The Dalton Gang was a group of
outlaws in the
American Old West during 1890–1892. It was also known as The Dalton Brothers because four of its members were brothers. The gang specialized in
bank
A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets.
Because ...
and
train robberies
In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and transport people or freight. Trains are typically pulled or pushed by locomotives (often know ...
. During an attempted double bank robbery in
Coffeyville, Kansas
Coffeyville is a city in southeastern Montgomery County, Kansas, United States, located along the Verdigris River in the state's southeastern region. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 8,826. Coffeyville is the most popul ...
in 1892, two of the brothers and two other gang members were killed;
Emmett Dalton
Emmett Dalton (May 3, 1871 – July 13, 1937) was an American outlaw, train robber and member of the Dalton Gang in the American Old West. Part of a gang that attempted to rob two banks in Coffeyville, Kansas, on October 5, 1892, he was th ...
survived, was captured, and later pleaded guilty to
second-degree murder, although he later asserted that he never fired a shot during the robbery. He was paroled after serving 14 years in prison.
Brothers
Bob
Bob, BOB, or B.O.B. may refer to:
Places
* Mount Bob, New York, United States
*Bob Island, Palmer Archipelago, Antarctica
People, fictional characters, and named animals
*Bob (given name), a list of people and fictional characters
*Bob (surname ...
,
"Grat", and Emmett had first worked as lawmen for the federal court at
Fort Smith, Arkansas
Fort Smith is the third-largest city in Arkansas and one of the two county seats of Sebastian County. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 89,142. It is the principal city of the Fort Smith, Arkansas–Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Are ...
and then for the
Osage Nation. They started stealing horses to make more money, and then fled the area. They decided to form a gang and started robbing trains and banks. While their older brother
"Bill" Dalton never joined any heists, he served as their spy and informant.
Due to the sensationalism that surrounded the Dalton Gang's exploits, they were accused of robberies all over the country but operated chiefly in
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
,
Kansas
Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to th ...
,
Oklahoma Territory, and
Indian Territory
The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans who held aboriginal title to their land as a sovereign ...
. Numerous myths were published about the gang. After Bob and Grat were killed at Coffeyville, Bill Dalton formed another gang with
Bill Doolin
Bill(s) may refer to:
Common meanings
* Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States)
* Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature
* Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer
* Bill, a bird or animal's beak
Plac ...
, known as the
Wild Bunch
The Wild Bunch, also known as the Doolin–Dalton Gang, or the Oklahombres, were a gang of American outlaws based in the Indian Territory in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They were active in Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma Terr ...
or the Dalton-Doolin Gang.
Beginnings
James Lewis Dalton from
Jackson County, Missouri and Kentucky was the father of all four boys. He was a
saloon keeper in
Kansas City, Missouri when he married Adeline Lee Younger. Through her brother, Adeline was an aunt of
Cole
Cole may refer to:
Plants
* Cole crops of the genus ''Brassica'', especially cabbage, kale, or rape (rapeseed).
People
* Cole (given name), people with the given name Cole
* Cole (surname), people with the surname Cole
Companies
*Cole Motor ...
and
Jim Younger
James Hardin Younger (January 15, 1848 – October 19, 1902) was a notable American outlaw and member of the James–Younger Gang. He was the brother of Cole, John and Bob Younger
Life
Born in Missouri on January 15, 1848. Jim Younger wa ...
, of the famous
James-Younger Gang. Although the Daltons may have been inspired by their famous cousins' exploits, the Youngers were much older and were in prison at the time of the Dalton Gang's activities.
![James Lewis Dalton with sons Bob and Emmett 1876](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/James_Lewis_Dalton_with_sons_Bob_and_Emmett_1876.jpg)
The Dalton children were:
* Charles Benjamin "Ben" Dalton (1852–1936)
* Henry Coleman "Cole" Dalton (1853–1920)
* Littleton "Lit" Lee Dalton (1857–1942)
*
Franklin "Frank" Dalton (1859–1887)
*
Gratton Hanley "Grat" Dalton (1861–1892)
*
Mason Frakes "Bill" Dalton (1863–1894)
* Eva May Dalton (1867–1939)
*
Robert Rennick "Bob" Dalton (1869–1892)
*
Emmett Dalton
Emmett Dalton (May 3, 1871 – July 13, 1937) was an American outlaw, train robber and member of the Dalton Gang in the American Old West. Part of a gang that attempted to rob two banks in Coffeyville, Kansas, on October 5, 1892, he was th ...
(1871–1937)
* Leona Randolph Dalton (1875–1964)
* Nancy May Dalton (1876–1901)
* Simon Noel "Si" Dalton (1878–1928)
The brothers who were members of the Dalton Gang were Bob, Grat, Emmett, and Bill.
Lawmen
![DaltonFrank-edit](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/52/DaltonFrank-edit.jpg)
On Nov 27, 1887, Frank Dalton and another deputy marshal, Jim Cole, went across the river from Fort Smith to arrest three whiskey bootleggers. As they approached the camp the bootleggers began to fire on them. Frank shot and killed two, but his gun jammed and he was killed by the remaining bootlegger. His deputy abandoned him after being wounded. Frank is buried in
Coffeyville, Kansas
Coffeyville is a city in southeastern Montgomery County, Kansas, United States, located along the Verdigris River in the state's southeastern region. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 8,826. Coffeyville is the most popul ...
.
After Frank's death, Grat moved back from California and took over his brother's job as deputy marshal at Fort Smith. He also brought Bob along as a posse member. In August 1888, the two formed a posse to arrest a man named Charley Montgomery. Montgomery was alleged to be posing as a deputy marshal. Bob discovered his location in Timber Hills while Grat was away searching in Coffeyville and went ahead to lead the posse in making the arrest himself before Montgomery could escape the territory. The stakeout ended in Montomery’s death.
In January 1889, Grat and Bob both became deputies first under Marshal Jones and later under Marshal R.L. Walker in Wichita. Looking to earn more money, Bob also became part of the Osage Nation police force in addition to his job as a deputy. Unlike the marshals office, the Osage Police paid a monthly salary. Bob also hired Emmett under him to guard prisoners.
Outlaws
Alila Robbery
On the night of February 6, 1891, two masked men carrying 44-calibre revolvers held up a
Southern Pacific Railroad passenger train near the town of Alila (present day
Earlimart, California
Earlimart is an unincorporated community in Tulare County, California, United States. At the 2010 census, the CDP population was 8,537, up from 6,583 at the 2000 census. For statistical purposes, the Census Bureau defines Earlimart as a census-de ...
). The outlaws had worn masks during the Alila robbery, concealing their identities. Some years later, Lit Dalton asserted that Bob and Emmett had told him many times that they had robbed the train.
![Littleton Dalton](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6b/Littleton_Dalton.jpg)
Bob and Emmett were hiding out in a ranch barn a mile west of Malaga, and after arriving the brothers talked until morning. Lit noticed that Grat's horse was indeed limp and agreed to help Grat sell it. Since the horse was lame, they could only get $60 for it and Grat was unable to find another horse afterwards. Grat shipped his saddle and riding rig to
Delano Delano or DeLano may refer to:
Places in the United States
* Delano, California
* Delano, Wichita, Kansas, a neighborhood in Wichita and former community before merging with Wichita
* Delano, Minnesota
* Delano, Nevada
* Delano, Pennsylvania
* De ...
and took the train to
Traver where he met Bob and Emmett. They played poker all night in Traver and then traveled to
Tulare to do the same. They had been following the Southern Pacific pay car as it made its way down the valley from Oakland to Bakersfield to pay railroad employees. This train was always accompanied by a crowd of gamblers and prostitutes looking to make money off the recently paid employees, and Grat and Bob had "followed the pay car" together several times before.
Grat, Bill and Cole Arrested
Kay returned to Visalia, where he was provided with more evidence against the Daltons. A similar piece of the same stirrup had been found three miles west of Alila, where it appeared the robbers had set up camp. About a week after the robbery, Grat was confronted by railroad detectives Smith and Hickey who then arrested him on the streets of Fresno and put him in the Tulare County jail. After being questioned, Sheriff Kay realized he had in fact met Grat a year before, when Kay had questioned him in the street about a train robbery that occurred in
Goshen. He was also convinced by Grat's story, along with what he already knew, that Grat was not at the scene of the robbery. Kay also knew that Grat could probably lead them to Bob and Emmett, so, after releasing him, Kay sent one of his deputies to follow.
Grat went to
Hanford to find work but, after finding that none was available there, decided to go to
San Jose where he immediately began gambling. The deputy following Grat was afraid to shadow him too closely, so he hired a night watchmen to keep Grat in sight and to alert him if he left the saloon. After Grat ended a midnight poker game, the watchmen challenged Grat to a game of
Coon-can for a dollar a game and drinks on the side. After Grat cleared him out in only two hours the watchmen, both mad and drunk, arrested Grat. The deputy awoke the next morning and had no choice but to take Grat back to Visalia.
A few days after Grat's arrest, detective Will Smith and Sheriff O'Neal returned to Bill's ranch. After questioning them awhile, Bill and Cole were both arrested and taken to jail in Visalia. Cole was soon released after being questioned by Kay.
On March 17, 1891, a Tulare County grand jury indicted brothers Bob, Emmett, Grat, and Bill Dalton for the Alila robbery. A $3,000 bounty was placed for the capture of Bob and Emmett. After a hearing, Grat was held for trial for robbing the train at Alila. Bill was soon able to secure bondsmen and was released. He quickly hired attorneys to defend Grat.
