need to flee came. However, the street was torn up,
pending certain repairs, making this impossible. An alley running directly off
the street attracted their attention. They turned down it, the only false move
they had made thus far, and tied their horses to a paling back of my livery
stable. Then in single file they emerged from the alley, their long coats
removed, their spurs clanking, their guns swinging at their sides. Three of them, Bob and Grattan Dalton and
Powers, entered the Condon National Bank, and covering the cashier with their
Winchesters commanded him to open the vault. Grat hurried around behind the
iron screen that partitioned the vaults and the business part of the bank from
the front, and opening a heavy grain sack commanded one of the three clerks to
pour into it all the cash in sight. That done he, with a fierce oath and
threatening wave of his gun, commanded the cashier to open the vault and get
the gold. ÒI can't,Ó replied the cashier. ÒThe time
lock is on the vault.Ó ÒWhat time will it open?Ó ÒAt half past 9,Ó returned the cashier.
The time was only a guess on his part; it was after 10 o'clock then, but Grat
bit at the desperate expedient to gain time. ÒWe'll wait,Ó he announced. All this time the citizens were not idle.
So completely by surprise had the assault on the bank been that no one was in
the least prepared. Even the town marshal, Frank Connelly, was unarmed. The
first intimation that I had of the affair was when some one ran into the stable
shouting that Condon's bank was being robbed. I had no weapon in the barn, but,
running across the street to the hardware store, I fitted myself out with a
small Winchester, the first thing that I came upon. Stationing myself on the
street I began to fire on the Condon bank, hoping to frustrate the plans of the
bandits. In this I was soon joined by others, who hurriedly procured weapons
from the hardware stores. The plate glass windows of the bank were riddled and
bank people narrowly escaped death from the flying bullets, but the effect of
the fusillade was to make the robbers chary of staying too long in the bank. In
the grain sack was about $4,000 in silver and greenbacks. The silver was
discarded, Grat Dalton stuffing the paper money into his coat. Then they made their way to the rear
doors of the bank, driving the cashier and his assistants before them. When
they swung open the door they were confronted by George Baldwin, 23 years old,
as brave and noble a lad as ever breathed. In his hand he held a pistol, a toy
compared to the weapons carried by the robbers. ÒI'll have to get that man,Ó said Bob
Dalton, and raising his fatal Winchester to his shoulder he fired, and Baldwin
fell to the ground mortally wounded. At the other bank, the First National, a
similar scene was enacted. The cashier and others in the bank were made to hold
up their hands and the contents of the vault were emptied into a sack. Here,
too, the fire from the people on the streets became too severe and they were
forced to discard the heavy silver for the lighter and more valuable gold and
paper. Charles Gumy, another of the bravest men
this or any other town has ever known, opened fire on the bank, but was wounded
by a shot from one of the robbers that splintered the stock of his gun and
smashed his right hand into a mass of raw flesh. Friends rushed out to him and
dragged him within the shelter of a store. After leaving the First National Emmet
Dalton and Dick Broadwell passed down Eight street, where they were joined by
the three from the Condon Bank. There in front of his shoe shop stood George
Cubine, gun in hand, waiting for them. Two shots rang out simultaneously and
Cubine fell back dead. Charles Brown, a fellow workman of Cubine's, saw him
fall and ran out to help him. Again the deadly rifles of the bandits spoke, and
Brown fell a martyr to right and the ties of comradeship. Passing down Union street, after killing
Cubine and Brown, the five bandits espied Thomas Ayres, cashier of the First
National Bank, standing by the curb with a rifle in his hands. Bob Dalton's
rifle rang out and Ayres fell, wounded in the head, although the distance was
more than seventy-five yards. Bob and Emmet then hurriedly dodged
behind buildings and were not seen again until they reappeared in the alley
where their horses were tied. Grat Dalton and his companions, Bowers and
Broadwell, regained the shelter of the alley first. In the alley was standing a Standard Oil
tank, to which a magnificent team of grays were hitched. Using the wagon for a
breastwork, the three bandits prepared to deal death to all who should dare
dislodge them. All this time I was, so to speak,
mounting guard over the horses. I saw Grat and his companions take up their
position behind the wagon and I determined to wait until the most auspicious
moment came before attempting to do anything. Just at this moment Bob and Emmet
came down the alley from the other way, making for their horses. As I saw them
they saw me. We had often competed in friendly shooting matches. He knew that
when I fired I shot to kill. ÒHell!Ó he exclaimed. ÒThere's Kloehr. I
hate to do it, but he's got to fall.Ó For a moment I was transfixed, watching
his face intently as the bird watches the snake about to seize it. Then
instinctively my own rifle came to my shoulder. I fired just as Bob pulled the
trigger. His bullet went wild, glancing striking the side of the alley, taking
a tangent course and killing both the Standard Oil horses and entering my barn,
where it demolished a buggy wheel. But Bob, poor chap, lay in the alley, shot
through the breast. Emmet fired at me, and I returned the shot. He was wounded.
I could see that, but he kept steadily on. His companions behind the oil wagon
now opened up on me. I had no time to care for Emmet. Skirting the alley paling
until he came to a breach, he crawled through and away. Grat Dalton, Powers and Broadwell kept up
a galling fire on me. I was not hit. Some way I felt exalted, lifted above
everything on this earth. I did not fear their bullets; it seemed as though I
was invulnerable. Finally, Grat exposed himself. I got him.
Then, seized with a sudden terror, Powers and Broadwell made a rush for their
horses. Before they could mount I had hit them, too, but Broadwell, exerting
superhuman effort, dragged himself into the saddle and rode off. His body was
found later beside a hedge a mile from town. Emmet, who had made his way to a lumber
pile, now reappeared in the alley, obviously trying to reach his horse. I shot
him again. He had enough, and surrendered, and is still doing time at Fort
Leavenworth. After the raid, Kloehr was hailed a hero
for his part in the fight, and perhaps over the years he came to believe this
version of events; that he single-handedly got rid of every member of the gang.
It is well known that Bob and Emmett went into the First National bank, and
that Bob shot Lucius Baldwin at the back of this bank. Emmett was knocked off
from his horse by the buckshot fired from the gun of Carey Seaman. The alley death scene The Dalton Raid Story: The romance which surrounds the Old West
– the romance of the self-sufficient individual, the romance of the
cowboy and the Indian, the romance of the lawman and the desperado – is
perhaps nowhere else so evident as in the story of the Dalton gang raid in
Coffeyville, Kansas, on October 5, 1892. THE APPROACH: On the afternoon of October 4, 1892, a
group of men cut a barbed wire fence and rode their horses across a plowed
field, five abreast, to some timber near Onion Creek on a farm located three
miles southwest of Coffeyville. They tied their horses to separate trees and
prepared to camp. The men who made up this group from that
day on would always be called the Dalton gang. The actual Daltons were Grat,
Bob and Emmett. Their cohorts were Bill Power (sometimes known as Tom Evans)
and Richard L. (Dick) Broadwell (sometimes known as John Moore or Texas Jack). October 5 dawned a bright, clear
Wednesday. When the men left the timber, two of them looked different. Bob, the
leader, was wearing a heavy black moustache and goatee. Grat sported a black
moustache and side-whiskers. Emmett had earlier grown a beard to wear as his
disguise. The five men followed their tracks back
over the plowed field to the bank of Onion Creek, where the bridge crossed the
stream, then headed north to the trail known as CoffeyvilleÕs Eighth Street.
Here they turned east, with the three Daltons in front and Power and Broadwell
in the rear. When they reached the corner of Eighth and Maple, where the
Episcopal Church was located, they first turned south, passing the Long-Bell
Lumber CompanyÕs office and then turned east into the alley that runs through
Coffeyville's block 50 from Maple to Walnut. The Dalton gang rode into the alley,
dismounted and tied their horses to the fence. The five then walked east toward
the plaza, three in front and two in back. THE RAID: Before 8:00 a.m. that Wednesday, the
streets around the Plaza were filled with people bringing produce to the
community and with those on errands typical of a busy town in a rural area. Aleck McKenna was standing in front of
McKenna & AdamsonÕs dry-goods store when the Dalton gang came out of the
alley. He noticed their disguises and recognized one of the Daltons. McKenna
watched as the first three men went into the C.M. Condon & Co. BankÕs
southwest door and as the other two ran across the street and entered the First
National Bank. From where he was standing, McKenna had a
clear view into the front part of the Condon. To his amazement he saw a
Winchester pointed toward the cashierÕs counter. He quickly called out to the
men in the dry goods store that the bank was being robbed. Citizens seeking to halt the robbery ran
to the two hardware stores on the plaza (A.P. Boswell & Co. and Isham
Brothers & Mansur) to arm themselves. Both stores, which had firearm
inventories, passed out guns and ammunition to people who sought to stop the
robbery. A dozen citizens with rifles and shotguns
quickly erected a wagon barricade across the south end of the plaza near
Boswell's. Parker L. Williams climbed out on the Barndollar Brothers Store
awning so he would have a good field of fire. (The Barndollar store was three
doors south of the First National Bank.) While CoffeyvilleÕs citizens were arming
themselves, the Daltons were unaware that the alarm had been given. A customer, John D. Levan, came into the
Condon through the southwest door. The gunmen in the front of the bank told him
to lie down on the floor. Charles T. Carpenter, a Condon officer,
hadnÕt seen the Daltons as they had come in the southwest door, but turned to
see GratÕs Winchester pointed at him. Bill Power went over to the southwest
door, and Dick Broadwell went to stand by the southeast door. The gang had not
yet seen Babb, the bookkeeper, who quietly moved into the vault. The cashier, Charles M. Ball, hearing the
commotion, came into the front of the bank and found Winchesters covering him
and Carpenter. Grat went through the private office and entered the area behind
the bank counter. He gave Cashier Ball a two-bushel grain sack, telling him to
hold it open, and directed Carpenter to put all the money on the counter and in
the cash drawer into the sack, which he did. Once the Condon cash from the counter and
the money drawer was in the sack, Grat asked for any other currency and the
gold. He ordered Ball and Carpenter into the vault and, as they turned to
enter, he discovered Babb. Grat cursed the young bookkeeper and told him to
come out from behind the bookrack with his hands up. Grat then ordered Ball to open a
burglarproof chest standing in the vault, but Ball said that it was on a
time-lock setting and could not be opened until 9:30. (Actually the time lock
had been set for 8:00 a.m., and it had gone off at that time). Grat asked,
ÒWhat time is it now?Ó Ball, glancing at his watch, said 9:20 (although it was
9:40.) Grat said – fateful statement – ÒWe can wait." Ball had made up the time-setting ploy
because the chest contained over $40,000. When Grat asked how much cash the
bankÕs books had shown the previous evening, Ball replied $4,000, all of which
was now in the sack. Ball went on to say that there was nothing in the chest
with the time lock except small change; the bank had ordered some currency, but
it had not yet arrived. While that was going on in the Condon,
Bob and Emmett Dalton in the First National Bank, were having better luck,
though they too had no idea that the alarm had been given. When Bob and Emmett
had entered, three customers – J.H. Brewster, A.W. Knotts and C.L.
Hollingsworth – were in the bank. Jim E.S. Boothby, another customer, had
stepped into the bank a moment or two after the robbers. Seeing what was going
on, he started to back out of the bank; one of the Daltons, waving his rifle,
motioned him inside. Leaving Emmett on guard in the front area
of the bank with the customers, and with Cashier Thomas G. Ayres and Teller W.
H. Shepard, Bob went through a hall into the private office in the rear of the
bank where Bert S. Ayres, the young bookkeeper, was at his desk. Bob ordered
Ayres to go to the front of the bank where the vault was located and to hand
over the money. When Ayres didnÕt move quickly enough, both Daltons swore at
him and threatened to shoot him. The bookkeeper handed over the money on the
counter and that in the cash drawer; then Bob ordered him to get the money from
the safe. The bookkeeper said that he did not know the combination. Cashier Ayres then went to the safe and
returned with some money, which he put in the grain sack the Daltons had
carried in with them. Bob asked if they now had all the money. The Cashier said
there was still some gold in the vault and asked if they also wanted that. Bob
said yes, that they wanted every cent, so the Cashier hurriedly got that for
him. Bob, obviously not convinced that he had
all the gold, entered the vault, opened the safe door and removed two more
packages of money, each containing $5,000. Angrily, Bob threw the packages into
the money sack, which now contained about $21,000. Making the three bank employees go out in
front of the counter, Bob and Emmett ordered the three bankers and the four
customers to leave by the front door. Just as the bank personnel and the bank
customers reached the sidewalk, bootmaker George Cubine, with his Winchester,
and American Express agent C.S. Cox, with a revolver, fired from the doorway of
the drug store at Bob and Emmett in the front door of the First National.
(Rammel Brothers Drug was immediately north of the First National and across
the street east from the Condon.) Neither shot hit the Daltons, but they jumped
back into the bank. Two of the bank employees, Bert Ayres and Shepard, also
retreated into the comparative safety of the bank building. Cashier Ayres ran
on out the front door of the bank and into IshamÕs. There he grabbed a rifle
and moved to stand in the north door of the hardware store. At this point some of the citizen
defenders opened fire on the Condon, shattering the plate glass windows. There,
Power and Broadwell got busy, each firing from four to six times at citizens
outside the bank. The bankers and the two customers stretched out on the floor
to avoid the bullets that flew everywhere as the citizens in front of BoswellÕs
fired about 80 shots into the bank. Power was heard to say that heÕd been hit
and couldnÕt use his arm, that he couldnÕt shoot any longer. Grat then ordered
Ball to open the sack and give him only the currency. Ball, emptying the sack
on the floor, heard a bullet from outside pass close to his head; he hurriedly
handed the currency over to Grat, who stuffed it in his vest. In the First National, Bob moved back to
the bank front door while Emmett, holding his Winchester under one arm, tied a
string around the opening of the money sack. Bob took aim and fired, his shot
hitting defender Charles Gump on his gun hand. Friends helped the wounded man
back into IshamÕs. Another Isham employee, T. Arthur Reynolds, taking a rifle
he had grabbed from inventory, ran out onto the sidewalk and began shooting at
the southeast door of the Condon. A shot from the outlaws then struck Reynolds
on his right foot. Friends helped him back into IshamÕs too. Bob and Emmett told Shepard to open the
back door of the First National for them, and they moved toward that door. At
about the same time, carrying a pistol, Lucius M. Baldwin, a young employee of
Read's store, went out the back door of IshamÕs into the alley running behind
Isham's and the bank. Both Bob and Emmett leveled their rifles at him and
ordered him to stop. However, Baldwin continued to move forward. Bob raised his
rifle and fired. The bullet hit Baldwin in the left chest and passed through
his body. The Daltons ran to the north entrance of the alley, where it entered
Eighth Street. Friends carried Baldwin into IshamÕs. There were now three
wounded citizens in IshamÕs, all bleeding profusely. Emmett, carrying the money sack, ran in
front of Bob, who kept his rifle at the ready. When they reached Eighth Street,
they turned west toward Union. At the corner of Union and Eighth, they glanced
south and fired two shots in that direction. Bob and Emmett continued west on Eighth,
reaching the middle of the intersection of Eighth and Union. From there they
could see Cubine, with his Winchester ready, standing in the doorway of
RammelÕs Drug Store, looking south toward the First National. Four shots were
fired from the intersection, about 40 or 50 yards away, and Cubine fell dead,
shot in the back. He had one bullet through his heart, one in his thigh and a
third in an ankle. The fourth bullet went through the plate glass window of the
drug store. At about the time Bob and Emmett reached
Eighth Street, Grat, in the Condon, finished stuffing the money into his vest
and ran out the CondonÕs southwest door and headed for the alley, his
companions following. Outside the Condon, Grat, Power and Broadwell found
themselves caught in a crossfire between the men at IshamÕs and the men on the
south side of the plaza in front of BoswellÕs. As their partners were leaving the
Condon, Bob and Emmett finished crossing Union at Eighth and began mounting the
steps to the raised sidewalk at the corner. Seeing Thomas Ayres in the north
door of IshamÕs, Bob took careful aim and, from about 75 yards away, fired. The
bullet entered below AyresÕs left eye and came out at the base of his skull.
George Picker quickly pressed his thumb over Ayres' spouting blood, undoubtedly
saving his life. Just as Ayres fell, Grat and his two
companions from the Condon reached the alley opening. Before Ayres could be
pulled to safety, the fleeing gang fired nine shots into IshamÕs. As Emmett and Bob turned left from Eighth
into the north/south alley, they ran into 14 year-old Robert L. Wells Jr., who
was holding a .22 pistol. One of the outlaws tapped the lad with this rifle;
the other cursed at him and told him to run home or he was liable to get hurt.
David Stewart Elliott, the Journal editor, writing soon after the raid,
commented ÒThe boy was not slow in obeying the command." THE ALLEY: When Grat, Broadwell and Power left the
Condon, they ran directly into the line of fire from both the men at IshamÕs
and those at BoswellÕs. Grat and Power received serious wounds before they had
retreated twenty steps. Finally the outlaws from the Condon made it to the
east/west alley and were lost to the sight of the men at BoswellÕs. The men
near IshamÕs still had a relatively good field of fire. At about the time that the three outlaws
from the Condon reached the east/west alley, Bob and Emmett were running south
from Eighth Street through the alley that divided the north half of block 50.
Near the junction of the two alleys, they saw F.D. Benson climbing through a
rear window of Slosson & Co.Õs drug store. Bob fired at him, but his bullet
hit the window. In the alley, wounded outlaw Power tried
to take refuge in the rear door of a store, but the door was locked. Clinging
to his rifle, he staggered west down the alley to his horse. Then another shot
hit him in the back, and he fell dead beside his horse. Grat, using the cover of an oil tank,
reached the stable west of the jail. Liveryman John Kloehr, Carey A. Seamen
– a barber – and Marshal Charles T. Connelly were on the south side
of the plaza when the gang reached the alley. As the three defenders hurried west
toward Kloehr's livery establishment (which opened onto the alley), Connelly
said he needed to get a gun. The Marshal ran into the Swisher Brothers Machine
Shop, a short distance west on Ninth, and borrowed a rifle. He then hurried
across Ninth to a vacant lot that opened on the alley. When he entered the
alley, his back was toward Grat, who raised his rifle to his side and fired
without taking aim. Connelly fell forward, dying. Grat then tried to reach his horse. He
passed the MarshalÕs body and turned to face his attackers, trying to use his
rifle. Kloehr fired another shot, which hit Grat in the throat and broke his
neck. Hit as he entered the east/west alley,
Bob staggered across it and sat down on a pile of curbstones stacked near the jail.