Pursuit Across the Southwest
In the two weeks following the robbery, Bob and Emmett hid out in the mountains near Bill's ranch. Afraid to go near them, Bill left out supplies and food, while there were several times the boys visited Bill's house at night. Bill went to Paso Robles and bought a saddle, but after that could not afford anything else as he was broke. Bill was finally able to get a loan on some horses from a local rancher, but they were still short one saddle and one of the horses was not fit for a hard ride. The three then rode to the ranch of Clovis Cole, northeast of Fresno, and asked Lit if he could furnish them a horse and saddle. Lit was able to borrow one hundred dollars and a horse from Clovis Cole's business partner Charlie Owen.
The three rode so hard down the valley that Owen's horse soon gave out, so they roped and saddled one of
Henry Miller's horses. A rail ticket from California to Indian territory was too expensive for the boys, so Bob and Emmett crossed the
Tehachapi's and began riding across the
Mojave Desert
The Mojave Desert ( ; mov, Hayikwiir Mat'aar; es, Desierto de Mojave) is a desert in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada mountains in the Southwestern United States. It is named for the indigenous Mojave people. It is located primarily ...
while Bill went ahead by train to lay out food and supplies for them. The ride from
Mojave to
Barstow almost cost them their lives, as they only saw water once in those seventy-five miles of desert.
When Bill left Barstow by train towards
Needles, he decided the boys could not make the trip by horseback so he stopped in
Ludlow
Ludlow () is a market town in Shropshire, England. The town is significant in the history of the Welsh Marches and in relation to Wales. It is located south of Shrewsbury and north of Hereford, on the A49 road which bypasses the town. The ...
to intercept them. The Dalton's couldn't sell their horses in Ludlow and they didn't have enough money for all three of them to take the train to Indian territory, so Bill took the train back to Paso Robles while Bob and Emmett took the train to
Salt Lake where they would meet Cole. The boys left their horses in Ludlow, which were then discovered a few weeks later by railroad detectives.
Bill arrived in Paso Robles and was arrested by Sheriff Kay fifteen minutes after getting off the train and was taken to Visalia. After a hearing, Bill was held for trial for the Alila robbery, but he quickly secured bondsmen and was released.
![Tulare County Sheriff Eugene Kay 1891](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cd/Tulare_County_Sheriff_Eugene_Kay_1891.jpg)
Sheriff Kay soon learned of the horses at Ludlow and that the description of the men who left them matched that of Bob and Emmett. Kay decided to pursue them with his deputy, Jim Ford, and to capture them if possible. Kay was informed by Bill's father-in-law, Clark Bliven, that Bob and Emmett planned to meet Cole in Salt Lake, so Kay headed to
Chico where he planned to cut him off. They missed Cole by several hours who had already taken the train to Salt Lake where Kay and his deputy followed. Kay learned at the train depot that Bob and Emmett had bought tickets to
Ogden and were carrying large telescope bags with them. Kay knew from this that Cole was able to supply the boys with guns and ammunition.
Kay and his deputy went to Ogden where they notified the police to keep watch for the Daltons. Soon after, Jim Ford noticed Emmett exit a department store, who quickly ducked back inside upon noticing Kay. Bob and Emmett ran through the back door and ducked into a saloon across the alley. Ford drew his revolver and ran into another store to the alley to cut them off, but soon lost them. Kay sent Ford after Bob and Emmett while he went to the Ogden police to get them to begin searching the city.
Kay and Ford checked all the stages and trains out of Ogden and telegraphed ahead of all others. Late that night, they received a telegram notifying them that men matching the description of Bob and Emmett were seen taking a southbound train many miles south of Salt Lake. Before they could leave however, they received another telegram notifying them that the two were spotted in the southern part of Utah. Kay believed they did this to throw him off by going south instead of east.
Bob and Emmett were able to steal horses and riding rigs. Knowing that Kay was hot on their trail, they traveled east through Arizona into New Mexico. Kay and his deputy were following only one or two days behind them, but couldn't get any officers at the towns ahead of them to make an arrest. Bob and Emmett then took a train headed back to Needles before stopping at
Kingman. There they played poker all night and won $100. Bob pretended not to know Emmett, who then tipped him off to the hands of the others. Kay doubled back to Kingman and learned that the boys had taken a train to
Phoenix
Phoenix most often refers to:
* Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore
* Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States
Phoenix may also refer to:
Mythology
Greek mythological figures
* Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...
with the money they made. From Phoenix, Kay followed the Daltons by horse and stage from
Prescott,
Gila Bend
Gila Bend (; O'odham: Hila Wi:n), founded in 1872, is a town in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States. The town is named for an approximately 90-degree bend in the Gila River, which is near the community's current location. As of the 2020 cen ...
,
Tucson
, "(at the) base of the black ill
, nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town"
, image_map =
, mapsize = 260px
, map_caption = Interactive map ...
, and then to
Nogales, Mexico.
Kay was given a white card from Mexican officials as well as offered a military escort. They missed Bob and Emmett by only twelve hours in
Cananea
Cananea is a city in the Mexican state of Sonora, Northwestern Mexico. It is the seat of the Municipality of Cananea, in the vicinity of the U.S−Mexico border.
The population of the city was 31,560 as recorded by the 2010 census. The p ...
, then lost their trail completely in
Fronteras
Fronteras is the seat of Fronteras Municipality in the northeastern part of the Mexican state of Sonora. Frontera translates as Border. The elevation is 1,120 meters and neighboring municipalities are Agua Prieta, Nacozari and Bacoachi. The ar ...
. Kay assumed that they were probably headed to
El Paso
El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the seat of El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the 23rd-largest city in the U.S., the s ...
, so he and Ford reentered the United States at
Douglas
Douglas may refer to:
People
* Douglas (given name)
* Douglas (surname)
Animals
* Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking
*Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civi ...
. In El Paso, they found out that Bob and Emmett had headed to
Albuquerque
Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding in ...
and then took the train to
Topeka, Kansas
Topeka ( ; Kansa: ; iow, Dópikˀe, script=Latn or ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the seat of Shawnee County. It is along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, in northeast Kansas, in the Central U ...
, where the rail ended. Thinking they had lost Kay, Bob and Emmett headed to their mother outside of Kingfisher.
Kay tracked the Daltons to their mother's home, and kept watch of the house for a few days before being forced to return to Kingfisher because of bad weather. When he returned the next day to watch the house, he discovered that Bob and Emmett had escaped. Kay talked to their mother for several hours and she even invited him in for breakfast. She denied any wrongdoing by her sons, stating that they were in fact lawmen, and told Kay they had gone to
Guthrie if he wanted to talk with them.
Kay and Ford traveled the fifty miles to Guthrie, but soon came into problems when dealing with different tribal jurisdictions. At Guthrie, Kay and Ford noticed that there had been some sort of celebration the night before as they were greeted by three white men hanging from a large tree at the entrance to town and noticed the streets were lined with several groups of black men playing
Craps
Craps is a dice game in which players bet on the outcomes of the roll of a pair of dice. Players can wager money against each other (playing "street craps") or against a bank ("casino craps"). Because it requires little equipment, "street ...
on the sidewalks. Kay found out that, before they had arrived, Bob and Emmett had got into a fight at one of the saloons there and badly beat up two cowboys before leaving for Topeka.
Sheriff Kay was forced to give up the chase in order to return to California for Grat's trial. The Daltons had plenty of friends in the area willing to hide them and easily lost Kay once they were in familiar territory. After they realized they were no longer being pursued, Bob and Emmett began to form what would be known as the Dalton Gang.
Grat's Trial
For the four months that Bob and Emmett spent trying to lose Sheriff Kay in the desert, Grat sat in the Tulare County jail in Visalia awaiting his trial. After securing bondsmen, Bill immediately went to
Merced
Merced (; Spanish for "Mercy") is a city in, and the county seat of, Merced County, California, United States, in the San Joaquin Valley. As of the 2020 Census, the city had a population of 86,333, up from 78,958 in 2010. Incorporated on April 1 ...
and hired John W. Beckenridge, the best attorney in the San Joaquin Valley, to defend Grat. What Bill didn't know is that Beckenridge was also a consulting attorney for the Southern Pacific railroad. To help pay him the two thousand dollars he asked for, Bill sold almost all of his horses and mules. Their mother also came to California from Kingfisher to pay Beckenridge after she mortgaged her home and borrowed money from neighbors. She then traveled to Visalia with her two daughters, as well as her sons Ben, Cole, Lit and Bill, for Grat's trial.
Grat's trial didn't start until that June and it lasted three weeks. Though much of the evidence showed that Grat was in Fresno the night of the Alila robbery, including the testimony of several witnesses, the influence of the powerful Southern Pacific Railroad caused him to receive an unfair trial. Beckenridge showed up to the trial late and drunk, and neither the defense, nor the prosecution mentioned that the fireman had been accidentally killed by the expressman. This was unknown to Grat, since the Dalton brothers had all assumed that Emmett had killed the fireman. Almost all of Beckenridge's witnesses were bar keepers, gamblers, saloon hanger-ons, or pimps. Sheriff Kay even pointed out during the trial that Beckenridge had overlooked Grat's rights. Southern Pacific detective Will Smith visited Grat's cell almost every day during the trial trying to get a confession out of him and Grat began to despise Smith.
Kay knew that, besides Beckenridge's sabotage of the case, Grat would probably be found innocent and their case against Bob and Emmett would fall through.
Towards the end of the trial, Sheriff Kay, Detective Smith, and District Attorney Power talked to Grat while taking him back to his cell from the court room when Beckenridge wasn't present. Kay told Grat that he knew neither Bob or Emmett killed the fireman. He offered to admit this in court if Grat and Bill told the true story of the robbery. Detective Smith decided to chime in, but Grat said he wouldn't say a word while Smith was present. Smith was told to leave and both Bill and Grat agreed to tell their story, but only if they showed that there was no first degree murder in the robbery. The Daltons told their stories, but neither Kay or Beckenridge ever cleared up the murder point and ruined Grat's case.
Ceres Robbery
Grat was taken back to jail to await his sentence. While in jail, a train robbery occurred near
Ceres
Ceres most commonly refers to:
* Ceres (dwarf planet), the largest asteroid
* Ceres (mythology), the Roman goddess of agriculture
Ceres may also refer to:
Places
Brazil
* Ceres, Goiás, Brazil
* Ceres Microregion, in north-central Goiás ...
, on September 3, 1891, but was unsuccessful with no money being taken. The only evidence found at the robbery was a coat made from a tailor from Visalia. Kay suspected that this was probably the work of some suspects he had from Visalia, but the railroad detectives demanded the arrest of the remaining Dalton brothers. Kay telegraphed his deputy George Witty and told him to check on Bill Dalton and to immediately notify him when he was found. Kay checked on his Visalia suspects, who at the time were running a livery stable in
Modesto
Modesto () is the county seat and largest city of Stanislaus County, California, United States. With a population of 218,464 at the 2020 census, it is the 19th largest city in the state of California and forms part of the Sacramento-Stockton ...
, and was convinced they were not involved with the Ceres robbery. He then went to Fresno to check on Lit and Cole Dalton, and was convinced of the same.
When Kay returned to Visalia, he immediately went with detective Smith to the tailor of the coat found at the Ceres robbery. The tailor remembered the coat, but he couldn't remember who had bought it, only that some girl had picked it up once it was clean. After Kay finished talking to the cleaner, Deputy George Witty reported to him that telegrams from the coast said Bill was not in Paso Robles or Estrella. Neither was he in Merced or Livingston. Witty did have a clue from another deputy that two strange men had been seen hanging around after dark on the open plain near Traver and at the abandoned
Overland Stage station at Cross Creek. Kay suspected that Bob and Emmett might be back in California to free Grat from jail, and took Deputy Witty with him to the Cross Creek station in his buggy.
Late in the afternoon, Kay and Witty were about four hundred yards from the station when they saw two men crouching as they crossed the road from the old stage barn to the station. Kay's buggy was directly facing the setting sun, so they could not tell who the men were. The road curved behind some willow trees, and Kay told Witty to drive past the house, passing close to the door, and then to drive back. With his revolver in hand, Kay dropped to the ground as they passed the door and slowly entered the station. Maggie Rucker, the woman who once ran the Cross Creek Overland station, was sitting with another girl alone in the front room, silently making dresses. Kay asked Rucker if there was anyone else around and she replied that there wasn't. Right as she said this, Kay heard someone rush across the floor of an adjoining room and through the crack in the door he could see a man taking position at the window.
Kay moved quietly across the floor and pushed the door a little farther open with his revolver. Standing with his back towards him was Bill Dalton, watching the horses and buggy Kay had just left, while nervously working the lever of his winchester. Kay nudged the door open with his elbow, aimed his revolver at Bill and said, "Bill! Hello!". Bill, thrown off his guard, quickly turned around and mimicked the greeting, "Kay! Hello!". He then threw the butt of his winchester to the ground and the two nervously laughed at each other. Kay had Bill put his rifle down, backed him into the front room, and checked him for any other weapons. When they came back into the front room both Maggie Rucker and the girl remained quiet as they both expected Kay to have been killed.
Deputy Witty entered shortly after, and was told by Kay to go in the room and grab Bill's rifle. As Witty entered the room, he heard a noise come from somewhere inside. Thinking it might be Bob, Kay demanded that Bill tell him where he was. Bill told Kay that Bob was not in the country, that he had stopped at Rucker's place alone to spend the night. Kay knew this was untrue as he had seen two men cross the road. He soon discovered a worn place in the carpet and found a trap door hidden underneath. He had Bill lift the carpet and open the trap door and, instead of Bob, they discovered a man named Riley Dean, a saloon hanger-on from Visalia and Traver. It became apparent to Kay that Bill had been busy hiding Dean when he arrived, otherwise they would have heard him come in. Kay decided to place both men under arrest and took them to Visalia.
After Bill and Riley Dean were brought to the Visalia jail, Sheriff Pervis of
Stanislaus County, S.P. detective Will Smith, and Wells Fargo detectives Hume and Thacker arrived to bring the two men to Modesto to stand trial for the Ceres robbery. When Bill and Dean were acquitted, Bill was rearrested by Kay after his bondsmen were convinced to withdraw by detective Hume. He was then taken back to Visalia to await his trial for the Alila robbery.
Bill was interviewed by the Fresno ''Expositor'' in September 1891 saying, "The truth is I am like Paddy Miles' boy --- no matter what goes wrong or what depredation is committed, Bill Dalton is always charged with the same."
Formation of the Gang
Bob and Emmett, meanwhile, had been busy in Oklahoma forming their gang. After their unsuccessful career in California, they decided they could do much better in their home country, and unlike their first attempts, they began carefully planning their robberies. As a former lawman, Bob knew the difficulty officers had enforcing laws in Indian and Oklahoma Territories. While the Indian Nations had their own tribal law enforcement, these agencies had no jurisdiction over non-Indians. The newly formed Oklahoma Territory had organized their own sheriff and city police departments, but there was so far very little cooperation between them. The only agency with jurisdiction over the whole territory was the U.S. Marshals Service, but it was quickly becoming fragmented due to power struggles between newly formed district courts and jealousy between marshals over their different jurisdictions. There was also little incentive among Deputy Marshals to search for potentially dangerous outlaws, their only pay being for fees and a set amount for each criminal they arrested. Unless there was a high enough reward being offered, they would instead choose to focus their attention on petty criminals.
With Bob as the leader, the boys recruited mostly men who had grown up with them in Oklahoma. First recruited were
George "Bitter Creek" Newcomb and
"Blackfaced" Charlie Bryant, who had received his nickname because of a gunpowder burn on one cheek. Even though Sheriff Kay had given up his pursuit of the boys, they still had a $3000 bounty on their heads posted by Wells Fargo and the Southern Pacific Railroad, encouraging lawmen in the area to pick up where Kay had left off. Leading the pursuit was Bob's old friend, Deputy Marshal
Heck Thomas
Andrew "Heck" Thomas (January 3, 1850 – August 14, 1912) was a lawman on the American frontier, most notably in Indian Territory. He was known for helping bring law and order to the region. In 1889 as a deputy in Fort Smith, Arkansas, he trie ...
, whose renown skills as a deputy kept the gang constantly on the move and in hiding. Angered by the charges against Grat and Bill which he knew to be false, Bob decided that the best way to help his brothers would be to acquire enough money to pay for their bail and defense. This resulted in the first robbery at Whorton, May 1891, where the gang stole $1200.
Joining afterwards were
Bill Doolin
Bill(s) may refer to:
Common meanings
* Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States)
* Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature
* Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer
* Bill, a bird or animal's beak
Plac ...
, Dick Broadwell, Bill Powers, and
Charley Pierce. The gang was also assisted by Bob's lover Eugenia Moore, known by her aliases "Tom King" and "Miss Mundays", who acted as their informant, but was also a notorious horse thief and outlaw.
When not preying on the railroads, the gang spent their time digging out large rooms into the steep hills in the cedar brakes on the Northern Canadian River. This was on the property of a man named Jim Riley, about eight miles from the present-day town of
Taloga, Oklahoma. The deep canyons of the area, covered with dwarf cedar and blackjack oaks, made it an ideal hiding place. Riley would feed the outlaws, and would do the same for any passing officers, but he would never reveal each other's whereabouts to either parties.
In August 1891, Charlie Bryant was spotted in
Hennessey, Oklahoma
Hennessey is a town in Kingfisher County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 2,131 at the 2010 census, up from 2,058 in 2000.
History
Hennessey is named after Pat Hennessey, an Irish freighter who was killed at the present townsite in ...
, after leaving the gang's hideout to visit his brother in
Mulhall. The locals who identified him notified a deputy marshal named Ed Short. He arrested Bryant and took him on a train to be committed to the jail at
Wichita, Kansas
Wichita ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 397,532. The Wichita metro area had a population of 647,610 in 2020. It is located in ...
, without notifying Marshal Grimes at Fort Smith. Ignoring the advice of the people in Hennessy, he also took the prisoner without a guard. After the train left Hennessey, and was approaching the stop at
Waukomis, Oklahoma
Waukomis is a town in Garfield County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 1,286 at the 2010 census, an increase of 2.0 percent from 1,261 in 2000.
References
External linksWaukomis Public Schools
{{authority control
Towns in Garfi ...