While sitting there, he fired several times, but the bullets went wild. A lull occurred after Grat and Power
fell, so Broadwell crawled out of hiding, mounted his horse and rode away. A
bullet from KloehrÕs rifle and a load of shot from SeamanÕs shotgun hit him.
Bleeding and dying, he hung on to his horse and managed to get away from the
fight scene, only to fall from his horse, dead, some blocks away. Bob spotted John Kloehr inside the fence
at the back of his livery business. Bob tried to raise his rifle to his
shoulder but could not get it up to aim. His shot went wide. Bob managed to
stand and move to the stable west of the jail where, leaning against the
corner, he fired two more shots. A shot from KloehrÕs rifle then struck Bob in
the chest, and he fell to the ground. Emmett, still carrying the grain sack
with approximately $21,000 of the First National BankÕs money, had managed to
escape unhurt up to this time. The horses belonging to Bob and Power had been
between Emmett and the defenders; both horses were killed by shots intended for
Emmett. Finally he reached his horse. A half-dozen shots went in his direction
as he attempted to mount. Wounded in the right arm and in the left hip and
groin, Emmett managed to get in his saddle. All accounts agree that Emmett, still
clinging to the sack containing the First National Bank money, chose not to
ride away. Instead, he rode back to where Bob was lying, reached down his hand,
and tried to lift his dying or dead brother onto the horse with him. ElliottÕs
account said Bob whispered, ÒItÕs no use.Ó Then Seaman fired both barrels of
his shotgun at EmmettÕs back, and he fell from the horse. At last came the cry: ÒThey are all
down!Ó Note: The above excerpts are used with written
permission from Lue Diver Barndollar, author of What Really Happened on October
5, 1892: Bill Dalton - Prelude to Disaster! Dennis Muncrier: In the late 1800's in Indian Territory,
there were many outlaw gangs that were made up of brothers. Some of these were the Miller, Lee,
Marlow, Younger, James and the subject of our sketch today, the Dalton
brothers. One of the curiosities of this family is
that Frank Dalton was a Deputy U.S. Marshal in Indian Territory who gave his
life in the line of duty in 1887. Grattan, or Grat as he was called, and Bob
were also deputy U.S. Marshals and often rode with Frank. Emmett was a kid at this time and just
rode along with his older brothers in the posse. After Frank was killed, the remaining
three brothers started a life of crime.
Or, could it have been "returned to" a life of crime. Bob who was wounded in 1888 while a
marshal, had also killed a man in a lover's triangle and is said to have been
in the horse stealing business while still a marshal. When some stolen horses were trailed to Kansas, Bob, Grat
and Emmett decided they needed a vacation in California to visit their brother
Bill. The trip was uneventful until three
masked gunmen held up the Southern Pacific RR near Tulare, California. Bill proved his alibi but Grat could not
and was convicted of robbery and sentenced to Folsom Prison. Grat somehow obtained the keys to his
cell and escaped while waiting to go to prison and with his brothers Bob and
Emmett, high-tailed it back to Kingfisher, O.T. It is said that Bob was the wild one and
was the ringleader of the outlaw brothers. He included the likes of Bill Doolin, Dick Broadwell and
Blackface Charley Bryant. Charley got his moniker because he had a black powder
gun blow up in his face. In the early 1890's, the Daltons rode out
of Kingfisher, O.T. to spread their rein of terror. On their ill fated and
ill-conceived trip to Coffeyville, Kansas, they attempted to rob two banks at
the same time. Now folks, the
Dalton Brothers were raised in Coffeyville. Everybody in that small town knew them by site. Everybody knew that they were bank and
train robbers. How dumb do you have to be to rob a bank
in your hometown? It is no wonder
that every available citizen was armed and waiting for them outside the two
banks. Bob and Grat were killed in
the armed melee that resulted and Emmett was seriously wounded but survived to
serve a stretch in the Lansing pen for robbery. After being pardoned by the Kansas governor, Emmet went to
California and became a technical advisor in the making of western movies. This is where Bill Dalton enters the
picture. After the shootout, Bill
was notified to come take care of his brother's final affairs. Some say that Bill lived in California
at the time of the robbery but when Bill was killed, Marshals found letters
addressed to his wife in California and mailed from Oklahoma Territory months
before the Coffeyville Raid. Bill
may have been in the country well before the raid. Littleton or "Lit" Dalton later
told a reporter that Bill was indeed in Kingfisher, O.T. when the ill-fated
raid on Coffeeville was being planned.
For some reason, probably good sense, he refused to join the raid on
their former hometown. Lit also
related in that interview that Bill's real name was Mason Frakes Dalton although
he always went by the name Bill.
Bill appears as Mason on both the 1870 and 1880 census in Missouri. Upon arrival at Coffeyville, Bill was
incensed to find that souvenir hunters had taken all the personal possession
that his brothers had on them.
This personal property of the boys was passed around or sold like tokens
from a county fair. This incident
is believed to have been a major factor as to why Bill took the path he choose
after the death of his brothers. Others say it was the bad blood the boys
inherited from their mother. You
see, their mother Adeline was a Younger, the aunt of Cole, Bob and Jim Younger
and a cousin of Frank and Jesse James.
The Daltons had moved to Coffeyville from Missouri at the beginning of
the Civil War to escape the ravages that were known to be coming. The Dalton boys grew up listening to
stories of their famous or infamous relatives. With the opening of the Oklahoma
Territory in 1889, Lewis and Adeline Dalton made the run like so many others
into the new land settling near Kingfisher, O.T. Charles, Littleton and Henry also made claims near
Kingfisher to be near their father.
There were 15 children in the Dalton family and only Bob, Bill, Grat and
Emmett turned to a life of crime.
Their siblings were solid, productive citizens in Oklahoma Territory. Bill Dalton was a respected businessman
in California and is said to have even served in the California legislature
although this has never been proven.
He lived in a beautiful two-story home surrounded by palm trees. Bill would later be buried in the front
yard of his home. Here he married
Jane Bliven, an affluent young lady. After the Coffeyville Raid, Bill
reorganized the remaining gang with Bill Doolin, Roy Daugherty (a.k.a. Arkansas
Tom Jones), George Newton, and Tulsa Jack Blake, William F. Raidler (a.k.a.
Little Bill) and Richard West (a.k.a. Little Dick). Later Three-fingered Dynamite Dick hung out the gang. Evidently back then you couldn't be a
successful outlaw without a really catchy nickname. The headquarters for the gang was in the town of Ingles in
the Cherokee Strip. On Sept. 1st, 1893, the gang was in a
saloon drinking when several lawmen and townsmen surrounded the place. Arkansas Tom was captured but the rest
of the gang, all wounded, escaped the shootout. He was sentenced to 50 years in prison. The gang laid low
and recovered from their wounds for the next few months. In May of 1894, the gang would ride again
to rob the Longview, Texas bank.
This would be their last crime and the unsigned bank notes taken in this
robbery would prove to be their downfall. The Shootout at Elk, I.T. After the Coffeyville Raid by the Dalton
brothers with the death of Bob and Grat and the wounding of Emmit, the
remainder of the gang scattered. Brother Bill would gather the old gang members
Bill Doolin, "Tulsa Jack" Blake, "Bitter Creek" Newcomb and
Charley Pierce and begin a new reign of bandit terror in the territory. The shootout at Ingles in the Cherokee
Strip on September 1, 1893 left the entire gang wounded, some severely but only
"Arkansas Tom" was captured. The last raid committed by the last
Dalton outlaw occurred on May 23, 1894.
This gang consisted of Jim Wallace, Big Asa Knight, Jim Knight, and
George Bennett. At 3:00 p.m., two
roughly dressed men appeared at the desk of the president of the First National
Bank of Longview, Texas. One of
the men handed President Clemmons a note that read: "This will introduce
you to Charles Spreckelmeyer, who wants some money and he is going to have
it. B. and F." The B&F apparently stood for
"Bill and friends." The
interesting thing about this name is that there was a family named
Spreckelmeyer living in Ardmore at that time. Mr. Clemmons looked up to find he was
looking down the bore of a Winchester.
The robbers got away with $2,000 in ten-dollar bank notes and nine
twenty-dollar bills. Now you have
to remember this was way before the Federal Reserve System when banks issued
their own currency as well as the National Currency. The president and the treasurer of the bank usually signed
banknotes by hand with pen and ink.
The reason the exact number of bills was known is that the money taken
was in new, uncirculated bills issued by the bank with many of them yet unsigned. Legend, rumor and outright fabrication has
given the total take as somewhere between $2,000 and $4,500. The City Marshal learned of the robbery
in progress and assembled the citizens of Longview and the proverbial gun
battle between the bad men and the good town folks ensued. Exiting the bank, a fusillade of fire
poured down on the bandits. The bandits forced the bank employees to go into
the street first. While the posse
was busy shooting at the bank president and tellers, the bandits mounted up and
rode away unscathed. One of the gang named Jim Wallace was at once struck down
and mortally wounded. As usual,
just about everybody on the street near the bank were killed or wounded with
all the flying lead. Bill and the
remainder of the gang escaped. The dead outlaw wore a hat with a label
inside that read "W.O. Dustin, Ardmore, I.T." The Longview sheriff telegraphed the
U.S. Marshal in Ardmore and gave a description of the man. After some detective work it was
determined that it was Jim Wallace who lived on a ranch at Elk, thirty miles
northwest of Ardmore in the Arbuckles. Things quieted down for a few weeks after
the robbery. On the morning of
June 7th, 1894, two women and a man came to Ardmore, I.T. for some
shopping. They bought the usual
items people used except they also purchased an unusually large amount of
ammunition of various calibers.
Also purchased was a suit of clothes for a man but it was much larger
than the size of the man accompanying the women. This caused the clerk in the store to
become suspicious and he began examining the bank notes. He noticed they were new bills from the
First National Bank of Longview, Texas and several were not signed. The clerk took the notes to the law who
immediately telegraphed the sheriff in Longview and the serial numbers of the
notes matched the stolen notes. While all this commotion was going on
with the bank notes, the U.S. Marshals were notified that a suspicious package
had arrived by train from Texas at the freight depot. When the marshals opened it they found three gallon barrels
of whiskey. Introduction of
whiskey into the Indian Territory was a serious offense and the marshals took
watch on the freight depot to see who
claimed the package. Most of the day passed with the man and
two women making the best of a shopping spree spending a considerable amount of
money. In the afternoon the man
appeared at the freight depot and claimed the package containing the whiskey.
At this point U.S. Marshal Seldon Lindsey arrested the man who he recognized as
Houston Wallace, brother of Jim Wallace, the dead bandit at the Longview Bank
robbery. Lindsey also took the two
women into custody who identified
themselves as Mrs. Pruitt and Mrs. Smith. One of the women had $300 dollars hidden
in her bosom and the other had $400
hidden in her stocking also being loot taken in the Longview
robbery. Houston Wallace was
locked up on introduction charges and the women were to be detained until noon
the next day. Lindsey immediately
formed a posse and made plans to go to the Houston Wallace ranch in the
Arbuckle Mountains near Elk. (The
post office name at Elk was changed to Pooleville about 1906.) There were rewards of about $35,000
offered by various organizations for the capture of Bill Dalton, dead or
alive. This was a huge sum of
money in 1896. In today's money,
this would be the equivalent of $866,000.
A .44-.40 Winchester or Colt revolver could be bought for $13 and
ammunition was 1½ cents per round.
A Stetson hat cost $4.50 and a good enough saddle cost $10. Land sold at this time for about $1.25
per acre in Oklahoma Territory. The rewards caused two marshals to form
two separate posses to go to Elk.
The competing marshal, hoping to delay Lindsey's arrival at Elk, got the
confiscated whiskey and gave it to Lindsey's posse hoping to get them drunk
enough so they would pose no threat to his posse getting the huge rewards. One
man in Lindsey's posse passed out and fell dead drunk on the way to the
hideout. By the time the posse
arrived at the Houston Wallace ranch only Lindsey and Loss Hart were in good
enough shape to perform their task. In the early morning of June 8th, 1894,
Lindsey's posse, or what was left of it, surrounded the Houston Wallace ranch
house. The only semi-sober posse
man left was stationed in front of the house. All was quite around the house as the sun began to break
across the Arbuckles. A man was
observed playing in the front yard with four children. A young girl went to the pasture to
fetch the milk cow. As the girl and the cow passed the ravine
behind the house, she saw Lindsey and Hart hiding in the ravine but walked
quietly on to the house pretending not to see them. She tied up the cow and yelled to the man in the front yard
playing with the children. The man
ran to the house and in a few seconds jumped out the back window with a pistol
in his hand. He ran a few hundred
feet toward the timber and the ravine when U.S. Marshal Lindsey called for him
to surrender. The man turned and
fired his pistol at Lindsey hidden in the ravine. Lindsey knew that if this man were Dalton he would not miss
a second shot. The marshal, who wanted to take the
desperado in alive, had a thousand thoughts race through his mind in an
instant. Which one of them would
ride away from there that day?
Which one of them would live to tell their grandchildren this
story? Which one of them had seen
his last sunrise? It was now down
to Òhim or meÓ. Lindsey threw his
.38-.56 Winchester to his shoulder and fired. At almost the same instant Hart fired his .44 Winchester at
the fleeing man. The first shot
struck the man in the chest spinning him around when the second shot hit him in
the back with either bullet proving fatal. The man fell face down on the grass. Hart and Lindsey cautiously
approached the fallen victim. Slowly the man rolled over on his back,
smiled and breathed his last breath.
Hart and Lindsey recognized him as being Bill Dalton. Only three shots were fired and the
most feared and wanted man in the old west was taken. The last of the Dalton gang was dead. "Tulsa Jack" Blake died
following the hold-up of the Rock Island train at Dover, O.T. on May 5, 1895,
at the hands of Marshal Chris Madsen .
"Bitter Creek" Newcomb and Charley Pierce died by the hands of
their friends at the outlaw hangout at Rock Fort Ranch with a load of buckshot
for each. Marshal Bill Tilghman captured Bill Doolin in
December of 1895 in a Eureka Springs, Arkansas bathhouse where Doolin had gone
for treatment of rheumatism. Bill
Raidler is seriously wounded and captured by Marshal Bill Tilghman near
Pawhuska, O.T. Dynamite Dick
Clifton was arrested on a whiskey charge in Texas and brought back to Guthrie. On July 5, 1896, Bill Doolin, Dynamite
Dick, and 12 other prisoners escaped from the Guthrie, O.T. jail. Marshal Heck Thomas took Doolin down
the next year with a load of buckshot.
"Little Dick" West was killed on April 8, 1898 by Deputy
Marshal Heck Thomas's posse.
Dynamite Dick Clifton was killed by deputies on November 7, 1898 near
Checotah, I.T. Who Killed Bill Dalton? In the early morning hours of June 8th,
1894, on the Houston Wallace ranch in the Arbuckle Mountains, U.S. Marshals
Loss Hart and Seldon Lindsey shot and killed Bill Dalton, the last of the
Dalton Gang. Dalton was wanted for the robbery of the
Longview bank among many other bank and train robberies. There was an aggregate of $35,000 in
rewards for Bill Dalton, dead or alive.
It was common at the time for the posse to split the rewards of any
captured felon. If the criminal
was not captured, the posse got nothing for their trouble. The officers went into the house after
the shooting and pandemonium broke loose.
The children were crying, the young girl was screaming and the other man
seen at the window in the house had mysteriously disappeared. The marshals tried to console the
children and assure them they would not be harmed. Young Gracie and Charles Dalton, age 6 and 8 were terror
stricken at seeing their father killed. The posse began searching the house for
the money. It was stashed all over
the log cabin but the major portion of the loot was nowhere to be seen. The marshals happened to remember that
Bill Dalton had a particular fancy for trap doors and pulled a rug off the
floor. Sure enough there was a
trap door under the rug. Beneath
the floor was a bank bag from the Longview bank containing $1,700. They had their proof that it was the
Dalton gang that robbed the bank. Also found in the cabin was the trunk of
the Mrs. Smith who was detained in Ardmore. The lawmen found bundles of letters addressed to her, ÒJane
DaltonÓ, at Fresno, California and mailed from Oklahoma Territory. This is the cause for the reasoning
that Bill was in this country well before his brotherÕs ill-fated raid on
Coffeyville. DaltonÕs body was placed in a wagon
belonging to Houston Wallace and the procession headed back to Elk to retrieve
their horses. On the way back to
Elk, the still dead drunk posse man was lying beside the road. The posse stopped and laid him in the
wagon beside DaltonÕs body. Those of us who know how hot and humid it
gets in the Arbuckles in the summer time can guess what was beginning to happen
to DaltonÕs body. The body was
swollen so badly by the time the posse reached Milo, I.T. that they stopped at
the well of Jim Alverson and poured twenty buckets of cool well water on the
corpse in an attempt to reduce the swelling. This effort didnÕt help the body much but did wash the blood
off the clothing exposing the bullet hole in DaltonÕs chest. Buck Garrett had released the two women
as instructed by Lindsey and the wagon with DaltonÕs body and the wagon driven
by Mrs. Pruitt and Mrs. Dalton (alias Mrs. Smith) loaded with supplies met on
the road about five miles from Ardmore. The women were told that Bill Dalton had been
killed but both women disclaimed any knowledge of the outlaw. As the two wagons passed, Jane Dalton
saw her husbandÕs body lying in the back of the wagon she became hysterical. She was placed in the wagon with the
body and returned to Ardmore with the posse. The body was taken to AppollaÕs Funeral Home where an
estimated crowd of 1,000 people pushed and shoved to see a last glimpse of the
King of Western Outlaws. Ardmore
quickly turned into a circus of reporters not unlike today. This media frenzy is where the conjecture
about the shooting came about. The
second marshal and posse arrived well after the shootout at the Wallace
Ranch. One of LindseyÕs posse men,
the remaining sober one, told this second marshal that Loss Hart had killed
Dalton when in fact he couldnÕt see who had done it because the shootout
occurred behind the house out of his sight. This second marshal is the person who
told the press that Loss Hart had been the man. The only people to ever talked to the press about the
shooting were the members of this second posse who were not even present when
the shooting occurred. For some unknown reason Lindsey gave orders to his posse
that the details of the shooting would not be discussed. Maybe this was in deference to Mrs.