, Short noticed a group of mounted men who looked as if they were trying to beat the train, and feared it was the Dalton Gang coming to free Bryant. Short took the prisoner back and placed him in the baggage car. He then put the baggage man in charge of Bryant and gave him his revolver. Short then went to the rear platform with his rifle. The baggageman carelessly stuck the revolver into a
pigeon-hole messagebox
A pigeon-hole messagebox (commonly referred to as a ''pigeon-hole'' or ''pidge'', a '' cubbyhole'' (often shortened to "cubby") or simply as a ''mailbox'' in some academic or office settings) is an internal mail system commonly used for communi ...
and went to work at the other end of the car. Without making any noise, Bryant went to the messagebox and secured the revolver. He then ordered the baggageman to ignore him and to go back to his work. Bryant opened the door to the rear platform, and, while Short had his attention on the mounted men, shot him in the back point blank. Short then turned and the two shot each other to death.
The second train robbery by the Dalton Gang in Oklahoma was at a small station called Lelietta on September 15, 1891, about four miles north of
Wagoner, Oklahoma
Wagoner is a city in Wagoner County, Oklahoma, Wagoner County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 8,323 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census,CensusViewer: Population of the City of Wagoner, Oklahoma. Retrieved March 16, 201/ref> c ...
. Here, they secured more than $19,000. Many members of the gang, including Emmett, complained that the $3500 each was not enough to meet their needs. Bill Doolin complained that Bob was not dividing the money fairly, and accused Bob of squandering their money on women and gamblers. Doolin quit the gang, along with Newcomb and Pierce, due to the mismanagement of finances.
Grat's Escape
On September 21, Grat Dalton was brought into court to face sentencing, but this was instead postponed to October 6. This was a date that Grat had no intention on making. Rumors had circulated for months that Bob had planned to come and liberate Grat, so two of sheriff Kay's deputies, Jim Wagy and Bob Hockett, had been hired by Wells Fargo to guard Grat's cell until he was sentenced and sent to
San Quentin
San Quentin State Prison (SQ) is a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation state prison for men, located north of San Francisco in the unincorporated place of San Quentin in Marin County.
Opened in July 1852, San Quentin is the ...
. This was in addition to the jailer, J.M. Williams. One night, Jim Wagy heard a noise in the basement and upon investigation discovered that someone had tried to break the lock to the grated window. He decided to watch the outside of the place at night to see if he could catch in the act whoever was trying to open the grating. Wagy hid all night in a yard across the street but saw nothing. Instead he caught a cold from sitting in the fog all night. The next morning, Grat called Wagy over to his cell and asked him where he got such a cold. Wagy told him that he must've slept in a draft, to which Grat replied, "Yes, it must have been pretty cold in the yard over there last night." Grat could not see the yard Wagy had laid in from his cell and the deputy hadn't told anyone what he had done that night. Expecting there to be an escape, and because none of the other deputies would listen to him, Wagy decided to quit.
On the night of September 27, Grat and two cellmates, Arvil Beck and W.B. Smith, escaped from the Tulare County jail in Visalia while Sheriff Kay was in
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
. At first, it looked to Kay as if it had been an inside job as it was obvious Grat had simply unlocked the cell door with a key and broke through the basement window to get out. They did however find pieces of a file and a hack saw blade in the prisoner's toilet. Bill had been in a separate cell from Grat, located upstairs. When approached by Kay, Bill told him, "The boys were there when I went to sleep, and when I awakened they had unlocked and gone. Why in the world do you suppose they went away and left me behind?"
Jim Wagy also showed up after the break out to overlook the scene. By that time, Bill had been moved downstairs into what was Grat's cell. When Jim approached Bill said, "Jim, the birds have flown." When they entered the cell, Bill took out his guitar, sat on a soap box, leaned against the bars of the corridor and began to play a popular song he put his own words to and titled, "You'll Never Miss My Brother Till He's Gone". While Bill was playing his guitar, Wagy noticed that he was trying to cover up where the break had been made. One of the bars had been cut out and replaced with a broom handle blackened by soot. Wagy said, "Here is your hole", and kicked the broom handle onto the floor. Bill immediately threw his guitar on the bed and exclaimed, "Now what in the world do you know about that? How did they ever cut that bar out without my knowing it?"
Most officers believed that Grat immediately escaped the county, but Sheriff Kay thought otherwise. After spending a few weeks tracking and arresting Arvil Beck and W.B. Smith, Sheriff Kay learned from them that Grat had actually made the opening in the bars several days before the robbery after being slipped a saw from someone on the outside. The sawing was hid from the jailer by a large box that they would put a blanket over and use to play cards. The cellmates would sing and talk to drown out the sound of the saw. Each time they stopped sawing, they plugged the hole with soap and soot. After making the opening, they ran around the corridors, kitchen, and basement for several nights. This is why Grat was able to notice Deputy Wagy hiding in a yard across the street from the jail. The last night they dug a hole in the brickwall of the woodroom, but found heavy iron bars embedded in the wall that they couldn't get in between. They used the bar they had cut out to pry open the grating in the wood room window and, instead of risking going and putting it back, left the broom handle in its place.
After the escape, Beck separated from the others and went north, while Grat and Smith went to a friend of Grat's named Joe Middleton, who lived in
Hanford. Grat and Middleton told Smith they planned to hide out in the Coast Range and invited him to come with them. Smith instead went north and several weeks later was arrested by Kay. Threatened with prison time, Smith told Kay that Middleton could be followed to Dalton's camp when he carried him supplies.
After having a deputy watch Middleton's place, he learned that Middleton was buying enough groceries to last three months and was seen driving east of
Sanger. When Middleton returned, Kay arrested him at his home and threatened to send him to San Quentin if he didn't give up Grat's hideout. Middleton had been threatened by Dalton for not helping him escape the country fast enough and was afraid of him. He told Kay that Grat's camp was on a steep mountain in the
Sierra Nevada, close to the Kings River and about fifteen miles northeast of Sanger, but that they would never find the place. The mountain was a natural fortress, rocky and heavily wooded, with a good view of the surrounding countryside. This mountain would later be known as Dalton Mountain. He also said that Grat was accompanied by Riley Dean, the man who had been arrested with Bill for the Ceres robbery, as well as a dog. Kay promised Middleton secrecy, and a horse and buggy, if he led him to within a half mile of Dalton's camp.
Since Grat's location was in
Fresno County
Fresno County (), officially the County of Fresno, is a county located in the central portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 1,008,654. The county seat is Fresno, the fifth-most populous city in Cali ...
, Kay telegraphed Sheriff Hensley in Fresno, and the two made plans to assemble a posse in
Centerville. After pointing out the location of the camp, Middleton left in a hurry and the two posses spent the night on the living room floor of the nearby Elwood ranch. The next day, Christmas Eve, 1891, the posse of both Sheriff Kay and Sheriff Hensley woke up at three in the morning and ascended the mountain to Dalton's camp. It had been raining for several days prior, and it was so cold the ground was covered in ice. The posse reached Dalton's camp at nine and split into two groups in order to surround the camp, Kay leading one and Hensley the other. Kay and his men made their way to a rock ledge that Middleton told them would bring them within a few feet above Dalton's camp.
![Daltonmountain](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/33/Daltonmountain.jpg)
From their position, Kay and his deputies were fifty yards from Dalton and Dean, who were both discussing their plan to hunt one of Elwood's hogs for Christmas dinner. Kay's deputies were carrying ten gauge, double-barrel shotguns, loaded with buckshot, and they leveled them at Dalton. There was a moment where Dalton could have been shot in cold blood, and some of Kay's deputies wanted to do it, but Kay and Hensley wouldn't allow it. Grat and Riley then made their way out of camp with their rifles on their backs and Kay decided they would set up an ambush and wait for their return. The men split into three groups to cover all approaches to the camp.
Sheriff Hensley and deputy Ed McCardle where guarding a trail that led to the summit of small and narrow ridge. Around eleven, they noticed Dalton and Dean returning from their hunt, so they sent deputy Perry Byrd to go and retrieve Kay. They hid behind some rocks and an oak tree and waited as one of the men approached them. They waited until the heavy bearded, two-hundred and thirty pound man was thirty feet from them. The lawmen aimed their rifles at the man and Hensley ordered him to drop his rifle and unbuckle his revolver belt. The man was Riley Dean and he did as he was told. Hensley grabbed Dean and took him over the ridge to Kay so they could handcuff him to an oak tree.
Right as Hensley left, deputy McCardle heard the sound of footsteps come from the same direction where they had spotted Dean. He then saw Grat begin to approach over the hill and planned to wait until he was thirty feet from him before making an arrest. Right before the deputy ordered Grat to drop his weapon, a dog appeared ten feet from Grat and began barking at the lawman. Grat and McCardle fired at each other almost simultaneously. Grat lowered his winchester, fired, and the jumped behind cover all in one quick motion. McCardle's bullet flew straight over Dalton, but Grat's bullet struck the tree within inches of McCardle's face and filled his eyes with bark. Grat dropped to the ground and rolled into a gulch about ten feet away. He then quickly charged down the mountainside tearing through the brush.
The posse tried firing at Grat through the brush, but he managed to run the mile back to Elwood's ranch. Judson Elwood was plowing his six-horse team when he heard the shots up the mountain. He began walking behind his plow when he felt a rifle poke him in the ribs. Grat ordered Elwood to unhitch one of his horses, which he did. Grat rode away from the house, jumped the horse over an old rock fence, and began yelling and firing his revolver in the air so that Dean would know that he had escaped. He then rode away with the dog running ahead of him.