Dalton and her children to save them the pain of knowing exactly how he died. Marshal Lindsey's instructions to his
posse that no one was to ever give details of the shooting to the press and not
one of them ever did. But, as
today, the reporters who were hounded for details by their editors back home,
began to ÒassumeÓ a lot of facts that were simply not true at all. At AppollaÕs undertaking establishment,
a doctor removed the two bullets that were still in DaltonÕs body. A .38/56 Winchester ball, a peculiar
caliber, was removed from the heart of Dalton. A .44 Winchester ball was removed from DaltonÕs back. Lindsey used a .38/56 and Loss Hart used
a .44 Winchester. There was
even some conjecture that the death photo of Dalton was not really of him
because the man was too ÒfatÓ.
Remember that the marshals were pouring cold well water on the corpse to
keep the swelling down with little effect on the thirty mile wagon trip on that
hot Arbuckle Mountain June day. Who killed Bill Dalton? It really makes little difference. A man made a series of bad decisions in
his life and paid for it with the ultimate penalty. Jane DaltonÕs husband and Gracie and CharlesÕ father was
dead. The most hunted and feared
outlaw of the 1890Õs had seen his last sunrise. DALTON ON PAROLE Notorious Bandit Been in Prison Fifteen
Years Last Survivor of Robber Gang Desperate Outlaws Committed Reckless and
Foul Murders for Years July 18, 1907—El Reno
American—Kansas City, Mo., July 15—Bewildered by the busy scenes
And new sights confronting his eyes, Emmett Dalton, the ex-train robber, is
enjoying the first bit of freedom he has spent outside of prison walls in
nearly fifteen years. A week ago
he was granted a four monthsÕ parole by Governor Hoch and released from the
Kansas Penitentiary at Lansing in order that he might come to the city to
receive treatment for a would in the shoulder, received I the famous skirmish
at Coffeyville, Kansas. It is
believed that a pardon is in sight for the ex-bandit and it is probably that he
will not be obliged to stay in prison long after the expiration of his present
parole. His aged mother, who is
now with him, has been working for his freedom for years and recently her
efforts have received the endorsement of many prominent Kansans. Emmett Dalton is the last surviving
member of the Dalton gang of outlaws, which included the three brothers, Bob,
Gratton and Emmett, who first sprang into public notice in 1899 and were wiped
out in 1892 at Coffeyville, Kansas, where they attempted to rob the Coffeyville
National Bank. Bob Dalton had been
a deputy marshal in the Indian Territory, where he acquired a reputation for
nerve and daring. In 1889 he was
discharged from the service for accepting bribes from criminals. Accompanied by his brothers, Gratton
and Emmett, he proceeded to California.
They had not been there long before there was a train robbery near
Attila, in which the fireman of the train was killed. The Daltons were accused and indicted. They left the sate and for the next
eighteen months they made criminal history faster than it had been made since
the days of the Younger and James boys. The Santa Fe train robberies at Wharton
and Red Rock, the Missouri Pacific robbery at Adair and the San Francisco
robbery near Vinita all followed in rapid succession,. Between jobs the gang hid in the Indian
Territory, Arkansas and Kansas.
The railroad and express companies heaped up rewards until they amounted
to $25,000, but there were no captures.
The Coffeyville raid was the pet scheme of Bob Dalton. He had lived there, knew the banks, and
was anxious to outdo the James and Younger exploits by riding boldly into the
town in broad daylight and plundering both banks at one haul. The raid occurred in October 1892. The gang rode into the town and hitched
its horses in an alley and started for the banks, each man carrying a
Winchester in the hollow of his arm. But the purpose of the gang was quickly
realized and a cry of ÒRobbers in the bank!Ó brought the citizens out in force.
The defendants of the town rushed
into hardware stores and armed themselves with rifles and guns. They stole out on the tops of
buildings, in alleys and back lots, while some few stood boldly out in the
street. In the National Bank Bob
and Emmett Dalton had compelled the bank force to hold up its hands and had
dumped $20,000 in cash into a sack.
Coming to the bank window, Bob engaged in battle with the townspeople,
killing one man and wounding three others. Meanwhile there was more serious trouble
for Grat Dalton at the Condon bank.
The bank had a time lock, which frustrated the efforts of the gang to
open it. Grat swept up the cash he
found lying around, exchanging a few shot with the citizens until he was forced
to flee. The gang hurried to the
alley where their horses were tied, and where they wee hemmed in by the
citizens to such an extent that the Dalton boys, only Emmett, swifter of foot
than the others, gained his horse.
Emmett rode but a short distance, when to the astonishment of the
citizens he turned back to help his brother Bob, who had been mortally wounded. When the smoke of battle cleared away
there were eight dead men. The
robbers had lost bob and Grat Dalton, Joe Evans and John Moore, and their fifth
man, Emmett Dalton, had been shot until it was thought he could not live. The citizens had lost the city marshal,
a bank clerk and tow merchants of the town. Several others had been severely wounded. After Emmett recovered fro his wounds
he was tried and sentenced to be hanged, which in Kansas means a life sentence
in the penitentiary. He was but 18
years old when captured and has been confined in the penitentiary nearly 15
years. He has been spoken of at
all times as a model prisoner.
GOV. HOCH TO GIVE DALTONÕS PARDON November 7, 1907—The El Reno
American—Topeka, Kas., Nov 4—Governor Hoch Saturday issued a pardon
to Emmet Dalton, former member of the Dalton gang that ended its career at
Coffeyville, Kans., in 1892, under circumstances that attended the capture of the greater part of
Younger band of bandits at Northfield, Minn., in 1876. Dalton was a model prisoner and for
several years a trusty at the Kansas penitentiary in Lansing. Fifteen years ago, with his brothers and
three other companions, he tried to rob two banks at Coffeyville. He and Bob got $22,000 from one bank
and started to ride away, but his companions engaged in a pitched battle in the
other bank and lost their opportunity to escape. Bob Dalton was killed and Emmett
captured. Emmet was then only 20
years old. He was sentenced to
death but the decree was commuted to life imprisonment. Emmet was wounded in the arm in the
Coffeyville fight. The injury never healed and three months
ago he was granted a parole in order that the might go to Kansas City and have
the wound treated. He returned to Coffeyville a few days ago to serve out his
sentence. The Governor had requested Alton to come
to Topeka and the prisoner made the trip from Lansing alone. After a conference with Dalton,
Governor Hoch handed him the parchment that made him a free man. Then he shook hands with Dalton and
declared his belief that he would become a useful citizen. Dalton tanked the governor and added:
ÒThere is someone in Kingfisher who will be glad to hear of this.Ó He referred to his mother, who lives in
Oklahoma. She is 92 years old and
has been working for her sonÕs pardon for several years. THE DALTONS WIPED OUT. Galveston Daily News / October 6, 1892. A BLOODY DAY AT COFFEYVILLE FOR BOTH
SIDES. The Place Strewed With Corpses of
Robbers, Officers and Citizens -- The Plot and the Battle Described. COFFEYVILLE, Kan., Oct. 5. -- The Dalton
gang has been exterminated -- wiped off the face of the earth. They were to-day
shot down, but not until four citizens of this place yielded up their lives in
the work of extermination. Six of the gang rode into town this morning and
robbed two banks. The raid became known to the officers of the law, and when
the bandits attempted to escape they were attacked by the marshal's posse. In
the battle which ensued four of the desperadoes were killed outright, and one
so fatally wounded that he has since died. The other escaped but is being hotly
pursued. Of the attacking party four were killed,
one fatally and two seriously wounded. The dead are: Bob Dalton, desperado, shot through the
head. Grant Dalton, desperado, shot through the
heart. Emmett Dalton, desperado, shot through
the left side. Joseph Evans, desperado, shot through the
head. John Moore, "Texas Jack,"
desperado, shot through the head. T. C. Connelly, city marshal, shot
through the body. L. M. Baldwin, bank clerk, shot through
the head. G. W. Cubine, merchant, shot through the
head. C. J. Brown, shoemaker, shot through the
body. Thomas G. Ayers, cashier of the First
national bank, was shot through the groin and cannot live. T. A. Reynolds, of the attacking party,
has a wound in the right breast, but it is not considered necessarily
dangerous. Louis Dietz, another of the attacking
party, was shot in the right side. His wound is serious but not fatal. It was rumored a month ago that the
Dalton gang contemplated an immediate raid upon the banks of the city.
Arrangements were made to give them a warm reception, and for over a week of
patrol was maintained night and day to give warning of the gang's approach. The
raid did not take place, and then came the report, from Deming, N. M., that
United States officers had had a battle with the bandits and three bandits had
been killed. This report is believed here to have been circulated by the Daltons
themselves, their intention being to divert attention from their real
intentions and to lull the people of the town into a sense of security. The
people, however, were not so easily deceived, and when the report of the
disaster to the gang in New Mexico was denied vigilance was renewed. Still the
expected raid was not made; finally the patrol was withdrawn last Saturday,
although every stranger was carefully scrutinized as soon as he appeared on the
streets. It was 9 o'clock this morning when the
Dalton gang rode into town. They came in two squads of three each, and passing
through the unfrequented part of town into the valley in the rear of the First
national bank quickly tied their horses and without losing a moment's time
proceeded to their attack upon the banks. Robert Dalton, the notorious leader of
the gang, and Emmett, his brother, went to the First national bank, the other
four, under the leadership of "Texas Jack," or John Moore, going to
the private bank of C. M. Congdon & Co. Meantime an alarm had already been
given. The Dalton boys were born and bred in
this vicinity, and were well known to nearly every man, woman and child in
town. In their progress through town, they had been recognized. City Marshal
Connelly was quickly notified of their arrival, and almost before the bandits
had entered the bank he was collecting a posse to capture them if possible or
kill them if necessary. He ran first to the livery stable of Jim Spears, a dead
shot with the Winchester and a valuable man in any fight. Then he summoned
George Cubine, a merchant; Charles Brown, a shoemaker; John Cox, express agent,
and other citizens who could be conveniently reached. Stationing them about the
square, which both of the banks faced, he hastened to augment the posse by summoning
other citizens for impromptu police duty. While Marshal Connelly was collecting
his forces the bandits, all ignorant of their being laid for, were proceeding
deliberately with their work of robbing the banks. Texas Jack's band entered
Congdon's bank, and with Winchesters leveled at Cashier Ball and Teller
Carpenter ordered them to throw up their hands. Then Texas Jack searched them
for weapons, while the other three desperadoes kept them covered with rifles.
Finding that he was unarmed, Cashier Ball was ordered to open the safe. The
cashier explained that the safe's door was controlled by a time lock and could
not by any means short of dynamite be opened before its time was up, which
would be 10 o'clock, or in about twenty minutes. "We will wait," said
the leader, as he sat down at the cashier's desk. "How about the money drawers?"
he asked, suddenly, and jumping up, he walked around to the cages of the paying
and receiving tellers and taking the money, amounting in all to less than
$2300, dumped it into a flour sack with which he was supplied and again sat
down while the time lock slowly ticked off the seconds and the hands of the
clock hardly moved towards the hour of ten. Bob and Emmett Dalton, meanwhile,
were having better luck at the First national bank. When they entered the bank,
they found within it Cashier Ayers, his son, Albert Ayers, and Teller W. H.
Sheppard, none of them armed, and with levelled revolvers the brother bandits
intimidated them. Albert Ayers and Teller Sheppard were kept under the muzzle
of Emmett Dalton's revolvers, while Bob Dalton forced Cashier Ayers to strip
the safe vault and cash drawers of all the money contained in them and place it
in a sack brought along for that purpose. Fearing to leave them behind lest
they should give the alarm before the bandits should be able to mount their
horses and escape, the desperadoes marched the officers of the bank out of the
door with the intention of keeping them under guard, while they made their
escape. The party made its appearance at the door of the bank just as Liveryman
Spears and his companions of the marshal's posse took their positions in the
square. When the Dalton Brothers saw armed men in the square they appreciated
their peril on the instant, and leaving the bank officers on the steps of the
bank building, they ran for their horses. As soon as they reached the sidewalk,
Spears' rifle quickly came to position. An instant later, it spoke and Bob
Dalton, the notorious leader of a notorious gang, fell in his tracks, dead. There
was not a quiver of a muscle after he fell. The bullet struck him in the right
temple, plowed through his brain and passed out just above the left eye. Emmett Dalton had the start of his
brother, and before Spears could draw a bead on him he had dodged behind the
corner of the bank, and was making time in the direction of the alley where the
bandits had tied their horses. The shot which dropped Bob Dalton aroused
Texas Jack's band in Congdon's bank, who were patiently waiting for the time
lock of the safe to be sprung with the hour of 10. Running to the windows of
the bank they saw their leader prostrate on the ground. Raising the rifles to
their shoulders, they fired one volley out of the windows. Two men fell at the
volley. Cashier Ayers fell on the steps of his bank shot through the groin.
Shoemaker Crown [sic] of the attacking party in the square was shot through the
body. He was quickly removed to his shop, but died just as he was carried
within. The firing attracted the attention of
Marshal Connelly, who was collecting more men for his posse, and with a few
whom he had already gathered, he ran hurriedly to the scene of the conflict. After firing a volley from the windows of
the bank the bandits, knowing their only safety lay in flight, attempted to
escape. They ran from the bank, firing as they fled. The marshal's posse on the
square, without organization of any kind, fired at the fleeing bandits, each
man for himself. Spears's trusty Winchester spoke twice more in quick
succession before the others of the posse could take aim, and Joseph Evans and
Texas Jack fell dead, both shot through the head, making three dead bandits to
his credit. In the general fusillade which followed
Grant Dalton, one of the surviving members of Texas Jack's squad, Marshal
Connelly, George Cubine and L. M. Baldwin, one of Congdon's clerks, who was out
collecting when the attack was made, were mortally hit and died in the field. Allie Ogee, the only survivor of the
band, succeeded in escaping to the alley where the horses were tied and,
mounting the swiftest horse of the lot, fled south in the direction of the
Indian territory. Emmett Dalton, who had escaped from the
First national bank, had already reached the alley and safety, but had some
trouble in getting mounted, and Allie Ogee had already made his escape before
Emmett got fairly started. Several of the posse, anticipating that
horses would be required, were already mounted and quickly pursued the escaping
bandits. Emmett Dalton's horse was no match for the fresher animals of his
pursuers. As the pursuers closed on him he turned suddenly in the saddle and
fired upon his would-be captors. The latter answered with a volley and Emmett
toppled from his horse, hard hit. He was brought back to the town and died late
this afternoon. He made an anti-mortem statement, confessing to various crimes
committed by the gang of which he was a member. Allie Ogee had about ten minutes' start
of his pursuers, and was mounted on a swift horse. At 5 o'clock this evening he
had not been captured. After the battle was over search was made
for the money which the bandits had secured. It was found in the sacks where it
had been placed by the robbers. One sack was found under the body of Bob
Dalton, who had fallen dead upon it while escaping from the First national
bank. The other was found tightly clinched in Texas Jack's hand. The money was
restored to its rightful owners. The bodies of those of the attacking
party who were killed were removed to their respective homes, while the bodies
of the dead bandits were allowed to remain where they had fallen until the
arrival of the coroner from Independence, who ordered them removed to the
courthouse. There he held an inquest, the jury returning a verdict in
accordance with the facts. The inquest over the bodies of the dead citizens
will be postponed until the result of the pursuit of Allie Ogee is known. During the time the bodies remained in
the square they were viewed by hundreds of people of this and surrounding
towns, who, having heard of the tragedy, came in swarms to inspect the scene.
The excitement was of the most intense character, and the fate of Allie Ogee,
should he be captured, was determined by universal consent. He will be hanged. Other topics which attracted universal
comment were the fulfillment of a prophesy that the Daltons would "die
with their boots on," the peculiar fate which had decreed that they should
die by the hands of their old friends in the vicinity of the place of their
birth, and the excellent marksmanship of Liveryman Spears, who with three shots
sent death to as many bandits. The Outlaw Brothers: The Daltons were a numerous family. There
were five boys and three girls. Of the boys, two are engaged in farming, one in
Oklahoma, where the mother of the family lives, and one near Coffeyville, where
the three brothers met their death to-day. The Daltons were second cousins of
the noted James boys, who defied the law in Missouri for so many years, and
through them were related to the Youngers, who are now serving life terms of
imprisonment in the penitentiary of Minnesota. Bob Dalton was the first of the
boys to enter upon a career of crime. While scarcely more than a boy he became
a cattle thief and did a thriving business driving off cattle from herds on the
Cherokee strip and taking them across the Indian Territory into Colorado, where
he would sell them. He was joined soon by his brother, Grant Dalton. Their
depredations became so frequent and troublesome that the cattlemen organized to
drive them from the strip. A posse of cowboys formed for that purpose gave the
Daltons a hard chase, finally losing them in the wilds of New Mexico. The next
heard of the Daltons was in California, where they took to train and stage
robbing. While robbing a stage there one of the passengers was killed in the
attack. This spurred the officers to extraordinary efforts to effect the
capture of the Dalton gang, and Grant Dalton was finally captured. While being
taken to a place for safe keeping he was rescued by the other members of the
gang, and the whole party finally escaping after being chased all over
California and through part of Arizona. In the spring of 1889, the gang turned up
again in the Indian Territory, and when Oklahoma was opened to settlement the
Dalton boys secured a choice claim for their mother near Hennessey, where she
still lives, supported by one of her sons. At the time of the opening Bob
Dalton was a United States deputy marshal, being selected on account of his
peculiar fitness to deal with desperate characters. After the opening he
returned to his life of outlawry and he and Grant were then joined by their
brother Emmett, the youngest of the brothers. They were at that time also
joined by Texas Jack and soon gathered about them several desperate characters.
It was then that the most successful period of the Daltons' career, from their
standpoint, began. Their attention was first directed to the robbing of express
trains, and they perpetrated many successful "hold-ups," the most
noted of which are the robberies of the Santa Fe at Wharton, at Red Rock, of
the Missouri Pacific at Adair, and of the 'Frisco near Vinita. The Wharton
robbery was perhaps the most dramatic of all. The robbers went to Wharton on
horseback, and entering the station there, asked the operator if the train was
on time. He replied he would inquire, and was about to do so when one of the
band, fearing the operator had recognized them, shot him dead upon the spot
without a word of warning. When the train arrived it was held up after the
regulation manner. In the pursuit of the robbers which followed, outlaw Ed
Bryant was captured at Enid by Deputy United States Marshal Ed Short, known
throughout the entire territory as a most brave officer. Short placed the
captive in the baggage car of the Santa Fe train to take him to Guthrie. He had
disarmed him, placing a brace of revolvers on a convenient trunk, and placed
the desperado in irons. When the train reached Adair Short disembarked to send
a telegraphic message. When he re-entered the car Bryant had secured one of his
weapons and holding it in his manacled hands fired and fatally wounded Short.
The officer, however, had strength to raise a Winchester and put four bullets
into Bryant's body, expiring as he pulled the trigger the last time. There were no fatalities attending the
Red Rock robbery, but the Adair robbery resulted in the deaths of two men. The
express car was guarded and a hot fight took place between the guards and the
robbers. The place where the train was held up was in the midst of town. One
stray bullet passed into the room of a physician, and striking him in the head,
killed him instantly. Another physician, hearing firing, went in its direction
and was also shot and killed. The last train robbery committed by the
gang was that of the 'Frisco near Vinita. The amounts secured by the robbers in
their various raids will probably never be known. It was very great, however,
and has been estimated at $300,000. After the 'Frisco robbery, the Daltons
seem to have diverted their attention to the robbery of banks. They rode into
El Reno one day and attacked the only bank in town. The only person in the bank
at the time was the wife of the president, who fainted at the first sight of
the ugly revolvers. The bandits leisurely took all the money in sight and
remounting their horses rode away. This raid netted them $10,000, which was
such a severe blow to the bank it was forced into liquidation. To-day's was the
next and last raid of the gang, and with it ended the existence of a band
equalled only in the desperate character of its undertakings by the James and
Younger bands. EPILOGUE. News accounts after the
Coffeyville shootout, this one among them, included a number of errors: - Emmett Dalton, after being shot 23
times, did not die but recovered from his wounds, was sentenced to a life term
in the penitentiary at Lansing, received a pardon after 14 years, made a career
in California real estate and died in 1937 at the age of 66. - The eldest Dalton in the shootout was
not Grant but Grat, short for Gratton. - The time lock at the Congdon (actually
Condon) bank had already opened the vault earlier that morning, but the robbers
didn't bother to try the door. - There is doubt as to whether there was
actually a sixth robber who escaped, but in any case it was not Allie (or Ally,
or Allee) Ogee, who wrote an indignant letter to the editor of the Coffeyville
newspaper stating that he was employed at a meatpacking plant in Wichita at the
time of the ill-fated raid. In 1886, the C.M. Condon and Co. opened its
doors to the citizens of Coffeyville, Kansas. Through the years, The Condon
National Bank has served the area as a stable financial institution. Banking
itself has changed a great deal, but one thing still remains the same-our
commitment to deliver quality service to our customers. Condon Bank immediately after the Dalton Raid October 5, 1892. David Elliott was editor of the local
newspaper and published a detailed account soon after the gun battle (1892) After crossing the pavement the men
quickened their pace, and the three in the front file went into C.M. Condon
& Co.'s bank at the southwest door, while the two in the rear ran directly
across the street to the First National Bank and entered the front door of that
institution. The gentleman [the observer] was almost transfixed with horror. He
had an uninterrupted view of the inside of Condon and Co.'s bank, and the first
thing that greeted his vision was a Winchester in the hands of one of the men,
pointed towards the cashier's counter in the bank. He quickly recovered his
lost wits, and realizing the truth of the situation, he called out to the men
in the store that 'The bank is being robbed!' Persons at different points on
the Plaza heard the cry and it was taken up and quickly passed around the square. At the same time several gentlemen saw
the two men enter the First National Bank, suspecting their motive, followed
close at their heels and witnessed them 'holding up' the men in this
institution. They gave the alarm on the east side of the Plaza. A 'call to
arms' came simultaneously with the alarm and in less time than it takes to
relate the fact a dozen men with Winchesters and revolvers in their hands were
ready to resist the escape of the unwelcome visitors. Just at this critical juncture the
citizens opened fire from the outside (of the Condon Bank) and the shots from
their Winchesters and shot-guns pierced the plate-glass windows and rattled
around the bank. Bill Powers and Dick Broadwell replied from the inside, and
each fired from four to six shots at citizens on the outside. The battle then
began in earnest. Evidently recognizing that the fight was on, Grat Dalton
asked whether there was a back door through which they could get to the street.
He was told that there was none. He then ordered Mr. Ball and Mr. Carpenter
[two bank employees] to carry the sack of money to the front door. Reaching the
hall on the outside of the counter, the firing of the citizens through the
windows became so terrific and the bullets whistled so close around their heads
that the robbers and both bankers retreated to the back room again. Just then
one at the southwest door was heard to exclaim: 'I am shot; I can't use my arm;
it is no use, I can't shoot any more.' He (Bob Dalton) then ordered the three bankers
to walk out from behind the counter in front of him, and they put the whole
party out at the front door. Before they reached the door, Emmett called to Bob
to 'Look out there at the left.' Just as the bankers and their customers had
reached the pavement, and as Bob and Emmett appeared at the door, two shots
were fired at them from the doorway of the drug storeÉ Neither one of them was
hit. They were driven back into the bankÉ Bob stepped to the door a second
time, and raising his Winchester to his shoulder, took deliberate aim and fired
in a southerly direction. Emmett held his Winchester under his arm while he
tied a string around the mouth of the sack containing the money. They then
ordered the young men to open the back door and let them out. Mr. Shepard
complied and went with them to the rear of the building, when they passed out
into the alley. It was then that the bloody work of the dread desperadoes
began." The Dalton Gang Wiped Out: The Dalton Gang Goes on Its Last Raid. Los Angeles Times - October 6, 1892 A wild shoot-out in Coffeyville in 1892
spelled the end of the notorious Kansas bank robbers, the Dalton gang. This
account of the incident appeared in the Los Angeles Times on October 6, 1892. By Telegraph to The Times. Coffeyville (Kan.,) Oct. 5.—[By the
Associated Press.] The Dalton gang has been exterminated—wiped off the
face of the earth. Caught like rats in a trap, they were today shot down, but
not until four citizens of the place yielded up their lives in the work of
extermination. Six of the gang rode into town this morning and robbed two banks
of the place. Their raid had become known to the officers of the law, and when
the bandits attempted to escape they were attacked by the marshal's posse. In
the battle which ensued four desperadoes were killed outright and one, Emmett
Dalton, so badly wounded that he is dying. The other escaped, but is being
hotly pursued.—Of the marshal's posse four were killed, one fatally and
two seriously wounded. The dead desperadoes are: Bob Dalton,
Grattan Dalton, Joseph Evans, John Moore (ÒTexas Jack.Ó) The dead citizens are: T. C. Connelly,
City Marshal; L. M. Baldwin, bank clerk; G. W. Cubine, merchant; C. J. Brown,
shoemaker. The wounded are: Thomas G. Ayres, cashier
of the First National Bank, shot through the groin and cannot live; T. A.
Reynolds, wounded in the right breast; Louis Detz, shot in the right side. It was rumored a month ago that the
Dalton gang contemplated a raid on the city. Arrangements were made to give
them a warm reception, but excitement finally died away and the street patrol
was given up. About 10 o'clock this morning the gang rode into town. They came
in two squads of three each, and passing through unfrequented streets
rendezvoused in an alley in the rear of the First National Bank. Robert Dalton,
the notorious leader, and Emmett, his brother, went to the First National Bank.
The other four, under the leadership of ÒTexas JackÓ or John Moore, went to the
private bank of C. M. Congdon & Co. In the mean time an alarm had been
given. The Dalton brothers were born and bred in this vicinity, and had been
recognized. City Marshal Connelly was quickly notified, and began collecting a
posse. While the Marshal was collecting his forces the bandits, all ignorant of
the trap, were proceeding deliberately with the work of ROBBING THE BANKS. ÒTexas Jack'sÓ band entered Congdon's
bank and with Winchesters leveled at Cashier Ball and Teller Carpenter demanded
that the safe be opened. The cashier explained that the door of the safe was
controlled by a time lock and could not be opened for about twenty minutes, or
at 10 o'clock. ÒWe'll wait,Ó said the leader, and he sat down at the cashier's
desk, first gathering up the money in the cash drawer. Bob and Emmet Dalton, in the meanwhile, were
having better luck at the First National Bank. When they entered the bank they
found Cashier Ayres, his son, Albert Ayres and the teller, W. H. Shepherd. None
of them were armed, and with leveled revolvers the brother bandits' easily
intimidated them. Albert Ayres and Teller Shepherd were kept under the muzzles
of Emmett Dalton's revolvers while Bob Dalton forced Cashier Ayres to strip the
vault and cash drawers of all the money and place it in a sack. Fearing to
leave them behind lest they should give the alarm too soon the desperadoes
marched the officers of the bank out of the door, with the intention of keeping
them under guard while they made their escape. BOB DALTON KILLED. The party made its appearance at the door
just as Liveryman Spears and others of the Marshal's posse took their positions
in the square. When the Dalton brothers saw armed men in the square they
appreciated their peril in an instant, and leaving the bank officers on the
steps of the bank building they ran for their horses. As soon as they reached
the sidewalk Spears's rifle quickly came into position. An instant later it
spoke, and Bob Dalton, the notorious leader of the notorious gang, fell dead,
Emmett Dalton had the start of his brother, and before Spears could draw a bead
on him he had dodged behind the corner of the bank and was making time in the
direction of the alley where the horses were tied. The shot which dropped Bob Dalton aroused
ÒTexas Jack'sÓ band in Congdon's bank. Running to the windows they saw their
leader prostrate on the ground. Raising their rifles they fired one volley out
of the window. CASHIER AYERS FELL On the steps of the bank, shot through
the groin. Shoemaker Brown of the attacking party in the square was shot
through the body and died in a few minutes. The firing attracted the attention
of Marshal Connelly, who was collecting more men for his posse, and with those
he had already gathered he ran hurriedly to the scene of conflict. After firing the volley from the window,
the bandits perceiving that their only hope of safety lay in flight attempted
to escape. They ran from the door of the bank, firing as they fled. The
Marshal's posse in the square, without organization of any kind, fired at the
fleeing bandits each man for himself. MAN AFTER MAN KILLED. Spears tried his Winchester twice more in
quick succession before the others of the posse could take aim, and Joseph
Evans and ÒTexas JackÓ fell dead, both shot through the head, making three dead
bandits to his credit. In the general fusillade Grattan Dalton, one of the two
surviving members of ÒTexas Jack'sÓ squad, Marshal Connelly, L. M. Baldwin, one
of Congdon's clerks, and George Cubine were mortally hit and died on the field.
Allie Ogee, the only survivor of the band, successfully escaped to the alley
where the horses were tied, and mounting the swiftest of the lot fled south in
the direction of the Indian Territory. Emmett Dalton, who escaped from the First
National Bank, had already reached the alley in safety, but had some trouble in
getting mounted. Several of the posse quickly mounted and pursued the escaping
bandits. Emmett Dalton's horse was no match for the fresher animals of his
pursuers. As they closed on him he turned suddenly in his saddle and fired upon
his would-be captors. The latter answered with a volley and Emmett toppled from
his horse hard hit. He was brought back to town. He made an ante-mortem
statement confessing various crimes committed by the gang. He is slowly dying
in a room in the hotel here and death is expected at any moment. The
indignation against the robbers was so intense this afternoon that the citizens
wanted to lynch the dying bandit. To prevent this the Coroner gave out a
statement that he was already dead. Up to 11 o'clock tonight Allie Ogee has
not been captured. THE PLUNDER RECOVERED. After the battle was over search was made
for the money the bandits secured from the banks. It was found in sacks where
it had been placed by the robbers. One sack was found under the body of Bob
Dalton, who had fallen dead on it while he was escaping from the First National
Bank. The other was tightly clenched in Texas Jack's hands. The bodies of those of the attacking
party who were killed were removed to their respective homes, while the bodies
of the dead bandits were allowed to remain where they had fallen until the
arrival of the Coroner from Independence, who ordered them removed to the
courthouse. There he held an inquest, the jury returning a verdict in
accordance with the facts. During the time the bodies remained in the square
they were viewed by hundreds of people of this and surrounding towns, who,
having heard of the tragedy, came in swarms to inspect the scene. Excitement was of the most intense
character, and the fate of Allie Ogee, should he be captured, was determined by
universal consent and he will be hanged by the people. Other topics, which
attracted universal comment, were the fulfillment of the prophesy that the
Daltons would ÒDIE WITH THEIR BOOTS ON.Ó The peculiar fate which decreed that they
should die by the hands of their old friends in the vicinity of their place of
birth and the excellent markmanship of the livery man, Spears, who with three
shots sent death to as many bandits. CAREER OF THE DALTONS. The Daltons were a numerous family. There
were five boys and three girls. Of the boys two engaged in farming, one in
Oklahoma, where their mother lives, and one near Coffeyville, where three of
the brothers met death today. The Daltons were second cousins of the noted
James boys, and through them related to the Youngers, now serving life terms of
imprisonment in the penitentiary of Minnesota for train and bank robberies. Bob
Dalton became a cattle thief when a mere boy and was soon joined by his brother
Grattan. They were finally run out of the country, and the next heard of them
was in California, where they took to train and stage robbing. After an
exciting experience there they returned to Indian Territory in the spring of
1889, when Oklahoma was open to settlement, securing a homestead for their
mother, where she still lives. At the time of the opening Bob Dalton was a
United States deputy marshal, being selected on account of his peculiar fitness
to deal with desperate characters. After the opening he turned to a life of
outlawry, and he and Grattan were joined by their brother Emmett, the youngest
of the brothers, ÒTexas JackÓ and others of desperate character. From this time
their record as robbers of express trains and perpetrators of other outrages is
fresh in the public mind. A TALK WITH EMMETT DALTON. Late tonight an Associated Press
representative had a talk with Emmett Dalton. He declared the stories of hidden
treasures all nonsense. ÒIf there had been a hidden treasure,Ó he said, Òwe
would all be alive today. It was because we were all broke that we planned the
Coffeyville raid. We were being hard pressed by the officers down in the
Territory, and Bob decided that we would have to get out of the country. He planned
the robbery about two weeks ago while we were camped in the Osage country. We
tried to persuade him not to do the job then. He called us cowards. That
settled it. We started.Ó It was with great difficulty the bandit
told the story, as he was suffering terribly from wounds in the side. The
physician says he cannot possibly survive. Cashier Ayers is resting easier tonight. City Marshal Connelly, who was killed
today, was about to take a position as principal of the high school. George
Cubine, killed by the Daltons, was a boot and shoe dealer of Coffeyville, and
was one of the solid business men of the city. C. M. Condon, head of the
banking firm of C. M. Condon & Co., lives in Oswego, in the adjoining
county of Labette, where he has been conducting a bank for a number of years.
The firm owns banks in several towns in this section. Source: Los Angeles Times, October 6,
1892. They rode in from the west through a
crisp, brilliant October morning in 1892, a little group of dusty young men.
They laughed and joked and ÔbaaÕed at the sheep and goats along the way. In a
few minutes they would kill some citizens who had never harmed them. And in
just a few minutes more, four of these carefree riders were going to die. Did you enjoy our article? Read more in Wild West magazine Subscribe online and save nearly 40%!!! For they planned to rob two banks at
once, something nobody else had ever done, not even the James boys. They had
chosen the First National and the Condon in pleasant, busy Coffeyville, Kan.