Grat first rode to Charles Owen's ranch across from Clovis Cole where he stayed for a few days. Officers were watching Lit at Clovis Cole's, but didn't think to watch Owen's place. Grat then rode to a home seven miles south of
Livingston, the home of his friend ex-supervisor W.W. Gray. The weather conditions during his escape led him to becoming sick with pneumonia, so he stayed near Livingston for several weeks, sleeping in Gray's cupola and watching the surrounding plains with an eyeglass for any sight of a posse. When Grat recovered, he was able to escape with the help of his brother Cole. They cut through
Antelope Valley
The Antelope Valley is located in northern Los Angeles County, California, and the southeast portion of Kern County, California, and constitutes the western tip of the Mojave Desert. It is situated between the Tehachapi, Sierra Pelona, and t ...
and skirted the desert down to
San Diego County
San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,298,634, making it California's second-most populous county and the f ...
before taking the old trail to
Yuma. The two left California in February 1892 and rode for a hundred and seven days before reaching Kingfisher. By the time Grat reached his mother's he had lost forty pounds. Cole had split up with Grat at
Gila Bend, Arizona after the two got in argument in which Cole was trying to convince Grat not to join Bob and Emmett.
Oklahoma
Grat returned to Oklahoma in the spring of 1892 and shortly afterward joined his brothers gang. Some time later, the three dissatisfied members also returned and new plans began to form. Bill had returned to Oklahoma several months earlier, living at his mother's house near Kingsfisher. After being found innocent by a Visalia jury, Bill was acquitted and released on October 15. He then sold the lease to his ranch in San Luis Obispo County, moved his family to his wife's parents in
Livingston, California
Livingston is a city in Merced County, California, United States. Livingston is located west-northwest of Atwater, at an elevation of 131 feet (40 m). According to the 2020 census, the city population was 14,172, up from 13,058 in 2010. Living ...
, and left for Kingfisher. Though he did not participate in any of the hold-ups with his brothers, he acted as their spy and advisor.
On June 1, 1892, the gang robbed the Santa Fe train at a small station called
Red Rock at 10pm. Here, the Santa Fe had found out about the Daltons' plans and attempted to set up a trap for the gang, filling the train with heavily armed officers. They made the mistake of leaving the train dark, though, which made Bob suspicious, and the gang allowed the train to go by. They then robbed the next train a few minutes later, securing about $50,000. The $50,000, however, came out to only $1800 after drafts and securities had been thrown out. After splitting the money among themselves, the gang soon realized they needed to rob another train.
The night before the robbery at Red Rock, Judge Burford, US District Attorney for Oklahoma
Horace Speed, and deputy marshal George Yoes (son of Marshal Jacob Yoes, the Daltons former employer at Fort Smith) were sitting in a hotel lobby in Kingfisher, where they were talking about the cases that would be in court the next day. Bill Dalton came into the hotel lobby and began to speak to deputy Yoes in a loud voice, so everyone around them could hear. At 10pm he looked at his watch and announced to Yoes aloud that it was his bedtime, but that he would be back to have breakfast with him in the morning. After he left, the judge asked Yoes who the man was, as he seemed educated and well-informed. Yoes told the judge that he was Bill Dalton, the brother of the notorious train robbers, and the judge asked him to introduce them when he came to breakfast. Bill arrived for breakfast like he said, and the four of them took the same table. At about 8am, a telegraph messenger came into the room and handed the deputy marshal a telegram, reporting the robbery at Red Rock by the Daltons at 10pm the previous night. The deputy handed the message to Judge Burford, who read it aloud to the audience. As soon as the judge had finished, Bill announced, "Well, I can prove that I was not there, and not by accident either."
The next robbery was on July 14, at
Adair, Oklahoma, near the
Arkansas
Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the O ...
border. At the station, the gang took what they could find in the express and baggage rooms. They sat to wait for the next train on a bench on the platform, talking and smoking, with their
Winchester rifle
Winchester rifle is a comprehensive term describing a series of lever action repeating rifles manufactured by the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. Developed from the 1860 Henry rifle, Winchester rifles were among the earliest repeaters. The Mo ...
s across their knees. When the train came in at 9:45 pm, they backed a wagon up to the express car and unloaded all the contents. The eight armed guards on the train all happened to be at the back of the train when it pulled in. They fired at the bandits through the car windows and from behind the train. In the gunfight, 200 shots were fired. None of the Dalton gang was hit. Doctors W. L. Goff and Youngblood were sitting on the porch of the drug store near the depot. Both men were hit several times by stray shots; Dr Goff was fatally wounded. Also wounded were captains Kinney and LaFlore, but they recovered. The gang secured about $18,000. They were also accused of robbing a bank in
El Reno, Oklahoma
El Reno is a city in and county seat of Canadian County, Oklahoma, Canadian County, Oklahoma, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city population was 16,989, marking a change of 1.55% from 16,729, recorded in the ...
, on July 28, but this was based on little evidence, as no one identified any members of the gang.
After the robbery at Adair, officials of the
Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad offered a reward of $40,000 for anyone who could capture and convict the Dalton Gang, and a reward of $5,000 for the arrest of any of them.
Coffeyville bank robbery
Bob Dalton had ambitions. He would, he claimed, "beat anything
Jesse James ever did—rob two banks at once, in broad daylight." On October 5, 1892, the Dalton gang attempted this feat when they set out to rob the C.M. Condon & Company's Bank and the First National Bank on opposite sides of the street in Coffeyville, Kansas. Bob had planned the entire robbery. Emmett, however, was against the idea. He had gone to school at Robbins Corners near Coffeyville, and knew several hundred people in town. He was afraid some of his friends would be hurt, but Bob assured him there would not be any shooting, and that it would all be over before anyone knew what happened. The plan was that Bob and Emmett were to rob the First National Bank while Grat, Broadwell, and Powers robbed the Condon Bank across the street. Emmett thought Grat would mess things up if he went alone with Powers and Broadwell, and thought they should trade places. This led to a heavy argument between Bob and Emmett and created bitterness between them on the way to the robbery.
Bob had planned for the gang to tie their horses to a post behind the Condon Bank, where it was protected from the center of town by brick walls. They had not been to the town for several years, though, and the hitching post had since been removed during street work. Bob would not allow Emmett to check out the town beforehand in fear that he would be recognized, so this was not factored into their plan. When they arrived, Bob had to think quickly, and decided instead to tie their horses in an alley across from the bank to the west, near the city jail, which offered them little protection. This is now known as Dalton Alley.
On the morning of October 5, the gang emerged from the alley onto the plaza of Coffeyville. A storekeeper who was sweeping the sidewalk a few feet away noticed Bob, Emmett, and even Grat, who was wearing a fake mustache, and ran inside his store. In close order, the five crossed Walnut Street from the alley to the Condon Bank, holding Winchester rifles close along their legs. Grat, Broadwell, and Powers entered the Condon Bank and Emmett and Bob hurried across Union Street to the First National Bank. Street work was being done at the time, and one of the workers noticed the men dog-trotting across the alley with rifles, and began to yell, "The Daltons are robbing the bank!" Very soon, half the businessmen around the plaza knew what was going on, and the message quickly passed throughout the town.
Grat entered the Condon Bank and pointed his Winchester at the cashier, ordering his hands up, while Powers and Broadwell took positions at the door. Grat went to the back office and ordered the manager into the front, he then handed the cashier a sack bag and ordered him to fill it with cash from the money drawer. Then, noticing the vault door was open, Grat ordered both of them into the vault, where the safe with the gold was. When told to open the safe, the manager lied, telling Grat it was a time lock and that it would not open for another 10 minutes. Grat believed him and decided he would wait until it opened. He then ordered the bags of silver on the vault floor into his bag, containing $1000 and weighing about 200 lb.
Meanwhile, Emmett and Bob had entered the First National Bank, covered the officers and two customers, and ordered the cashier, Thomas Ayres, to open the safe with gold and cash. They put the gold into the sack, forced Ayres in front of them as cover, and went out the front door. They had planned to meet with Grat and cross the plaza to the alley, where they could make their escape, but word of the robbery had spread through town. As they exited the door, an
American Express agent opened fire with his revolver. Bob and Emmett returned fire and left Ayres on the sidewalk. They turned around, and went through the back door, carrying both rifles and sack bags, while taking two other bank employees as cover.
Grat heard the revolver shots from the Express agent. He then decided the sack bag was too heavy to carry, and ordered the silver taken out, then stashed what cash he could fit into his coat pockets. Two hardware stores in the town had, meanwhile, begun passing out guns to the local civilians, who began firing through the windows at the Condon Bank. The three returned fire and held out, waiting for the time lock to open. Several civilians were wounded in the fighting.
When Emmett and Bob went out the back door of the First National Bank, they were met by Lucius Baldwin, who had been watching the door with his pistol. Bob ordered him to drop the gun, and when he failed to answer, shot him with his Winchester, killing him. Bob and Emmett then made their way to the end of the back alley onto Eighth Street, where they could hear the townspeople shooting at the Condon Bank. Outside of a drug store across from the First National, George Cubine was standing with his Winchester aimed at the front door of the bank, awaiting the exit of Bob and Emmett. Bob shot him in the head, killing him. Cubine's partner, Charles Brown, was standing unarmed next to him and went to pick up his Winchester. As he lifted the rifle up, Bob shot and killed him.