Three of the young men were brothers named Dalton, and they knew the town, or
thought they did, for they had lived nearby for several years. Coffeyville was
a prosperous town, with enough loot to take them far away from pursuing lawmen. Now, 110 years after the raid, much of
what happened is lost in the swirling mists of time. Today itÕs hard to sort
out fact from invention, and one of the remaining questions is this: How many
bandits actually rode up out of the Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) to steal
the savings of hard — working Kansas citizens? Most historians say there
were five raiders É but some say there was a sixth rider, one who fled, leaving
the others to die under the citizensÕ flaming Winchesters. Coffeyville was unprepared, a peaceful
little town, where nobody, not even the marshal, carried a gun. The gang might
have gotten away with stealing the citizensÕ savings that October 5 morning
except for CoffeyvilleÕs penchant for civic improvement. For the town was
paving some of its downtown streets, and in the course of the job the city
fathers had moved the very hitching racks to which the gang had planned to
tether their all important horses. So the outlaws tied their mounts to a fence
in a narrow passage, called Death Alley today. They walked together down the
alley, crossed an open plaza, and walked into the two unsuspecting banks. Tall,
handsome Bob Dalton was the leader, an intelligent man with a fearsome
reputation as a marksman. Grat, the eldest, was a slow — witted thug
whose avocations were thumping other people, gambling, and sopping up
prodigious amounts of liquor. He was described as having the heft of a bull
calf and the disposition of a baby rattlesnake. Emmett, or Em, was the baby of
the lot, only 21 on the day of the raid, but already an experienced robber. The
boys came from a family of 15 children, the offspring of Adeline Younger, aunt
to the outlaw Younger boys — and shiftless Lewis Dalton, sometime farmer,
saloonkeeper and horse fancier. Backing the Dalton boys were two
experienced charter members of the gang, Dick Broadwell and Bill Power (often
spelled Powers). Power was a Texas boy who had punched cows down on the
Cimarron before he decided robbing people was easier than working. Broadwell,
scion of a good Kansas family, went wrong after a young lady stole his heart
and his bankroll and left him flat in Fort Worth. Grat Dalton led Power and Broadwell into
the Condon. Em and Bob went on to the First National. Once inside, they threw
down on customers and employees and began to collect the banksÕ money. However,
somebody recognized one of the Daltons, and citizens were already preparing to
take them on. Next door to the First National was
IshamÕs Hardware, which looked out on the Condon and the plaza and down Death
Alley to where the gang had left their horses, at least 300 feet away. IshamÕs
and another hardware store handed out weapons to anybody who wanted them, and
more than a dozen citizens were set to ventilate the gang members as they left
the banks. The first shots were fired at Emmett and Bob, who dove back into the
First National and then out the back door, killing a young store clerk in the
process. Grat was bamboozled by a courageous
Condon employee who blandly announced that the time lock (which had opened long
before) would not unlock for several minutes. Grat, instead of trying the door,
stood and waited, while outside the townsmen loaded Winchesters and found
cover. When bullets began to punch through the bank windows, Grat, Broadwell
and Power charged out into the lead swept plaza, running hard for the alley and
snapping shots at the nest of rifles in IshamÕs Hardware. All three were hit
before they reached their horses — dust puffed from their clothing as
rifle bullets tore into them. Bob and Emmett ran around a block, out of
the townspeopleÕs sight, paused to kill two citizens and ran on, turned down a
little passage and emerged in the alley about the time that Grat and the others
got there. Somebody nailed Bob Dalton, who sat down, fired several aimless
shots, slumped over and died. Liveryman John Kloehr put the wounded Grat down
for good with a bullet in the neck. Power died in the dust about 10 feet away.
Broadwell, mortally wounded, got to his horse and rode a half — mile
toward safety before he pitched out of the saddle and died in the road. Emmett, already hit, jerked his horse
back into the teeth of the citizensÕ fire, reaching down from the saddle for
his dead or dying brother Bob. As he did so, the town barber blew Emmett out of
the saddle with a load of buckshot, and the fight was over. Four citizens were
dead. So were four bandits, and Emmett was punched full of holes — more
than 20 of them. Which accounted for all the banditsÉ or did it? Emmett always said there were only five
bandits. However, four sober, respectable townsfolk, the Hollingsworths and the
Seldomridges, said they had passed six riders heading into town, although
nobody else who saw the raiders come in thought there were more than five. And,
two days after the fight, David Stewart Elliott, editor of the Coffeyville
Journal, had this to say: It is supposed the sixth man was too well —
known to risk coming into the heart of the city, and that he kept off some
distance and watched the horses. Later, in his excellent Last Raid of the
Daltons, Elliott did not mention a sixth rider, although he used much of the
text of his newspaper story about the raid. Maybe he had talked to the
Seldomridges and Hollingsworths, and maybe they had told him they could not be
certain there were six riders. Maybe — but still another citizen also
said more than five bandits attacked Coffeyville. Tom Babb, an employee of the
Condon Bank, many years later told a reporter that he had seen a sixth man
gallop out of Death Alley away from the plaza, turn south and disappear. If Tom Babb saw anything, it might have
been Bitter Creek Newcomb, also a nominee for the sixth man. He was a veteran
gang member, said to have been left out of the raid because he was given to
loose talk. One story has Bitter Creek riding in from the south to support the
gang from a different angle. If he did, Babb might have seen him out of the
CondonÕs windows, which faced south. The trouble with BabbÕs story is not the
part about seeing a sixth bandit — , itÕs the rest of it. After Grat and
his men left the Condon, Babb said he ran madly through the cross — fire
between IshamÕs Hardware and the fleeing bandits, dashed around a block and
arrived in the alley as the sixth man galloped past: He was lying down flat on
his saddle, and that horse of his was going as fast as he could go. Finally, he
stood right next to Kloehr, the valiant liveryman, as he cut down two of the
gang. Maybe so. Babb was young and eager, and as he said, I could run pretty
fast in those days. Still, itÕs a little hard to imagine
anybody sprinting through a storm of gunfire unarmed, dashing clear around a
city block, and fetching up in an alley ravaged by rifle slugs. To stand next
to Kloehr he would probably have had to run directly past the outlaws, who were
still shooting at anything that moved. And nobody else mentioned BabbÕs
extraordinary dash, even though at least a dozen townsmen were in position to
see if it had happened. Still, there is no hard evidence to
contradict Babb. Nor is there any reason to think that his memory had faded
when he told his story. Maybe he exaggerated, wanting just a little more part
in the defense of the town than he actually tookÉ and maybe he told the literal
truth. So, if Babb and the others were right, who was the fabled sixth man? Well, the most popular candidate was
always Bill Doolin, who in 1896 told several lawmen he rode along on the raid.
No further questioning was ever possible, because in 1896 Doolin shot it out
with the implacable lawman Heck Thomas and came in second. A whole host of writers
supported DoolinÕs tale. His horse went lame, the story goes, and Doolin turned
aside to catch another mount, arriving in town too late to help his comrades.
The obvious trouble with this theory is that no bandit leader would have
attacked his objective short — handed instead of waiting a few minutes
for one of his best guns to steal a new horse. Nevertheless, the Doolin enthusiasts
theorized that Doolin had gotten his new horse and was on his way to catch up
with the gang when he met a citizen riding furiously to warn the countryside.
The man stopped to ask Doolin if he had met any bandits. Doolin naturally said
he hadnÕt, and, ever resourceful, added: Holy smoke! IÕll just wheel around
right here and go on ahead of you down this road and carry the news. Mine is a
faster horse than yours. Doolin, according to oneaccount, started on a ride
that has ever since been the admiration of horsemen in the SouthwestÉ DoolinÉ
crossed the Territory like a flying wraith,É a ghostly rider saddled upon the
wind. The flying wraith fable is much repeated.
One writer says Doolin never stopped until he reached sanctuary west of Tulsa,
a distance of at least 101 miles. But before anybody dismisses Doolin as
the sixth bandit, thereÕs another piece of evidence, and it comes from a solid
source. Fred Dodge, an experienced Wells, Fargo Co. agent, stuck to the Daltons
like a burr on a dogie. He and tough Deputy Marshal Heck Thomas were only a day
behind the gang on the day of the raid. Dodge wrote later that during the chase an
informant told him Doolin rode with the other five bandits on the way north to
Coffeyville, but that he was ill with dengue fever. Although Heck Thomas
remembered they received information that there were five men in the gang,
Dodge had no reason to invent the informant. And, if DodgeÕs information was
accurate, DoolinÕs dengue fever would explain his dropping out just before the
raid a great deal better than the fable about the lame horse. Not everybody agreed on Doolin or Bitter
Creek as the mystery rider. After the raid some newspapers reported the culprit
was one Allee Ogee, variously reported as hunted, wounded and killed. Ogee, it
turned out, was very much alive and industriously pursuing his job in a Wichita
packing house. Understandably irritated, Ogee wrote the Coffeyville Journal,
announcing both his innocence and his continued existence. A better candidate is yet another Dalton,
brother Bill, lately moved from California with wrath in his heart for banks
and railroads. Bill had few scruples about robbing or shooting people; after
Coffeyville he rode with DoolinÕs dangerous gang. Before Bill was shot down
trying to escape a batch of tough deputy marshals in 1894 , he said nothing
about being at Coffeyville, and he couldnÕt comment after the marshals
ventilated him. So nothing connects Bill Dalton with the sixth rider except his
surly disposition and his association with his outlaw brothers. In later years, Chris Madsen commented on
the Coffeyville raid for Frank LattaÕs excellent Dalton Gang Days. If
whatMadsen said was true, neither Doolin nor Bill Dalton could have been the
sixth bandit. Madsen was in Guthrie when the Coffeyville raid came unraveled,
was advised of its outcome by telegram, and forthwith told the press. Almost
immediately, he said,Bill Dalton appeared to ask whether the report was true.
Madsen believed that Bill and Doolin both had been near Guthrie,waiting for the
rest of the gang with fresh horses. You have to respect anything Madsen said,
although some writers have suggested that the tough Dane was not above making a
fine story even better. WeÕll never know. Other men have also been nominated as the
One Who Got Away, among them a mysterious outlaw called Buckskin Ike, rumored
to have ridden with the Dalton Gang in happier times. And there was one
Padgett, a yarn spinner of the I bin everwhar persuasion. Padgett later bragged
that he left whiskey — running in the Cherokee Nation to ride with the
Daltons. At Coffeyville he was the appointed horse holder, he said, and rode
for his life when things went sour in that deadly alley. Some have suggested that the sixth rider
might even have been a woman, an unlikely but intriguing theory. Stories abound
about the Dalton women, in particular Eugenia Moore, Julia Johnson and the Rose
of Cimarron. The Rose was said to be an Ingalls, Okla., girl, who loved Bitter
Creek Newcomb and defied death to take a rifle to her beleaguered bandit
boyfriend. And there was Julia Johnson, whom Em married in 1907. Emmett wrote
that he was smitten by Julia long before the raid, when he stopped to
investigate celestial organ music coming from a country church. Entering, he
discovered Julia in the bloom of young womanhood, and it was love at first
sight. Well, maybe so, although JuliaÕs granddaughter later said Julia couldnÕt
play a lick, let alone generate angelic chords from the church organ. Julia, Em said, was the soul of
constancy, and waited patiently for her outlaw lover through all his years in
prison. Never mind that Julia married two other people, who both departed this
life due to terminal lead poisoning. Never mind that she married her second
husband while Emmett was in the pen. The myth of maidenly devotion is too well
— entrenched to die, and she has been proposed as the sixth rider more than
once, on the flimsiest theorizing. However, aside from the fact that Julia
probably never laid eyes on Emmett until he left prison–thatÕs what her
granddaughter said, anyway — thereÕs no evidence Julia rode on any Dalton
raid, let alone Coffeyville. BobÕs inamorata and spy was Eugenia Moore. Eugenia, we are
told, rode boldly up and down the railroad between Texas and Kansas, seducing
freight agents and eavesdropping on the telegraph for news of money shipments.
Eugenia might have been Flo Quick, a real-life horse thief and sexual athlete,
who dressed as a man to ride out to steal and called herself Tom King. The
Wichita Daily Eagle rhapsodized: She is an elegant rider, very daring. She has
a fine suit of hair as black as a ravenÕs wing and eyes like sloes that would
tempt a Knight of St. John her figure is faultless Even if the reporter overdid
the description, Flo was no doubt someone who would have caught Bob DaltonÕs
eye. There is no evidence, though, to suggest she rode with him on the raid. And so, if there was a sixth bandit, who
was he? He could have been some relative unknown, of course, Padgett or
somebody like him, but that is unlikely. This was to be a big raid, the pot of
gold at the end of Bob DaltonÕs rainbow. He would not take along anybody but a
proven hard case, even to hold horses. Doolin is the popular candidate, with
substantial support in the evidence. Still, IÕm inclined to bet on Bill Dalton,
in spite of Chris MadsenÕs story. Although there is no direct evidence to link
him with the raid, he gathered intelligence for the gang before they rode north
to Kansas, and he certainly turned to the owlhoot or outlaw trail in a hurry
after Coffeyville. He repeatedly proved himself to be violent and without
scruple, and he loathed what he considered the Establishment: banks and
railroads. For those who scoff at the idea of a
sixth bandit, thereÕs one more bit of information, a haunting reference that
was apparently never followed up. In 1973, an elderly Coffeyville woman
reminisced about the bloody end of the raid: Finally they got on their horsesÉ
those that were left. Several of Ôem, of course, were killed there, as well as
several of the townÕs people. And they got on their horses and leftÉ They? This article was written by Robert Barr
Smith and originally published in October 1995 Wild West Magazine. The Dalton Gang and Their Family Ties; By
Nancy Ohnick I first got the idea for this book when I
managed the Dalton Gang Hideout back in the 1980's for the Meade Chamber of
Commerce. Thousands of people visited Meade, Kansas every year to tour this
famous attraction. Since a lot of the park surrounding the Hideout, as well as
the current-day tunnel, was constructed by W.P.A. crews after World War II, old
timers in the area would dismiss the whole idea as being created for the
purpose of tourism, so I started researching local records in an effort to
"prove" that Eva Dalton Whipple actually lived there. Little did I
know how evolved in that search I would become, and how intertwined my life
would become with Eva's story. I had worked at the Hideout with the original
curators when I was in high school, and now I was writing a book about the
place and becoming somewhat of an authority on the Dalton family. My search took me through the courthouse
records where I found Eva's marriage license, deeds to property, and mortgage
papers... even down to the summons the sheriff tried to serve when their little
house was repossessed. This led me to the local newspapers where I became
acquainted with John Whipple and Eva Dalton through the local news a century
past. There I found the wonderful account of their wedding at a friend's home
south of Meade... the birth of their daughter, and many tidbits of gossip about
the two of them. They were a well-liked, respected members of Meade society in
the late 1880's. Through the help of a friend in Arkansas I found a photograph
of Eva Whipple when she lived in Siloam Springs, a real victory in the circle
of Dalton family genealogist. Imagine my delight when I discovered that a
building I own in downtown Meade is the very spot where John Whipple had his
store! The book contains a detailed history of
the Dalton Gang Hideout, how it came to be and how it has remained for over
half a century. It contains the story of John and Eva Whipple and their life in
Meade, Kansas. Nancy Samuelson, a noted Dalton genealogist contributed
information about every member of the Dalton family, and Bill Phillips, a
Dalton descendant, contributed an article about the famous gang. This third
edition of the book contains new information about Bill Dalton, his association
with the Bill Doolin Gang, and a wonderful account of a train robbery they were
involved in at Cimarron, Kansas... the closest to Meade any Dalton broke the
law. Much has been written about the Dalton
Gang. This book does not attempt to rehash the story of the outlaw brothers,
what it does is give the reader good information about the rest of the Dalton
family and especially their sister, Eva. It is a small book, only 95 pages, but
it contains information not found anywhere else, and a unique perspective on
the family of an outlaw gang. Coffeyville, Kansas: The Town That
Stopped the Dalton Gang (Coffeyville Historical Society) When Luther Perkins erected his new
building in Coffeyville, Kansas, in 1890, a bank robbery was the farthest thing
from his mind. Like his fellow citizens, he felt the town had come of age. The
design of the new building would convey the permanence and elegance a proper
town should display. It would house needed businesses, professional offices,
and the new C. M. Condon and Company Bank. The difficult years seemed to be over:
the violence over slavery, the bloody Civil War, and the nearly 30 years of
lawlessness that characterized the post-Civil War period. The legendary outlaws
of the 1870s and 1880s were mostly dead, in prison, or keeping a low profile.
Cole Younger was serving a 25-year sentence for his part in a bank robbery
attempt. From his prison cell he warned young people against a life of violence
and crime, but his Dalton cousins would not listen. These former Coffeyville
residents were interested in the new bank for reasons quite different from
those of Luther Perkins. Bob Dalton planned to outdo the James boys by using
the town as the setting for a spectacular double bank robbery. The robbery
ended, however, with four of the five outlaws dead. Coffeyville became famous
all over the country as the "town that stopped the Daltons." Setting the Stage In 1892--the year the infamous Dalton
Gang attempted to rob two Coffeyville, Kansas banks--Kansas already had a long
history of violence. The area had been acquired from France in 1803 as part of
the Louisiana Purchase. The American Indian tribes living there were soon
forced out by cattle herders and other settlers from Texas and Missouri. The
approach of the Civil War brought further conflict. The Missouri Compromise of
1820 prohibited slavery in the northern part of the Louisiana Purchase. In
1854, the Kansas-Nebraska Act established the territories of Kansas and
Nebraska and provided that the people living there should determine for
themselves whether slavery would be permitted or not. While people in Nebraska
Territory quickly chose to prohibit slavery, the settlers of Kansas Territory
were bitterly divided. In 1856, the territory became known as "Bleeding
Kansas" because of the violent clashes between pro- and anti-slavery
factions. Kansas entered the Union as a free state
on the eve of the Civil War. Like the other middle border states of Missouri
and Arkansas and the Indian Territory (now the state of Oklahoma), it held
people with strong southern sympathies as well as people who just as strongly
supported the Union. Violent men used the war as an excuse to loot and murder.
Their legacy created a new culture of lawlessness in the post-Civil War era
when outlaws such as Frank and Jesse James and Cole and Jim Younger terrorized
citizens. As the end of the 19th century
approached, the citizens of Kansas looked forward to the progress and
prosperity that the new 20th century seemed to promise. Most of the notorious
outlaws of the 1870s and 80s were dead or in prison by this time. The Dalton
Gang, however, was alive and well. At Coffeyville, in 1892, the outlaws and the
citizens of the town clashed in the course of a daring bank robbery. The People of Coffeyville Say
"Enough!" On Friday, October 7, 1892, the
[Coffeyville] Journal published a detailed account of the Dalton Gang's last
battle that had taken place two days before: DALTONS! The Robber Gang Meet Their
Waterloo in Coffeyville. The Outlaws Beaten at Their Own Game. The fifth of October, 1892, will be
marked in the history of the city of Coffeyville, in fact in the current
history of the country, as the date on which one of the most remarkable occurrences
of the age took place. Between 9:30 and 10:00 on Wednesday morning, [five men],
armed to the teeth and apparently disguised, rode boldly [into town]. They
entered an alley and hitched their horses to the fence. They quickly formed
into a sort of military line, three in front and two in the rear. Aleck McKenna
was in front of his place of business when the men came out of the alley, and
they passed within five feet of where he was standing. He recognized one of
them as a member of the Dalton family. The men quickened their pace and three
of them went into C. M. Condon & Co.'s bank while two ran directly across
the street to the First National bank. The next thing that greeted Mr.