After being left on the sidewalk by Bob and Emmett, Thomas Ayres had run into one of the hardware stores and grabbed a rifle. He spotted Bob just as he had killed Brown and aimed his rifle at him from behind the store window. Bob saw Ayres from about 200 ft away and quickly shot him in the head. Ayres was not killed, but he remained paralyzed for life.
In the midst of the shooting, Powers told Grat he had been hit in the arm. Grat ordered the employees to lay on the floor in the back office, and after receiving the signal from Bob, told Powers and Broadwell that it was time to leave. The three went out the side door crouching and dashing across Walnut Street to the alley where they had hitched their horses. Bob and Emmett met Grat and the others in the alley, the sacks of money still over their arms.
![Law enforcement officers hold up the bodies of Bob and Grat Dalton](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/20/Law_enforcement_officers_hold_up_the_bodies_of_Bob_and_Grat_Dalton.jpg)
As the Daltons made their way west down the alley towards the horses, Town Marshal Charles T. Connelly came through the livery stable into the alley and ran east towards the plaza without noticing the bandits behind him. Grat then shot him in the head and killed him. Following behind Marshal Connelly was John Kloehr, still in the stable. Grat noticed him, but before he could aim, Kloehr shot him in the throat.
Taking fire from the hardware store, Bob was hit in the head and the heart, killing him instantly. Powers tried to mount his horse, but shots from the store also killed him. Emmett was able to mount his horse unwounded, and began riding away, but after noticing Bob was hit, turned around and attempted to lift Bob onto his horse. Emmett was then hit in the back with a load of buckshot. Broadwell was hit several times, but managed to ride away. He was found 2 miles away, dead.
![Emmet at Dr](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5a/Emmet_at_Dr._Wells_After_Coffeyville_raid.jpg)
Bill Dalton and Bill Doolin had been waiting several miles away with extra horses to aid the gang's escape. After getting tired of waiting, they left, only to learn later the fate of the gang.
Grat and Bob Dalton, Dick Broadwell, and Bill Powers were all killed. Emmett Dalton received 23 gunshot wounds and survived (he was shot through the right arm, below the shoulder, through the left – right, in some accounts – hip and groin, and received 18-23 buckshot in his back). He was given a life sentence in the
Kansas State Penitentiary
Lansing Correctional Facility (LCF) is a state prison operated by the Kansas Department of Corrections. LCF is located in Lansing, Kansas, in Leavenworth County. LCF, along with the Federal Bureau of Prison's United States Penitentiary, Leavenw ...
in
Lansing, Kansas
Lansing is a city in Leavenworth County, Kansas, United States. It is situated along the west side of the Missouri River and Kansas-Missouri state border. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 11,239. It is the second most po ...
, of which he served 14 years before being pardoned. He moved to
Hollywood, California
Hollywood is a neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, California. Its name has come to be a shorthand reference for the U.S. film industry and the people associated with it. Many notable film studios, such as Columbia Pictures, ...
, and became a real estate agent, author, and actor, and died in 1937 at age 66. Bill Doolin, "Bitter Creek" Newcomb, and Charlie Pierce, none of whom was at Coffeyville, were the only members left of the original Dalton Gang.
Years after the robberies and his release from prison, Emmett Dalton said that the relentless pressure put on them by Deputy US Marshal
Heck Thomas
Andrew "Heck" Thomas (January 3, 1850 – August 14, 1912) was a lawman on the American frontier, most notably in Indian Territory. He was known for helping bring law and order to the region. In 1889 as a deputy in Fort Smith, Arkansas, he trie ...
as he hunted for them was a key factor in his gang's decision to commit the robberies. They hoped that a big haul from the banks would allow them to leave the territory and escape Thomas' heat.
Afterward
For a time, Bill Doolin and his partners operated under outlaw
Henry Starr
Henry Starr (1873–1921) was an American criminal of the wild west and an American actor of the silent film era.
Biography
Starr’s parents were Mary Scott Starr and George Starr. Distantly related to Sam Starr, husband of Belle Starr, he was ...
(
Cherokee
The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, t ...
), hiding out about 75 miles northeast of Kingfisher, from where they made several raids. Doolin, Newcomb, and Pierce visited the Daltons' mother in Kingfisher to console her after her sons' deaths. Brothers Lit and Bill Dalton were also visiting their mother, and Doolin proposed that they join his group to avenge their brothers. Bill Dalton agreed to join them and soon took part in several robberies, but Lit refused in disgust. Henry Starr was arrested in 1893 and held for trial at Fort Smith.
As Doolin and Dalton were accepted as leaders of the gang, it became known as the
Doolin-Dalton Gang
The Wild Bunch, also known as the Doolin–Dalton Gang, or the Oklahombres, were a gang of American outlaws based in the Indian Territory in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They were active in Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma Terr ...
, and also as the Wild Bunch. Dalton took part in several robberies with the Wild Bunch, including a gun battle on September 1, 1893, at
Ingalls, Oklahoma Territory, where three deputy U. S. marshals were killed. Eventually, Bill Dalton left Doolin to form his own Dalton Gang. On May 23, 1894, Dalton and his new gang robbed the First National Bank at
Longview, Texas
Longview is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, and county seat of Gregg County; a small part of Longview extends into the western portion of neighboring Harrison County. Longview is located in East Texas, where Interstate 20 and U.S. Highways ...
. During the robbery, one member of the gang and four citizens were killed in a shootout. This was the gang's only job. After the gang separated with their share of the loot, Bill hid out with his family in a cabin near
Elk, Indian Territory. A posse assembled by U.S. Marshal S.T. Lindsey in
Ardmore, Oklahoma, tracked him to the cabin and surrounded it on June 8, 1894. Bill escaped through a window at the back of the house, but as he ran through a patch of corn he was shot and killed by the deputy marshals.
![Bill Dalton, in death, June 1894](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/69/Bill_Dalton%2C_in_death%2C_June_1894.jpg)
Lit, the last surviving Dalton brother, responded to a book written by his brother Emmett after the latter's death. Lit said that Emmett's book, ''When the Daltons Rode'' (1931), was largely fabrication. Emmett had denied accompanying Bob to California. On his death bed, Emmett told
Frank Forrest Latta Frank Forrest Latta (1892–1983), was a California historian and ethnographer of the Yokuts people. He also wrote histories of the early European-American settlement of the San Joaquin Valley.
Early life
Frank Forrest Latta was the son of Presbyte ...
that he had robbed a train in California, and had used the alias William McElhanie. He asked Latta not to publish the information until after his death.
In her unpublished novella, ''Grat Dalton's Ride'', Eva Evans, the daughter of the famous California outlaw
Chris Evans, tells the story of Grat Dalton's escape from California after the Alila robbery. In it she implied that her father was the one who helped Grat Dalton escape from the Visalia Jail, lending credibility to an earlier claim made by Sheriff Gene Kay of this being true. Most of Sheriff Kay's information on Chris Evans came from his deputy Perry Byrd, who also happened to be Evans' brother-in-law, but Kay had other supporting information as well.
Chris Evans and Grat Dalton had become friends while working together in Tulare County during the summer of 1888, at the Grangers Bank of California's wheat warehouses in
Tipton
Tipton is an industrial town in the West Midlands in England with a population of around 38,777 at the 2011 UK Census. It is located northwest of Birmingham.
Tipton was once one of the most heavily industrialised towns in the Black Country, w ...
and
Pixley. This would've been while Grat was on active duty as Deputy Marshal in Indian Territory, but Sheriff Kay claimed that Grat had told him that he had made two extended trips to California while serving as U.S. Marshal. This was also confirmed by Lit Dalton, who had owned a saloon in San Miguel from 1889 to 1890. He claimed that Bob, Grat, and Emmett had all made at least two trips to Bill's ranch in California during that time and that at least one of them would show up to his saloon to get a gallon demijohn full of whiskey to bring back to the rest.
Sometime before the Alila robbery, but after Grat, Bob and Emmett had all arrived at Bill's ranch in 1890, Grat had been rumored to have been in possession of rare two dollar bills. This was only a few months after $2,000 in rare two dollar bills had been stolen during a train robbery outside of Goshen (a robbery later attributed to Chris Evans and
John Sontag
John Sontag (May 27, 1861 – July 3, 1893) was an outlaw of the American West known for train robberies.
Background
John Sontag was the oldest son of Maria (Bohn) and Jacob Contant of Mankato, Minnesota. After the death of his father in 1867, ...