McKenna's eyes was a Winchester pointed toward the cashier's counter in the
[Condon] bank. He called out that "the bank was being robbed." The
cry was taken up and quickly passed from lip to lip all around the square. The
unwelcome visitors in this bank were in plain view of a score or more people on
the plaza. Grat Dalton, disguised by a black
moustache and side whiskers, led the raid on Condon and Co.'s bank. He sternly
commanded the clerk to hand over the cash on hand, and urged him to be quick
about it. The robber gathered up the funds and carelessly stuffed them in the
inside of his vest. One of the other men passed into the office. He ordered Mr.
C. M. Ball, the cashier, to bring the money out of the safe. Mr. Ball told him
that the time lock was on and that he could not get into the money chest. The
fellow told him that he would have to get into it, or he would be compelled to
kill him. [The robber] inquired how soon the time lock would open. Mr. Ball
told him that it was set for 9:45. "That is only three minutes yet, and I
will wait," replied the intruder. Before the three minutes had expired,
firing began on the outside of the bank, and the bullets began to come through
the plate glass windows. All three men rushed out in the direction of the alley
where their horses were hitched. It may be stated in this connection, that
Mr. Ball's story about the time lock was purely fictitious. It was set for
eight o'clock and had opened at that hour. The fact that there was over forty
thousand dollars in the chest influenced the cool headed cashier to lie to the
burglar. Bob Dalton, the acknowledged leader of
the outfit, disguised by false moustache and goatee, accompanied by his
youngest brother, Emmett, entered the First National bank. They covered the
teller and the cashier with their Winchesters and, addressing the cashier by
name, directed him to hand over all the money in the bank. The cashier very
deliberately handed over the currency and gold on the counter, making as many
deliveries as possible, in order to secure delay in hope of help arriving. The
money [was] stuffed into a common grain sack and carefully tied up. [At the
sound of] a shot from outside, [the bandits went] out through the back door of
the bank. Just at this juncture, Lucius M. Baldwin came out of Isham's hardware
story. Bob Dalton drew up his Winchester, fired, and Baldwin fell dying in the
alley. Bob Dalton raised his gun and fired in the direction of the bank, and
George Cubine, a man who had been his acquaintance and friend in former years,
fell dead. Reaching the middle of the street, he fired another shot, and
Charles Brown fell. Bob Dalton raised his gun and fired the fourth shot. His
victim this time was Thomas Ayers, cashier of the First National bank. Emmett
Dalton had run ahead of Bob with the grain sack containing over $21,000 over
his shoulder. Bob and Emmett joined Grat Dalton and his party in the alley. It
was at this point, in this now historic alley, that the daring highwaymen met
their doom. In the meantime, as many citizens as
could so do, had procured arms and secured positions where they could command
the point of retreat of the highwaymen. H. H. Isham and L. A. Deitz had
stationed themselves behind two cook stoves near the door of the hardware
store. A dozen men with Winchesters and shot guns made a barricade of some
wagons. The robbers had to run the gauntlet of three hundred feet with their
backs to a dozen Winchesters in the hands of men who knew how to use them. The
firing was rapid and incessant for about three minutes, when the cry went up;
"They are all down." Several men who had been pressing close after
the robbers sprang into the alley and covering them with their guns ordered
them to hold up their hands. One hand went up in a feeble manner. Three of the
robbers were dead and the fourth helpless. Between the bodies of two of the dead
highwaymen, lying upon his face, was Marshal T. Connelly, the bravest of all
the brave men who had joined in resisting the terrible raiders in their attempt
to rob the banks. Dead and dying horses and smoking Winchesters on the ground
added to the horrors of the scene. Tearing the disguises from the faces, the
ghastly features of Gratton and Bob Dalton, former residents of Coffeyville and
well know to many of our citizens, were revealed. The other dead body proved to
be that of Tom Evans, whilst the wounded man was Emmett Dalton, the youngest
brother of the two principals of the notorious gang. It was well known that one of the party
had escaped, and a posse was hastily organized and started in pursuit. [In] a
half mile, they came upon the bandit lying [dead] beside the road. He proved to
be John Moore, the "Texas Jack" of the gang. His proper name was
Richard Broadwell, and he was one of the most experienced and coolest of the
gang. The dead raiders were put in the city jail. Not over fifteen guns were actively
engaged in the fight of Wednesday on both sides and the engagement lasted about
ten minutes. Eight persons were killed and three wounded. The unfounded reports that have been sent
out by excited newspaper correspondents to the effect that the citizens were
anticipating a visit from the Dalton gang is a canard of the worst kind, and is
a reflection upon the courage and promptness to act on the part of our people.
When the robbers were discovered, there was not a single, solitary armed man
anywhere upon the square or in the neighborhood. Even Marshal Connelly had lain
his pistol aside. Every gun that was used, with the exception of that brought
into action by George Cubine, was procured in the hardware store and loaded and
brought into play under the pressure of the great exigency that was upon the
people. The citizens of Coffeyville who were killed in the terrible engagement
with the Daltons were each one engaged in the fight, and were not innocent
bystanders. Our people are adept in the business of resisting law-breakers, and
they will do their duty, though it costs blood. The smoke of Wednesday's terrific battle
with the bandits has blown aside, but the excitement occasioned by the
wonderful event has increased until it has gained a fever heat. The trains have
brought hundreds of visitors to the scene of the bloody conflict between a
desperate and notorious gang of experienced highwaymen and a brave and
determined lot of citizens who had the nerve to preserve their rights and
protect their property under the most trying circumstances. The Dalton gang is no more, and travelers
through the Indian Territory can go right along without fear now. The country,
and the railroads and express companies especially, can breathe easier now that
the Daltons are wiped out. The country is rid of the desperate gang, but the
riddance cost Coffeyville some of its best blood. By the 1890s, Coffeyville, Kansas, was a prosperous trading and
milling center for a rich farming region. C. M. Condon and Co. was one of two
banks in the town. The Condon bank was located in the Perkins Block, which
housed professional offices and stores. The building was constructed in 1890
and occupied a prominent position on the plaza in the center of town. The two
sides of the wedge-shaped building are brick and the elaborate details of the
front are stamped metal. One of the most famous outlaw crimes was
in 1894 when the famous Dalton gang, headed by young Bill Dalton, robbed the
First National Bank of Longview. It ended in a bloody gunfight which resulted
in the ultimate capture of the outlaw band. After gunfights and prison ended the
careers of his famous brothers -- Bob, Frank, Gratton and Emmett -- Bill Dalton
became obsessed with the idea of making his own name more prominent than that
of his brothers. Bill soon joined Bill Doolin, a former member of his
brothers¹ gang, and together they formed a new gang of motley group of
misfits, including Jim Wallace, a cowboy with the habit of deserting his women;
Jim Nite, a loafer from Oklahoma; and Bill Nite, Jim¹s young brother.
Together, they vowed to take East Texas by storm. Jim Wallace had been married at one time
to the daughter of a Longview farmer and told Dalton about the prosperous First
National Bank. Choosing the bank for their first job turned out to be a
mistake. It was not only their first job, but the last of the Dalton family. A few days later, the Longview bank
received a scrawled note in the mail: "We take this method of informing
you that on or about the 23rd day of May, A.D., 1894, we will rob the First
National Bank of Longview. So take notice accordingly and withdraw your deposit
as this is a straight tip. For further information, see Charles Specklemeyer or
the undersigned. Yours for business, B&F." It later turned out Bill Dalton had
written the note. The B&F apparently stood for "Bill and
friends." The bank official who received the note showed it to his
superiors, but they judged it to be a hoax. But just as planned, the Dalton gang rode
into Longview on May 23, 1894. Holding two bank officials and a customer at
gunpoint, they made their withdrawal -- taking coins, bills and $20 bank notes
-- but bank president T.E. Clemmons grabbed Dalton's drawn pistol. The pistol
fired, but the hammer came down on Clemmons' hand. Jim Nite kept his gun
leveled at Clemmons' brother, J.R., the other bank officer. While the struggle continued, witnesses
in the bank bolted and ran out the back door, jumped a high fence to avoid
Wallace, and alerted Longview residents. Realizing their only chance for escape
lay in using Clemmons brothers as hostages, they turned the bankers into human
shields, forcing them out the back door and onto waiting horses. But lawmen arrived and gunshots ran up
and down the alley. Seven people were wounded and two Longview residents and
Wallace died from gunshots. As angry townspeople hung Wallace's body from a
telegraph pole, a posse was quickly organized and rode after the remaining gang
members, traveling as far north as Ardmore. Conceding they were out of their
element, the posse returned to Longview in a few days. But Bill Dalton's own mistakes eventually
cost him his freedom. A few months later, he used several of the bank notes
taken in the Longview raid to buy a wagon and supplies near Ardmore. Authorities
traced the money to Dalton, rode out to his home to make the arrest, and killed
him when he tried to flee. The two Nite brothers were found by
lawmen in Guadalupe County, Texas, where they were shot. Bill died instantly
and Jim was seriously wounded. In 1897, Jim was returned to East Texas to stand
trial for the bank robbery and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Texas Gov.
Oscar B. Colquitt granted Nite a pardon, but he was later killed in a Tulsa
saloon fight. Wallace's body was buried in Greenwood
Cemetery in Longview. The money taken by the Dalton gang in its last raid
amounted to $2,000 and a few unsigned bank notes. DALTON GANG Lawmen and outlaws Emmett Dalton
(1871-1937), Frank Dalton (1859-87), Grattan ÒGratÓ Dalton (1861-92), Robert
Rennick ÒBobÓ Dalton (1869-92), and Mason Frakes ÒWilliamÓ ÒBillÓ Dalton
(1865-94), five sons of Adeline Younger and Lewis Dalton, came from a family of
fifteen children who grew up in Kansas near Indian Territory. Their mother was
an aunt of the Younger boys of James-Younger gang fame. Frank Dalton served as a deputy U.S.
marshal for the Federal District Court of Western Arkansas at Fort Smith from
1884 until he was killed by horse thieves and whiskey peddlers on November 27,
1887. He was a good, efficient officer and highly respected by other lawmen. Grat and Bob Dalton pinned on badges
shortly after Frank's death and served as deputy U.S. marshals for the federal
courts at Wichita, Kansas, and Fort Smith. Emmett often rode as a guard or
posseman for his brothers. In 1890 charges for stealing horses were lodged
against Grat; however, after a hearing he was released. About the same time,
Bob was charged with introducing whiskey into Indian Territory. A hearing
resulted in a true bill against him. Grat, Bob, and Emmett then left Oklahoma
and joined older brothers living and working in California. In February 1891
Bill, Grat, Bob, and Emmett were accused of robbing a Southern Pacific train at
Alila, California. Grat and Bill were arrested. Bob and Emmett returned to
Oklahoma and formed the Dalton Gang. Grat was found guilty at his trial,
although over a dozen eye witnesses placed him in a hotel in Fresno at the time
of the robbery. Bill was also tried but promptly acquitted. Grat escaped from
jail in September 1891 while awaiting sentencing. He later joined his brothers
in Oklahoma. In the meantime, Bob and Emmett collected
several friends: George Newcomb, Charley Bryant, Bill Powers, Charley Pierce,
Dick Broadwell, William McElhanie, and Bill Doolin, and began to rob trains in
present Oklahoma. They robbed four: the Santa Fe at Wharton, May 9, 1891; the
Katy (Missouri, Kansas and Texas) at Leliaetta, September 15, 1891; the Santa
Fe at Red Rock, June 1, 1892; and the Katy at Adair, July 14, 1892. For one reason or another the gang pared
down to five members. On October 5, 1892, Bob, Grat, and Emmett Dalton, Bill
Powers, and Dick Broadwell attempted to rob two banks at the same time in
Coffeyville, Kansas. Four of the gang were shot and killed, and Emmett was
badly wounded. Four Coffeyville townsmen were also killed: City Marshal Charles
T. Connelly, Lucius Baldwin, George Cubine, and Charles Brown. Emmett, sentenced to life in prison,
became a model prisoner and was pardoned by the Kansas governor after serving
fourteen and a half years. After he was released, he made and acted in a few
movies, wrote two books about his outlaw days, and became active in the
construction and real estate business near Los Angeles, California. After the Coffeyville raid, Bill Dalton
supposedly joined the Doolin gang. He was reportedly a participant in a gun
battle at Ingalls, Oklahoma Territory, on September 1, 1893, where three deputy
U.S. marshals were killed by the Doolin gang. He might also have been a member
of a four-man gang that robbed the First National Bank of Longview, Texas, on
May 21, 1894. Bill was shot and killed by a posse near Ardmore on June 8, 1894. All nine of the deputy U.S. marshals who
killed Bill Dalton were indicted for his murder in the federal court at Ardmore
in June 1896. Apparently, none of them were ever tried. Why they were indicted
remains a mystery to this day. Source: Nancy B. Samuelson. The Dalton Gang; by Carl R. Green, William R., Sanford: Raised near Coffeyville, Kansas and on
the border of Indian Territory, the Dalton brothers were originally lawmen.
Oldest brother Frank Dalton was a U. S. Deputy Marshal for the Federal Court of
Fort Smith, Arkansas. He was shot and killed in the line of duty when ambush by
the Smith-Dixon Gang. Following in his brotherÕs footsteps
younger brother Grat Dalton became a U.S. Deputy Marshal for the Muskogee
court. Likewise, Bob Dalton was a U. S. Deputy Marshal for the Federal Court in
Wichita, Kansas, working in and out of the Osage Nation. Youngest brother
Emmett was a sometimes employed as a member of his brotherÕs posses. While working as a cowboy on the Bar X
Bar Ranch near the Pawnee Agency, Emmett met two of the future GangÕs members,
Bill Doolin and William St. Power, alias Bill Powers, alias Tom Evans. Little
is know about Bill Power, other than he drifted into the Twin Territories of
Oklahoma and the Indian Nation from Texas with a trail herd from the Pecos.
Emmett also met future Gang members Charlie Pierce, George ÒBitter CreekÓ
Newcomb, CharlieÓBlack-Faced CharlieÓ Bryant, and Richard ÒDickÓ Broadwell,
alias Texas Jack, alias John Moore all of whom were working on nearby ranches. Dick Broadwell was from a prominent
family near Hutchinson, Kansas. When the young lady he married disappeared with
all his lifeÕs savings, he moved to the Territories and began working on the
ranches. Charlie Pierce was from the Blue River country in Missouri, fleeing to
the Indian Nation to avoid jail for whiskey peddling. Bitter Creek Newcomb came
from Fort Scott, Kansas, where he started his career as a cowboy at the early
age of twelve by working for C. C. Slaughter on the Long S Ranch in Texas.
Black-Faced Charlie hailed from Wise County, Texas, and got his nickname from a
powder burn on his cheek. The DaltonÕs got into trouble about the
time that Bob got accused of selling whiskey to the Osage Nation. Grat Dalton
was in trouble at the same time and was dismissed as deputy marshal for conduct
unbecoming an officer of the law. In 1890, the two brothers, along with Emmett,
were accused of stealing horses near Claremore, Indian Territory, and selling
them in Kansas. They all headed to California, where they joined brother Bill.
On the night of 6 February 1891, they held up the Southern Pacific Railroad
train at Alila, California. Subsequently, Grat and Bill were arrested while Bob
and Emmett fled the state with a posse on their heels. While hiding out in the Indian Nation,
the two Dalton brothers hooked up with Charlie Bryant and Bitter Creek Newcomb
and robbed another train. Right on the hells of this robbery, Bryant became ill
and was taken to a doctor in Hennessey, Indian Territory, where he was
recognized by U. S. Deputy Marshal Ed Short. With no jail in Hennessey, the
marshal took his prisoner by train to the Federal jail in Wichita. During the
trip, Bryant seized a pistol, and in a blazing shoot-out with the marshal, both
men died in a hail of bullets from each other. Bob and Emmett Dalton, along with Bitter
Creek, Bill Power, Dick Broadwell, Charlie Pierce, and Bill Doolin then robbed
the Katy train on 15 September 1891. Three days later, Grat Dalton, still in
custody in California, managed to escape his captors and made his way back to
Oklahoma, promptly joining up with the other members of the gang, where they commenced
a train-robbing spree. The last train robbery was 14 July 1892, after which the
gang split up and went their own ways. Deciding they needed one last robbery to
get enough money to flee the country, the Dalton boys devised a plan to rob two
banks in the same town at the same time, thus accomplishing something no other
outlaw gang had ever attempted. It was to be a colossal mistake, as they chose
their own home town of Coffeyville, Kansas, as the target. Not only were they
recognized when they rode into town early in the morning of 5 October 1892,
they were ambushed by the local citizens who were determined to stop the Dalton
Gang once and for all. In a fierce gun battle which left four
members of the gang and four citizens dead the Dalton Gang came to an end.
Seriously wounded Emmett was the sole surviving member, and a doctor told the
townsfolk that he would die that night. Emmett, however, eventually recovered
and was sentenced to life in prison. In 1907 Emmett was paroled and became a
writer and reporter. His written account of the DaltonÕs episodes popularized
them and many stories, motion pictures, and even the museum at Coffeyville have
resulted. Emmett would say later that U.S. Deputy
Marshal Heck Thomas was their sole nemesis. After each holdup, Thomas was in
the field chasing the gang. He had worked with Bob and Grat Dalton when they
were riding as deputy marshals, and he also knew their late brother Frank
Dalton. Heck Thomas was one of the most respected deputy marshals that ever
rode for the Fort Smith Court in the Territories. He never let the Dalton Gang
stay or rest in any one place for very long. Coffeyville was not the end of the Dalton
Gang. Three members of the old gang remained at large; Bill Doolin, Bitter
Creek Newcomb, and Charlie Pierce. In fact, Bill Doolin is thought by many
historians to be the sixth member of the gang which hit Coffeyville, the one
which held the horses in the alley, and the only member to have escaped. Also,
the fourth Dalton brother, Bill Dalton, hooked up with the former members of
the gang, and they would terrorize the Territories for year to come as the
infamous Doolin Gang. Their leader, Bill Doolin, was to become known as ÒKing
of the Oklahoma Bandits,Ó and on his heels went U. S. Marshal Heck Thomas in
pursuit. "Strong men wept great tears of grief..." In the town of Coffeeville, there is a
small alley near two banks with the name "Death Alley." It received
its infamy on October 5, 1892 when the young, rather inexperienced yet very
headstrong outlaw gang led by the Dalton brothers entered it at 9:30am. It had
been years since they roamed these streets, their boyhood haunts, and they came
back for the purpose of pulling off the West's most spectacular outlaw
stunt...robbing two banks at once. Few know that their mother, Adeline
Dalton, sister of the man who fathered the Younger brothers who rode with Jesse
James and his gang, began her own brood with law-abiding young men. Her first
son, Frank, became a respected U.S. Marshall who died fighting for the law. It
was her younger boys who gave the Dalton family its outlaw legacy. Grat and Bob Dalton loved hearing the
tales of their cousins, the YoungerÕs, who robbed banks with the James gang.
They also had short tempers. Bob was quick to grab a Winchester rifle and shoot
out windows when he felt slighted or hurt. The two brothers began an outlaw
career that lasted a few months and gave them the name of "the poor man's
James gang" when they got the idea of out-doing their kin and all other
bank robbers of the time by going back to their home town and robbing two banks
at once. Bob, Grat, and their young 20-year-old
brother, Emmett Dalton, formed the brothers who gave the gang its name, and
they recruited Bill Doolin, Bill Powers, and Dick Broadwell as members of the
Coffeeville raid. The plan seemed good. Bob donned a false
beard since he felt many may recognize him in the town, and the six camped on
Onion Creek outside town. The twenty-three-year-old Bob drew the three
non-Daltons a map in the dirt showing the Condon Bank, and the First National,
no more than 50 paces away. He showed them the hitching rack where they all
would tie their horses for a quick ride out. They agreed that Grat, Dick
Broadwell, and Bill Doolin would go to the Condon Bank, and Bob would look
after Emmett and take Bill Powers to the First National. At 2am, the bandits
stood and emptied their pockets of everything they had and threw all into the
fire so that they wouldn't be identified if killed. The next morning, as they rode in, Bill
Doolin's horse pulled up lame. He said he would ride back for a fresh mount,
but never returned. This cut the gang down to five. As they came nearer to town, they noticed
that workmen were digging in the streets near the banks, and the hitching racks
Bob counted on were torn down. If you ask me, this kind of start was
telling them that to continue was not a good idea. But try telling Bob
anything... They decided to leave their horses in a
small alley between the banks. Then the five entered the street. Grat and Dick
Broadwell veered left toward the Condon Bank while Bob, Emmett, and Bill Powers
walked toward the First National. A man from town named Aleck McKenna
recognized Grat right away, noticed that they were carrying rifles and had six
guns on, and followed them. He watched them enter the Condon Bank. Through the
front window, he saw a Winchester rifle raise up. "The bank's being robbed! The bank's
being robbed! The bank's being robbed!" McKenna screamed these words
running down the street. Now, there are two things the Daltons
seemed to have overlooked. The fact that someone in the town would recognize at
least one brother, and the fact that these citizens, tired of outlaws in the
west stealing hard-earned cash, were NOT about to wait around while bandits
stole their money. And Isham's Hardware was right across the street from The
First National. And they sold guns. (Free that day). Grat and Dick Broadwell had thrown down
on the teller, and Grat demanded "Open the safe and open it quick." The teller said "It's a time lock.
Won't open until 9:45." He was lying. "Open it or I'll kill you!" Instead of opening the safe with $40,000
in cash, the teller threw Grat a bag of $4,000 of silver. "I don't want silver!" Outlaws
never liked taking silver. It was too heavy to ride fast with. "It's 9:42.
Only three minutes yet. We'll wait." So in the Condon Bank, the outlaws
waited. In The First National, Bob had thrown a
grain sack to the teller and demanded him to fill it up. That he did. He took
the grain sack back, and the three headed for the door and opened it...to a
hail of bullets from Ishman's. Bob closed the door and decided the back
way was the best way, although it would mean the long way around to the alley.
They took the teller and a few others as hostages and human shields, and walked
out the back way. With the shots, Grat and Dick ran out,
abandoning the holdup, and shooting their way to the alley. Bob and the crowd walked the back way
with his hostages. One young man with a pistol, seeing the crowd approach,
thought it was all townspeople; he could not see the Daltons. "Hold up!" Bob called to him.
The young man ran toward them. Bob gave Emmett the grain sack. "You look
after the money. I'll do the shooting." He fired and hit the boy in the chest.
He was the first casualty. Bob, Emmett, and Bill Powers abandoned
the hostages and began running to the alley. Along the way, Bob killed George
Cubine, the bookmaker who serviced the Daltons when they were young boys. He
fired and hit several others, killing one more. Bob and his side reached the alley about
the same time that Grat and Dick did. Then Bill Powers was hit. Then Dick
Broadwell. Then Bob. Then Grat. Then Emmett, twice. The townspeople honed in on
the alley. Then Grat fired and killed the town Marshall while at the same time
being hit in the chest, then dropped dead. Powers lunged for his horse, almost
got on, then was hit again and dropped dead. Dick Broadwell was hit several
more times, managed to climb onto his horse and ride, but dropped dead from the
saddle before getting far from town. Emmett, hit in the arm and hip, struggled
onto his horse and never dropped the money. He reached down to grab for Bob,
who lay dying against a pile of rocks. "Don't mind me, boy," Bob said.
"I'm done for. Don't surrender! Die game!" Just then, two townspeople stepped into
the alley behind Emmett with shotguns. Both shot, firing 18 buckshot into
Emmett's back and legs. He fell. One lone voice yelled across the street.
"They're all down!" This signaled the end, just as McKenna's cry to
arms signaled the start. Yet Emmett lived. The sole survivor. Four townspeople died and many more were
wounded. Four of the gang died and Emmett was wounded bad. The Coffeeville Journal said about that
day, "Strong men wept great tears of grief, whilst the women and children
cried and wrung their hands in agony." Coffeeville "was at once their
crowning glory and their crowning failure." It was what made the Daltons
famous---just like they wanted. Photographers took several pictures of
the dead outlaws both standing and lying. Emmett lay in bed for five months healing
before he went to trial. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. He served his
sentence until 1907, when the governor pardoned him. Upon release, he began
serving the right side of the law, and wrote a few books and became a
consultant for Hollywood movies. He died in Hollywood in 1937. In 1931, he revisited Coffeeville with
his wife and several reporters tagging along. He went to the cemetery, and
stood over the single tombstone that marked the graves of his brothers and Bill
Powers. He pointed to the graves and said to the reporters, "I challenge
the world to produce the history of an outlaw who ever got anything out of it
but that..." Dr. McEwen Treats Emmett Dalton! You can have Pat Garrett, who killed
Billy the Kid and the vigilantes of the Barbary Coast, but nobody did a better
job of cleaning up the gang of desperadoes than the citizens of Coffeyville. If you don't believe it, just ask Dr. W.
W. McEwen. Ask him about the time he was mayor of Mound Valley, Kansas when he
traveled 20 miles to save Emmett Dalton, leader of the famous gang of
Mid-Western desperadoes, after the citizens of Coffeyville had shot him up. I guess it was early in the 1890's. Every
day we heard tales of the Dalton gang. Why Dilinger didn't hold a candle to
them. They robbed, they killed and they were plenty slick. One morning in Mound Valley where I was
mayor we heard (rest of the paragraph is not legible from copy of newspaper). You know it was a smart clerk that was
responsible for the killin's. He told the gang that they couldn't get into the
vault of the Condon Bank until 9 o'clock. The bank was sort of a flat iron
building. The gang waited outside. Somehow word got out that the Dalton gang
was inside. People came out by the hundreds. They got on each side of that bank
and stared firin'. They plugged windows. Four citizens were killed and four of
the gang. There they were, eight dead, lyin' in a
livery stable when I arrived. The sheriff came over to me and said:
"Doctor McEwen, there's another one of the gang that's still alive. Come
over and see if he's goin die. No doctor in town will treat him." Well, I went over all right. But the
doctor already had treated him. Somebody had plugged his bullet wounds with
cotton, keeping the blood inside, and he was dyin'. I said, "Sheriff we
gotta get him out of here. Where can we take him?" "Why to Lonnie's
cafe," he said. So we got some men to carry him away.
When the crowd heard we was takin' him away, and he was still alvie they began
to grow wild. "Lynch him-beat him." they shouted. We finally got him
over to the cafe and I dressed his wounds. He's still livin', up in Hollywood,
I think. He was accused of second degree murder, sentenced to life
imprisonment, but he was paroled after 20 years of good behavior. This was what my great grandfather told a
newspaper reporter about his role in the Dalton story. He was 83 years old when
this was written. I have researched this and find no records in Coffeyville in
the museum of him treating Emmett Dalton. But my grandfather told us of this
story and told us it is true. The story is that he was summoned to come to
Coffeyville because at first they didn't think they could get the doctor there
to treat Emmett Dalton. The Dalton Family: James Lewis Dalton-----Father Adeline Lee Younger-----Aunt to Younger
Brothers Outlaws Children: Ben, Henry, Farmed in Texas,
Littleton, farmed in Montana, Bill moved to Calif. And married a Wheat FarmerÕs
Daughter. He later divorced and joined the Bill Doolin Gang. Lewis Dalton became a deputy US Marshal
at Ft. Smith and was slain in a shootout with the Smith-Dixon gang (whiskey
peddlers and horse thieves) in 1887. Grat Dalton took his brotherÕs job at Fort
Smith. Bob and Emit had worked on the Turkey Track Ranch and the Bar X Bar
Ranch (Both near Mannford) (Bar X Bar was the Land between the Cimarron and
Arkansas Rivers.) As cow punchers they became friends with
Bill Dullin and Bill Powers. Later, Bob and Emmit took jobs as deputy US
Marshals out of Wichita as Posse men, making $3.00 per day. Grat was an excellent marksman and after
a few drinks was obliged to prove it by shooting an apple from atop a Ft. Smith
youthÕs head. He was fired unceremoniously. June 20, 1891, Bob and Emit received a
$1.00 per day pay cut and quit their jobs in protest. Bob Emmit and Grat got
together and began steeling horses and mules. Grat was arrested but found not
guilty. All three moved to California with Bill
where all four and two other outlaws robbed a train. Trackers followed Grat and
Bill to BillÕs farm and arrested them. Bill was able to make bail; Grat escaped
and made his way back to Oklahoma before his trial. Bill was found not guilty because a
witness testified that Bill was somewhere else. Grat, Bob and Emmit returned to Oklahoma
and teamed up with Bitter Creek Newcomb and Black Faced Charley Bryant. They robbed a train near Wharton, Indian
Territory and got $2,000.00. While they threatened the express agent on the
train, the agent stuffed $27,000 of Guthrie Bank Money in the wood stove and
covered it with ashes. The outlaws didnÕt bother looking in the wood stove.
This was the gangÕs largest robbery! They hid out near Hennesey in the breaks
for almost a year. Black Faced Charley became deathly ill and was moved to a
hotel in Hennesey. There Deputy Marshall Ed Short recognized him and arrested
him. The next day Short moved Black Faced Charley to Guthrie by train. Black
faced Charley got hold of a revolver and shot Short through the lung. Short
used his repeating Winchester rifle and emptied it at point blank range into
Black Faced Charley. Both men were delivered to Guthrie that
day, lying dead side by side! Black Faced Charley died as he had bragged: in
one minute of Bullets, Brimstone and Smoke! Grat, Bob and Emit were joined by Bill
Doolin, Bill Powers, Dick Broodwell and Charley Pierce. Indian Territory lawmen
thought it might be expedient to encourage the tribes to pursue the outlaws.
After about six cases of mistaken identity, (They had killed whiskey peddlers
and other outlaws) the lawmen called off the tribes search for the outlaws.
(Too many oops!) The gang soon robbed the MK&T of its coal mine payroll,
near Wagoner. Making their escape to the Turkey Track
Ranch, they hid in the many caves along the Cimarron where no lawman in his
right mind would follow! Coffeyville: The Dalton Gang always rode thoroughbred
horses which could easily outdistance posse horses. They would steal and run to
the Cimarron near present day Mannford. That was their strategy! At Coffeyville, they planned to rob two
banks. Witnesses saw six men approaching town, but only five outlaws were
accounted for. Bob, Grat, Bill Powers and Dick Broadwell
were killed. Emmit was wounded, but survived for trial and sentencing to life
in prison. The fifth outlaw was John Dulin whose
horse had became lame. He had stolen a plow horse and proceeded to Coffeyville
to join the robbery when riders passed telling about the failed bank robbery. Dulin turned his plow horse around and
headed back to the Cimarron Cave Country. Bill Dalton then appeared in Coffeyville
and claimed one of the thoroughbreds, saying it was stolen from his farm. He
also impersonated a Deputy U. S. Marshall and threatened several Coffeyville
citizens with arrest for murder of his brothers. Emit was pardoned after serving fourteen
years and spent the rest of his life traveling and lecturing about the evils of
lawlessness. Bill Dulin formed the Dulin gang at
Fairfax and was joined by bill Dalton and several other ruffians. Their fame
for driving a US MarshallÕs raid out of Fairfax is content of several films.
Dulin was caught in Eureka Springs by Sheriff Bill Taligman, who posed as a
priest to enable the arrest. Afterwards Dulin escaped and was tracked down and
killed by a shotgun blast by famed Marshal Heck Thomas. Bill Dalton was killed in a gunfight as
he jumped from a 2d story window, in Elk (20 mi. N. W. of Ardmore), Oklahoma
Territory, June 8, 1894. The Dalton GangÕs escapades lasted three
years, their awful deeds will be remembered forever. Dalton Gang member may be buried in Hutch; by Ray Hemman: Possibly buried amid the upper crust of
earl-day Hutchinson society is one of the desperadoes that made Coffeyville
famous. Dick Broadwell, a Dalton Gang member who
died Oct. 5, 1892, is thought to be buried in HutchinsonÕs Eastside Cemetery,
though no one is exactly sure where. Coffeyville residents are celebrating the
centennial of the raid during activities that begin Thursday and extend through
Monday, the actual anniversary. On
Saturday, descendants of both the desperados and the city defenders will have
reunions in Coffeyville. The gang rode into Coffeyville shortly
before 10 a.m. on Oct. 5, 1892, and attempted the rare feat of holding up two
banks at one time. Four in the
gang died; four Coffeyville residents, too, were gunned down. Mary Broadwell, DickÕs sister, was
married to E. B. ÒBurtÓ Wilcox of Hutchinson, according to marriage records in
Reno County. Broadwell has been
described as Òtall, handsome, well-dressed, filled with a jovial spirit of
deviltry, he was popular and welcomed everywhere,Ó according to an article that
appeared in the Feb. 10, 1952, Salina Journal. BroadwellÕs parents moved to Hutchinson
from Meade, where they had a cattle operation, according to the story, leaving
their son to operate it. Broadwell
was supposed to have done very well in cattle. Meade also was the site of the DaltonsÕ
hideout. Broadwell joined the Daltons
for several train robberies in the 1890Õs. Though critically wounded in the bank
robberies at Coffeyville, Broadwell survived the initial gunfire and mounted
his house for an escape. He was
found dead two miles out of town, however. Word of the Dalton raid arrived back in
the Salt city with William Tell Jones, a bricklayer who had been in Coffeyville
on business. Jones, upon seeing
Broadwell, is said to have blurted out, ÒGreat jumpinÕ catfish! ThatÕs Dick Broadwell! Why, heÕs from Hutchinson – same
as me.Ó Because of his comments,
Jones was temporarily detained in the Coffeyville jail because he was suspected
of being a member of the gang. Broadwell was buried in a pauperÕs grave
in Coffeyville, but not for long, according to information collected by
officials at Johnson & Sons Funeral Home. For 75years, Johnson & Sons was located in the old
Wilcox home at 134 East Sherman, moving to its current location on East 30th
avenue earlier this year. According to funeral directorÕs records
from Skinner-Hamlin Funeral Home in Coffeyville, Broadwell died on Oct. 5,
1892, and was buried Oct. 6. The
records then show that a G. R. Broadwell and an E. B. Wilcox paid $10 for
BroadwellÕs body. Edward and Burt Wilcox, Mary Broadwell
WilcoxÕs husband, are thought to have gone to Coffeyville a few days after the
robbery, had BroadwellÕs body exhumed and quietly returned to Hutchinson. No one knows exactly what happened to
BroadwellÕs body after it was brought back to Hutchinson. There are two theories; The first is that Braodwell was buried
under an assumed named in an unmarked grave in the Eastside Cemetery. The other school is that Broadwell was
buried in the Wilcox family plot, which is just west of the cemetery office and
near the graves of Hutchinsons, Conklins, Rayls, Harshas and others who were
early-day leaders in Hutchinson. In Memory of Richard L. ÒDickÓ Broadwell, alias "Texas Jack", alias
"John Moore" (? - Oct. 5, 1892) Dick did not start out as an outlaw. He
came from a prominent family that lived near Hutchinson, Kansas. When the
Oklahoma Territory was opened he staked a claim at "Cowboy Flats" in
Logan County, Oklahoma. There, he meet and fell in love with the young lady who
owned the homestead next to his. She agreed to marry him if he would sell both
their claims and move to Fort Worth, Texas. Unfortunately for Dick, she took
all the money and disappeared. He returned to the Indian Territory (now
Oklahoma) and went to work on the local ranches. While working at the Bar X Bar ranch near
the Pawnee Agency, Dick meet Emmett Dalton and a number of future Dalton Gang
members such as Bill Doolin and "Black Faced" Charlie Bryant. Dick hooked up with the Dalton Gang in
1891. He was with them when they robbed the Katy train at Leliaetta (near Wagoner,
Oklahoma) on the night of September 15, 1891. They took $2,500 from the express
car. On June 1, they robbed a
train at Red Rock but made off with only $50. The Gang attacked another train at Adair
in the Indian Territory on July 14.