). Grat had already been known in the San Joaquin Valley as a heavy drinker, fighter, and gambler, so when Kay passed Grat on the street while in Modesto his deputy George Witty was easily able to recognize him. Kay stopped Grat in the street and said, "Say, I hear you have some two-dollar bills. I haven't seen one since I left Missouri. Let me look at one." Kay noticed the bills were perfectly new and asked Grat where he got them. Grat began to say something about a horse, but then became suspicious. Knowing Grat must've sold or hired a horse, Kay sent Witty to investigate while he kept Grat in sight. Kay hung around Grat for a few hours and talked to him most of the time until Witty returned. Witty had gone to the livery stable in Modesto, at the time being jointly run by Chris Evans and John Sontag, and learned that Grat had sold the horse to Evans who in turn gave him the two dollar bills. Evans, however, claimed that he had received the bills from the Sol Sweet store after cashing a check there. Kay apologized to Grat and let him go, but upon visiting the Sol Sweet store Kay learned that Evans had received gold instead of two dollar bills when cashing his check. Kay did not think much of this until later, when Perry Byrd mentioned Chris breaking Grat out of jail. Kay believed Chris was either protecting himself by helping Grat break from jail or returning the favor for Grat protecting him. Chris was also reported by a Visalia newspaper to have attended every day of Grat's trial for the Alila robbery. This was also confirmed by Lit Dalton who had also attended the trial and claimed to have had several hour long conversations with Evans.
There has been much debate over the identity of the, "sixth man at Coffeyville" reported by witnesses who claimed was accompanying the gang as they arrived in town right before the robbery. The account given on October 7, 1892, by Coffeyville's ''The Journal'' is considered to be the most authentic on events the day of the robbery. ''The Journal'' acknowledged witnesses statements then and in a later article that there were two major unanswered questions: who was the sixth man seen riding into town with the gang, and what happened to him?
''The Journal'' then went to state that, "The other dead body proved to be that of Tom Evans..." and marked number six on their map of the shooting area as "Where Tom Evans fell" and in three other references to him ''The Journal'' called him Tom. For some reason, however, the body was buried as Bill Powers. While six men were confirmed to had been seen riding into town, other witnesses that day were all in agreement that upon reaching town there were only five men in the group. After the attempted robbery, Emmett was taken upstairs above the drug store to be treated by Dr. Wells. In order to persuade the townsfolk not to hang him, he agreed to tell them everything they wanted to know. As Emmett reviewed the roles of the various participants, he concluded by saying, "Then there was Tom Evans down tending the horses." He then corrected himself, saying that he meant Bill Powers. No one then or later asked him about the horse tending remark, but it couldn't have referred to Bill Powers because his role as an active participant is well recorded. Many newspapers at the time assumed that an unknown member of the gang escaped. Since Emmett had originally attempted to convince his captors that he was
Charles Dryden
Charles Dryden (March 10, 1860 – February 11, 1931) was an American baseball writer and humorist. He was reported to be the most famous and highly paid baseball writer in the United States during the 1900s. Known for injecting humor into his ...
, until he realized that it was hopeless, his word is considered by many to be of questionable value. If someone in the gang had escaped, there would be nothing gained by Emmett for admitting it. It has been speculated by those seeking to answer the confusion that Bill Powers possibly escaped and it was Tom Evans who was killed, as originally reported, or that Tom Evans was just an alias of Bill Powers.
![Chris Evans, February 21, 1894](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f1/Chris_Evans%2C_February_21%2C_1894.jpg)
Bill Powers was somewhat of a man of mystery. ''The Journal'' reported that, "no one has yet been found who knows him or anything of his antecedents or history." Tom Evans, on the other hand, was reported to be the fraternal twin of outlaw
Chris Evans, who at the time of the Coffeyville raid was a fugitive hiding out in the southern
Sierra Nevada mountains. Chris Evans' family ridiculed reports of any such involvement or that Tom had been killed, but otherwise never disclosed his actual whereabouts. Chris had continually attested his innocence and any confirmation of his already rumored association with the Dalton Gang would have damaged his case. A later report in the ''Visalia Times-Delta'', a major newspaper in
Visalia, California
Visalia ( ) is a city in the agricultural San Joaquin Valley of California. The population was 141,384 as per the 2020 census. Visalia is the fifth-largest city in the San Joaquin Valley, the 42nd most populous in California, and 192nd in ...
, attributed to "a relative of Mrs. Evans" (most likely Chris Evans brother-in-law Perry Byrd, a deputy of Sheriff Gene Kay) stated, "Tom Evans killed at Coffeyville, Kansas, when the Dalton brothers made their famous raid on the banks of that town, was the twin brother of Chris."
There have been several other nominees suggested to be the sixth man seen riding into Coffeyville, including Bill Dalton, George Newcomb, and Bill Doolin, all of which have never been confirmed.
Gallery
File:DaltonGangGrave.JPG, Grave of Dalton gang in Coffeyville, Kansas
File:DaltonEmmett.jpg, Emmett Dalton
File:Prison Photo of Emmett Dalton after failed bank robbery at Coffeyville, Kansas.jpg, Prison photo of Emmett Dalton
File:DaltonGrat.jpg, Grat Dalton
File:Bob Dalton, 1887, C.G. Glass.jpg, Bob Dalton, 1887
File:Bob Dalton, May 9, 1889.jpg, Bob Dalton, with an unidentified woman (possibly Eugenia Moore), May 9, 1889
File:Doolinbody.png, Bill Doolin
File:NewcombGeorge.jpg, George "Bitter Creek" Newcomb
File:PierceCharley.jpg, Charley Pierce
In popular culture
* A largely fictional film version of the Daltons' lives was adapted from Emmett's 1931 book, ''
When the Daltons Rode
''When the Daltons Rode'' is a 1940 American Western film directed by George Marshall and starring Randolph Scott, Kay Francis and Brian Donlevy. Based on the 1931 book of the same name by Emmett Dalton, a member of the Dalton Gang, and Jack Ju ...
.'' Released in 1940, it starred
Randolph Scott,
Broderick Crawford, and
Brian Donlevy
Waldo Brian Donlevy (February 9, 1901 – April 6, 1972) was an American actor, noted for playing dangerous tough guys from the 1930s to the 1960s. He usually appeared in supporting roles. Among his best-known films are '' Beau Geste'' (19 ...
.
* The Daltons were featured in Randolph Scott's Western, ''
Badman's Territory
''Badman's Territory'' is a 1946 American Western film starring Randolph Scott. It was followed by the loose sequels '' Return of the Bad Men'' (1948) and ''Best of the Badmen'' (1951).
Plot
Just north of Texas and west of the Oklahoma borde ...
'' (1946).
* The Daltons were also featured in yet another Randolph Scott Western, ''
Return of the Bad Men
''Return of the Bad Men'', also known as ''Return of the Badmen'', is a 1948 American Western film directed by Ray Enright and starring Randolph Scott, Robert Ryan and Anne Jeffreys.Jarlett p.192-93 A loose sequel to the 1946 film ''Badman's T ...
'' (1948), loosely based on Doolin's leadership of an outlaw gang in Oklahoma Territory, combining the remnants of the original Dalton gang with new members to become the
Wild Bunch
The Wild Bunch, also known as the Doolin–Dalton Gang, or the Oklahombres, were a gang of American outlaws based in the Indian Territory in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They were active in Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma Terr ...
.
* Randolph Scott himself plays Bill Doolin in the film ''
The Doolins of Oklahoma
''The Doolins of Oklahoma'' is a 1949 American Western film directed by Gordon Douglas and starring Randolph Scott, George Macready and Louise Allbritton. It was distributed by Columbia Pictures.
Plot
When the Daltons are killed at Coffeyvill ...
'' (1949), in which he is depicted as a reluctant outlaw forced into a leadership role by circumstances after the Coffeyville raid.
* The motion picture ''
The Cimarron Kid
''The Cimarron Kid'' is a 1952 American Western film directed by Budd Boetticher and starring Audie Murphy and Beverly Tyler.
Plot
Bill Doolin (Audie Murphy) is released from jail and is going home on the train when it is held up by his boyhoo ...
'' (1952), about the Dalton Gang, starred
Audie Murphy
Audie Leon Murphy (20 June 1925 – 28 May 1971) was an American soldier, actor and songwriter. He was one of the most decorated American combat soldiers of World War II. He received every military combat award for valor available from t ...
as Bill Doolin.
* "The Dalton Gang" is a half-hour, 1954 episode of the American TV series ''
Stories of the Century'' with
Myron Healey
Myron Daniel Healey (June 8, 1923 – December 21, 2005) was an American actor. He began his career in Hollywood, California during the early 1940s and eventually made hundreds of appearances in movies and on television during a career spa ...
as Bob Dalton,
Fess Parker
Fess Elisha Parker Jr. (born F. E. Parker Jr.;Weaver, Tom.Sci-Fi Swarm and Horror Horde: Interviews with 62 Filmmakers p. 148 (McFarland 2012). August 16, 1924 – March 18, 2010),(March 18, 2010Daniel Boone Actor Fess Parker Dies at 85" ''CBS ...
as Grat,
Robert Bray
Robert E. Bray (October 23, 1917 – March 7, 1983) was an American film and television actor known for playing the forest ranger Corey Stuart in the CBS series ''Lassie'', He also starred in ''Stagecoach West'' and as Mike Hammer in the mo ...
as Emmett, and John Mooney as Bill Dalton.
* The 1954 Franco-Belgian comic book ''
Hors-la-loi'', part of the ''
Lucky Luke
''Lucky Luke'' is a Western '' bande dessinée'' series created by Belgian cartoonist Morris in 1946. Morris wrote and drew the series single-handedly until 1955, after which he started collaborating with French writer René Goscinny. Their ...
'' series, embroiders the Coffeyville events, with the gang made up only of Dalton brothers, all four of whom are killed in the end.