They were so quiet that the lawmen on the train did not realize the
train was being robbed until the job was almost completed. There followed a fierce gunfight with
the train's deputy marshals that killed an innocent bystander. The outlaws escaped unharmed. The Daltons figured to make one last
robbery, get enough money, and leave the country. They devised a unique plan to rob two banks at same time; a
feat that no gang had ever done before.
The banks they picked to rob were in their old home town, Coffeyville,
Kansas. Dick rode into Coffeyville on the morning
of Oct. 5, 1892 with 4 other gang members: Bob, Grat, and Emmett Dalton, and
Bill Power. There may have been a sixth member of the gang but the record is
not clear. They tied their horses in what is today known as Death Alley across
the plaza from the banks. Dick went with Grat Dalton and Powers into the C. M.
Condon and Co. Bank. At the bank, the cashier fooled them into
wasting valuable time by telling them that the vault was on a time lock and
that they had to wait for it to open. This gave the citizens of the town, who
had recognized the Daltons (despite the false beards they were wearing), time
to get weapons. In the gun battle that followed four
townspeople were killed and several wounded. Power, Grat Dalton, and Bob Dalton
were killed trying to escape to their horses. Dick came closer to getting away
than any of the others. He made it to his horse and was riding away when he was
shot by two different townsmen. He managed to ride a half mile out of town before
he fell off his horse dead. Emmett Dalton, who was only 21, was blown
out of his saddle by a shotgun blast in the back while trying to save his
brother Bob. Despite the wound, he survived. He was sentenced to life in
prison, but he was later pardoned by the governor, and moved to California. Dick Broadwell's family were probably
some what embarrassed by all of this but they came to Coffeyville, and, after
the pictures were made, carted Dick's body back to his home, Hutchinson,
Kansas. They buried him at night in an unmarked grave in the Hutchinson
Cemetery inside the Broadwell plot. Bob Dalton and the pregnant Lucy Johnson.
The original photo was dated May 9, 1889 and was designated as being taken in
the Fowler Photography Studio in Vinita, Indian Territory. Later, in November
of that year, Jennie Mae Johnson was born into this family of carefree outlaws.
The date May 9, played a continuous role in the Dalton gangs' activities. On
May 9, 1889, the date appears for the first time as it was printed on this
portrait of Bob Dalton. The next appearance of this date was when the Dalton
gang, in full operation robbed a train at Wharton, which is now Perry,
Oklahoma. The date of the robbery was May 9, 1891. This robbery was noted by
Emmett in his book titled, When the Daltons Rode, as the "Honeymoon
Holdup." After his release from Lansing State Prison, Emmett and Julia Ann
took to the road with his motion picture scripts and book signings. One such
event was when he traveled to Lansing, Kansas to visit old friends and
acquaintances who had not been released. According to newspaper interviews
Emmett was simply taking a vacation from the California grind with Julia Ann at
his side. Julia was asked what she thought of the excursion back to where the
two had originated and her reply was, "It is our second honeymoon."
The date of the interview was May 9, 1931. Finally, a woman died in Los
Angeles, California and her remains were cremated at the Forest Lawn Cemetery.
Her name was Julia Dalton and her date of death was May 9, 1947. Mrs. DaltonÕs Boys; by Mary Trotter Kion: Adeline Younger, at age sixteen, married
Louis Dalton in Cass County, Missouri. She was a small woman but it's said that
she had a firm will while others considered her down right aggressive. Adeline
had not had much education, but she did possess a lot of common sense. She
surely needed both traits where she and her husband lived in an old ranch house
in the wild and unsettled times in Missouri after the close of the American
Civil War. Adeline worked hard to bring up her boys.
And it was nearly a situation of bringing them up all on her own. Although she
was married, her husband figured that child raising was woman's work. He lent
little help, if any, and considered his main job was to provide the vittles his
wife would cook, serve, preserve, and clean up afterwards. And, to a point, he
provided the means for putting clothes on this brood. Of Adeline's boys Ben was the eldest.
Then came Frank, Grattan, William, Littleton and Robert. The youngest of the
group was Emmett. Adeline tried to give them good moral teachings to live by
and a loving home environment. Though she was strict with these growing sons of
hers she had good reasons for being so. The years after the close of the Civil
War, especially in Missouri, were filled with southern resentment towards
Yankees who had entered the area during the war, burning farms, taking
livestock and often all other means that folks had for feeding their families.
And sometimes killing or maiming innocent folks who were just trying to get by
till times got better. It just wasn't a real good time to be trying to raise up
a bunch of boys to be good and honest citizens. Things might have turned out
differently a few years down the trail if early on Mr. Dalton had taken more of
an interest in raising the boys, and lent a much-needed hand-or perhaps a
backhand now and then as the need arose. A part of Adeline's concern for the
future of her boys was centered on the fact that her maiden name was Younger,
as in Bob, Jim, and Cole Younger. These young Younger fellows, soon to be known
in the annals of Wild West history as the Younger Gang, were Adeline Dalton's
nephews. Their pa was her brother. But Adeline's sons being first cousins to
the Younger boys was only one-half of the bad situation. There were a couple of other fellows,
brothers they were, who resided somewhat near the Daltons, whose actions during
the war and afterwards Adeline considered a real bad influence. At least one of
these two boys, the eldest, had ridden during the war with William Quantrill
and his raiders, just as had Cole Younger. These two fellows were known as
Frank and Jesse James and they were distant relatives of both the Daltons and
the Younger's. There was an additional situation in the
mix that didn't set too well with Adeline. It centered around her husband and
it may be that Adeline was just heaping warm ashes on a smoldering fire,
considering that Louis Dalton was said to have been a large and good-humored
man. The father of the Dalton boys earned his living as a saloonkeeper. This,
in itself, wasn't such a bad thing, unless, of course, Mr. Dalton was one to
have the habit of being his own best customer but there doesn't seem to be any
indication of this. The problem was that Adeline Dalton was
what folks called a 'tea-totaler,' meaning neither did she drink strong spirits
but also disapproved of such imbibing in others, much less selling the stuff.
And research sort of hints that Adeline more than insisted on expressing her
point of view on the subject. Knowing what Physiology knows today, it's a bit
of a wonder that Daddy Dalton didn't, at least on occasion, attempt to make an
escape down the narrow neck of one of his own pints of merchandise, no matter
whether his wife was right or wrong. Well, finally, in 1882, Mr. Dalton gave
into Adeline's insistence that his being a saloonkeeper was a bad influence on
their children. The Daltons packed up and left Missouri. This time the town of
Kingfisher in the wild and sparsely settled Oklahoma Territory became home to
this family whose youngsters were now reaching manhood at various stages. It seemed that now that they were
resettled the Dalton boys were headed in the right direction. In Oklahoma Ben,
the oldest, worked the farm with their father. Frank went in another honorable
direction, however. Frank Dalton did his mother proud by pinning on a deputy
marshal's badge. Unfortunately, being on the lawful end of a gun didn't
guarantee success. Sometime later, Frank took a bullet while in a gun battle
with a couple of whisky runners. And Mrs. Dalton now had one less son to worry
about. But the deputy marshal's badge that Frank
Dalton had died for didn't leave the Dalton family. Grattan Dalton stepped in
to fill his older brother's boots and badge. Following right behind Grattan,
Bob and Emmett, though not yet of age but known for their excellent
marksmanship, in time had a star decorating their apparel as well. It wasn't long before an announcement was
made "by those in authority" that Bob, Emmett and Grattan Dalton
resembled three of the train robbers. It should be noted that even at this
time, some twenty-five years after the discovery of California gold there was
still an interesting mixture of characters swarming through the hills, seeking their
fortune. It can't help but be wondered just how many of these come-lately
gold-seekers also resembled the train robbers. Anyway, the Daltons were now the
star villains of an intense search. The script the law laid out went
something like this: The law decides that Bill Dalton left his ranch some nine
days prior to the holdup. He, supposedly, had three brothers with him. Next,
the script has the brothers riding to a spot near Alila. Now Emmett steps into
the spotlight. The law has him venturing to Oakland, just across the bay from
San Francisco, where the railroad terminal was located. Here, they have Emmett
finding out which trains would be carrying something of value. It's just a
minor point that, a far as my research extended, nothing mentions just how
Emmett accomplished this near magical bit of information gathering. It is
highly unlikely that the railroad posted a manifest on which trains were
carrying what, or that they gave such information out to any passing stranger.
There is always the possibility that it was an inside job-like someone working
for the railroad giving out information for a cut of the take. But he law figured all this out somehow.
However, while the law was announcing their story, and before they could add an
ending in their favor, the Daltons, except for Bill, skedaddled. Bill was left
in the clear because he was so popular in the area. Evidently, the sheriffs
weren't as stable in their own popularity since they were reluctant to question
him. Although the train robbery, for the
Daltons, was seemingly now in the past, it just wasn't so. In Fresno,
California, a saloonkeeper recognized Grattan and arrested him. However, after
being marched off to the sheriff's office, Grattan talked his way free.
Eventually, a grand jury did indict the four Dalton brothers for the Alila,
California train robbery but only Grattan and Bill were arrested. There was no
sight of Bob and Emmett who, it was believed, had headed back to the mid-west. Grattan was convicted by testimony that
involved all four of the brothers, but here the research gets somewhat tricky.
One source says that three-days before Grattan was to appear for sentencing an
unidentified someone, supposedly from the outside, assisted him in taking a
secret vacation from all of his immediate troubles. Another source agrees that
Grattan was arrested and convicted but from thereon the details change some.
This source puts Grattan on a train, and I assume to a prison because it says
that he was "headed for a 20-year prison sentence." This version has
Grattan "handcuffed to one deputy and accompanied by another." It
relates that after the train had traveled some distance one of the deputies
fell asleep. The other deputy must have been more of the sociable type because
he evidently was busy talking to some other passengers. This being a hot day,
all of the train's windows were open. Considering the situation, Grattan
evidently saw his chance to escape. Now recall, this source states that Grattan
was handcuffed to one of the deputies. Whether it was the one asleep or the one
making friends, it doesn't specify. If it was the one asleep he was about to
have what's called a rude awakening. Adeline Dalton was now living in
Coffeyville, Kansas. If she had any hopes and dreams that her boys would grow
up to be worth something, and she probably did, those dreams were soon to come
true. It just didn't come about the way Mother Dalton had figured it would. Eventually, the law picked up the trail
of Bob and Emmett Dalton in the mid-west. So naturally posses were formed to
hunt the boys down with orders to capture the Daltons dead or alive. And about
their worth-the law figured they were worth about $5,000-each. The Dalton brothers were now considered
professional outlaws. But outlawing was not all that occupied their time. Bob
Dalton had a sweetheart. Eugenia Moore was an attractive country girl living in
the area where the boys were hiding out. Adding to Eugenia's charm was the fact
that she had a bosom-buddy girl friend who was a railroad telegraph operator
and evidently wasn't adverse to passing on a bit of information-like when an
unusually large shipment of money would be passing near by via the rails. This
handy source of information enabled Bob to learn that just such a situation
would take place aboard the Santa Fe express on May 9, 1891. The stashed cash
was being carried to a bank in Kansas City, Missouri. Bob also learned that the
express messenger, if under attack, was instructed to pretend that he didn't
have the combination to the safe and to insist that it could only be opened at
its destination. Then came word to the Daltons of a bonus to the situation. It seems that the party that was looking
for the Daltons in the Cherokee Strip was being led by a courageous and
tireless deputy marshal by the name of Ransom Payne. Payne is described as
being in his early forties. He was a tall, strong man who sported clean-cut
features and a blond mustache. With Payne and his group was a veteran Indian
guide known as Tiger Jack. Earlier, the Daltons had learned that Payne was
after them so Payne, himself, was now marked for death. The delightful bonus to the Daltons came
when they learned that not only was there to be a large cash shipment aboard
the before mentioned train but also Payne, their pursuer. The scene was set.
Somewhere, in the dark of night, along the Cherokee Strip, the Dalton Gang was
about to double their pleasure-or so they thought. The plan was to take Payne
out, permanently, and pay themselves handsomely for the deed. After the Adair train robbery, which
netted the Daltons $17,000 in coin, the whole territory was in an angry uproar.
And now Mrs. Dalton's boys, and the rest of their gang, were worth even more. The Daltons stayed in hiding for a while
but there was more being cooked up around their campfire than coffee, bacon and
beans. One of the other members of the gang may have been heating the vitals
but it was twenty-three year old Bob Dalton who was cooking up plans about what
the gang would do next. The gang was now certain about a few
facts: The price on their heads had increased, the law had intensified their
search for the gang, and there was a need for them all to scatter for a while.
This last certainty brought up another good point: for the boys to scatter and
stay hidden for who knew how long, they were going to need money-lots of money.
So just one more robbery needed to go down to fund their individual vacations. Here, too, Bob took the lead. The Dalton
Gang was going the make the boldest bank robbery ever heard of in the history
of the west. They were going to rob two banks at the same time. Coffeyville, Kansas, near the Oklahoma
border, was the local this wild event was to take place in. The boys figured it
was to their advantage that they had lived in Coffeyville for a time in their
youth and knew the lay of the land. The big doings was to take place on October
5, 1892, soon after the banks opened, before too many withdraws were made.
Their twin targets were the Condon Bank and the First National Bank. The boys hadn't seen their mother in many
years and decided that on their way to Coffeyville they would stop and give her
a visit. It was after dusk on the night before the robbery that the boys reined
up in front of the old cabin where she lived. Halting their horses they saw
Adeline Dalton step to the window to draw the shades. One source says that the
boys probably, at that moment, realized what their chosen career may have done
to their mothers. They couldn't face her now, so turned their horses and rode
away. Later that night, they camped on Onion Creek where they could see in the
near distance the lamplight windows of Coffeyville, Kansas. It was not long after Bob gave the order
to start, this early morning of October 5, 1892, in Coffeyville, Kansas that
the Dalton Gang, in their attempt to rob two banks at once, ran into their
first obstacle. They entered Union Street, which was the
main route to the center of town. Here, workmen were tearing up the street.
Gone was the hitching post that was supposed to have been in front of the Opera
House. It was this hitching post the Daltons had planned to tie their horses
to. The instant new plan was to divert the horses to the alley and tie them to
posts near a lumberyard. It was now 9:30 a.m. Broadwell and Powers had not been in
Coffeyville for many years and had no concern about being recognized. This was
not the case for the three Dalton brothers. Emmett and Bob had donned false
beard and Grattan had grown dark whiskers for the occasion. All ready, the men
walked through the alley to the plaza, confident that none of them would be
recognized. They were wrong. Old Alec McKenna was a stable-keeper in
Coffeyville and had been around town for many years. He happened to take a
glance at the men and thought he recognized the three Dalton boys. Keeping his
eye on them all, he watched as Grattan and two other men entered the Condon
Bank and, at the same time, Bob and Emmett enter the First National. Creeping closer, McKenna took a peek
through the Condon Bank window. He saw Grattan pointing his Winchester at
cashier Charley Ball and the bank's vice-president Charles T. Carpenter.
Instantly, McKenna began to yell that the Daltons were holding up the bank. Inside the Condon Bank the robbers heard
the age-old claim that the safe would not open until a set time, in this case
not for another three minutes which could seem like a mighty long stretch
during a holdup. Grattan decided to wait. The bank was probably filled with silence
for those eon-long three minutes, except for the ticking of the clock. One
minute passed, then two minutes were gone. There was one minute to go but
before the time was up bullets came crashing into the bank. Walls were
splintered and glass was shattered. Store shelves in town had been cleared of
weapons and bullets and now armed men seemed to sprout from every portal. The gun battle that resulted after the
Dalton Gang's attempt to rob two banks at once in Coffeyville, Kansas on
October 5, 1892 was over. It had lasted a mere ten minutes. Bob Dalton, who had
led the gang, was dead. His brother Grattan was dead. Their two partners, Dick
Broadwell and Bill Powers, were also dead. Emmett Dalton, alone, though
seriously wounded, was the only surviving member of the immediate group. Emmett was first carried to the drugstore.
Later he was moved to a hotel where guards were posted. The law feared there
might be a lynching or that any members of the Dalton Gang that had not been
involved in the twin robbery might be prowling around, fixing to attempt to
rescue Emmett. It wasn't long before Coffeyville was
bulging with folks who had come to town by horseback, buckboard, train or any
other means, just to get in on the excitement. It was not excitement that one
lone woman looked for as she entered Coffeyville. Adeline Dalton came to be at
the side of her son, Emmett. One other faithful woman came to Emmett's side.
Julia Johnson, his boyhood sweetheart, took Emmett's hand and promised to wait
for him. Julia kept her promise. Emmett Dalton took five months to heal
before he was well enough to stand trial. To the murder charge set before him
he pleaded guilty. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in the Kansas
Penitentiary. It seemed that his mother, Adeline, and his sweetheart, Julia,
would have a long wait before they had their boy and their lover back. But Emmett Dalton was a model prisoner
while behind bars. He was rewarded by being released from prison fourteen years
after he had been locked up. It seems he had become a changed man. Perhaps Emmett Dalton had changed. For many
years after his release from prison he wrote and lectured on the subject of how
futile a life of crime was. Eventually, he became a successful building
contractor in Southern California. And true to her word, Julia Johnson had
waited for his release. They were married and remained together until Emmett
Dalton died on July 13, 1937. Of Adeline Dalton's other son, Bill, it
was either fate or luck that caused his arrest in California. If not for that,
he too very well could have been with the gang in Coffeyville. But it seems
that what took place in Coffeyville made little impression on Bill Dalton. He
joined Bill Doolin in robbing trains and banks. The outlaw life ended for both
Doolin and Bill Dalton in 1895. Bill saw the dark hand of death in September of
that year in a gun battle. Doolin died, also in a gun battle, four months
later.4- Bea Elizabeth "Lelia" Dalton
- 14 March 1856 - 28 Dec. 1894; married Tom Phillips in Texas