Morris
Morris may refer to:
Places
Australia
*St Morris, South Australia, place in South Australia
Canada
* Morris Township, Ontario, now part of the municipality of Morris-Turnberry
* Rural Municipality of Morris, Manitoba
** Morris, Manitob ...
's comical depiction of the outlaws — as mustachioed and identically dressed quadruplets differing only in their height — having proved popular, a second fictional gang of
Dalton brothers
The Dalton Gang was a group of outlaws in the American Old West during 1890–1892. It was also known as The Dalton Brothers because four of its members were brothers. The gang specialized in bank robbery, bank and train robbery, train robberie ...
physically indistinguishable from the originals and presented as their (bungling) cousins became recurring villains in the Lucky Luke series, later written by
René Goscinny
René Goscinny (, ; 14 August 1926 – 5 November 1977) was a French comic editor and writer, who created the ''Astérix'' comic book series with illustrator Albert Uderzo. Raised largely in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he attended French schoo ...
. These were also depicted in several films including ''
La Ballade des Dalton
''La Ballade des Dalton'' (aka ''The Ballad of the Daltons'' in English) is a 1978 French animated film written and directed by René Goscinny, Morris, Henri Gruel and Pierre Watrin starring the comic book character Lucky Luke. Two different ...
'' (animated feature, 1978), ''
Lucky Luke
''Lucky Luke'' is a Western '' bande dessinée'' series created by Belgian cartoonist Morris in 1946. Morris wrote and drew the series single-handedly until 1955, after which he started collaborating with French writer René Goscinny. Their ...
'' (1991) and ''
Les Dalton'' (2004).
* ''The Dalton Girls'' (1957) is a fictional Western B-film in which Dalton sisters continue in the ways of their brothers.
* In 1957, the
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
documentary anthology series
An anthology series is a radio, television, video game or film series that spans different genres and presents a different story and a different set of characters in each different episode, season, segment, or short. These usually have a dif ...
episode called ''
You Are There'' offered the episode "The End of the Dalton Gang (October 5, 1892)", with
Tyler MacDuff
Tyler Glenn Duff Jr. (September 12, 1925 – December 23, 2007) was an American film and television actor.
Life and career
MacDuff was born in Hollywood, California. He attended Woodrow Wilson Junior High. MacDuff joined the U.S. Navy in 194 ...
in the role of Emmett Dalton.
* The May 25, 1959, episode of ''Tales of Wells Fargo'' was called "The Daltons".
* ''Three Minutes to Eternity'' is a half-hour, 1963 episode (season 12, episode 9, narrated by
Stanley Andrews
Stanley Andrews (born Stanley Martin Andrzejewski; August 28, 1891 – June 23, 1969) was an American actor perhaps best known as the voice of Daddy Warbucks on the radio program ''Little Orphan Annie'' and later as "The Old Ranger", the first ...
, known as "The Old Ranger") of the TV series ''
Death Valley Days
''Death Valley Days'' is an American old-time radio and television anthology series featuring true accounts of the American Old West, particularly the Death Valley country of southeastern California. Created in 1930 by Ruth Woodman, the program ...
'' about their last robbery in Coffeyville, with
Forrest Tucker
Forrest Meredith Tucker (February 12, 1919 – October 25, 1986) was an American actor in both movies and television who appeared in nearly a hundred films. Tucker worked as a vaudeville straight man at the age of fifteen. A mentor provided fund ...
as Bob Dalton,
Jim Davis as Grat, and
Tom Skerritt
Thomas Roy Skerritt (born August 25, 1933) is an American actor who has appeared in over 40 films and more than 200 television episodes since 1962. He is known for his film roles in ''M*A*S*H'', ''Alien'', '' The Dead Zone'', '' Top Gun'', '' A ...
as Emmett.
* In
Charles Portis's novel ''
True Grit
True Grit may refer to:
Fiction
* ''True Grit'' (novel), a 1968 novel by Charles Portis
** ''True Grit'' (1969 film), a film adaptation by Henry Hathaway, starring John Wayne
** ''True Grit'' (2010 film), a film adaptation by the Coen Brothers, ...
'' (1968), the young heroine Mattie Ross refers to Bob and Grat Dalton as "upright men gone bad" and to Bill Doolin as "a cowboy gone wrong".
* The 1973 song
"Doolin-Dalton", by the
Eagles
Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, jus ...
, is a song about the Dalton Gang. The album from which the song came, ''
Desperado
Desperado may refer to:
* Outlaw, particularly in the American Old West
Books
* ''Desperadoes'' (comics), a comic book series
* ''Desperadoes'' (novel), a 1979 novel by Ron Hansen
* Desperado Publishing, an American independent comic book publ ...
'', has a photograph on its back cover that shows the Eagles band members and songwriters re-enacting the image of the capture and death of the Dalton Gang.
*
Robert Conrad starred as Bob Dalton in ''The Last Day'' (1975), depicting the events leading up to the gang's attempted robbery of two banks in Coffeyville. The film has a documentary-style voice-over by Harry Morgan.
*
Randy Quaid
Randy Randall Rudy Quaid (born October 1, 1950) is an American actor known for his roles in both serious drama and light comedy.
He was nominated for an Academy Award, BAFTA Award and a Golden Globe Award for his role in '' The Last Detail'' ...
starred in ''The Last Ride of the Dalton Gang'' (1979), a portrayal of the gang's attempted robbery of two banks simultaneously in Coffeyville. (The following year, the actor would co-star in ''
The Long Riders
''The Long Riders'' is a 1980 American Western film directed by Walter Hill. It was produced by James Keach, Stacy Keach and Tim Zinnemann and featured an original soundtrack by Ry Cooder. Cooder won the ''Best Music'' award in 1980 from t ...
'', about
Jesse James's bank robbery attempt in
Northfield, Minnesota
Northfield is a city in Dakota and Rice counties in the State of Minnesota. It is mostly in Rice County, with a small portion in Dakota County. The population was 20,790 at the 2020 census.
History
Northfield was platted in 1856 by John W ...
, which similarly led to destruction of
his gang.)
* The
Ron Hansen novel ''
Desperadoes'' (1979) is a fictional memoir purportedly written by 65-year-old Emmett Dalton in 1937.
*
The Dalton Brothers
The Dalton Gang was a group of outlaws in the American Old West during 1890–1892. It was also known as The Dalton Brothers because four of its members were brothers. The gang specialized in bank robbery, bank and train robbery, train robberie ...
is the name of a parody
country and western band briefly impersonated by
U2 during their 1987
Joshua Tree U.S. tour.
* The Max McCoy novel ''The Sixth Rider'' (1991) tells of the group's exploits from the vantage point of the possible sixth member involved in the Coffeyville bank holdups.
* In the movie ''
Reign of Fire'' (2002), Matthew McConaughey's character states he had killed a dragon in Coffeyville, Kansas, and refers to the historical shoot-out.
* The video game ''
Call of Juarez: Gunslinger'' (2013) contains an episode based on the Coffeyville shootout.
* The Dalton Gang is referenced in the
Morgan Kane Morgan Kane is a fictional western character and antihero, created by Kjell Hallbing under the pseudonym Louis Masterson.
The Morgan Kane series has become the biggest success in modern Norwegian leisure reading literature. The 83 books in the ser ...
book ''Killer Kane'' about the fictional gunslinger.
* The Dalton Gang appears in the Italian comic book ''
Tex
Tex may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Tex (nickname), a list of people and fictional characters with the nickname
* Joe Tex (1933–1982), stage name of American soul singer Joseph Arrington Jr.
Entertainment
* ''Tex'', the Italian ...
,'' No. 8 and 9.
*
Joe Dassin
Joseph Ira Dassin (; 5 November 1938 – 20 August 1980) was an American–French singer-songwriter and actor. He was the son of film director Jules Dassin.
Early life
Dassin was born in New York City to American film director Jules Dassin (19 ...
wrote a song called "
Les Dalton", inspired by the ''
Lucky Luke
''Lucky Luke'' is a Western '' bande dessinée'' series created by Belgian cartoonist Morris in 1946. Morris wrote and drew the series single-handedly until 1955, after which he started collaborating with French writer René Goscinny. Their ...
'' characters.
*
Hanna-Barbera created various versions of the Dalton Gang in animated productions, most notably with
Huckleberry Hound
Huckleberry "Huck" Hound is a fictional cartoon character, a blue anthropomorphic coonhound that speaks with a North Carolina Southern drawl. He first appeared in the series ''The Huckleberry Hound Show''. The cartoon was one of six TV shows to ...
.
* In ''
Payday 2
''Payday 2'' is a cooperative first-person shooter video game developed by Overkill Software and published by 505 Games. The game is a sequel to 2011's '' Payday: The Heist''. It was released in August 2013 for Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox ...
'', one of the medic's lines is "You guys are going down like the Daltons", in reference to the gang.
* The video game ''
Red Dead Redemption
''Red Dead Redemption'' is a 2010 action-adventure game developed by Rockstar San Diego and published by Rockstar Games. A spiritual successor to 2004's '' Red Dead Revolver'', it is the second game in the '' Red Dead'' series. ''Red Dead Rede ...
'' has a gang called "Walton's gang", loosely based on the Dalton gang.
''Death Alley'' (2021) a portrayal of the gang's attempted robbery of two banks simultaneously in Coffeyville. Filmed at
Old Cowtown Museum
Old Cowtown Museum is an accredited history museum located in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is located next to the Arkansas River in central Wichita. The Museum was established in 1952, and is one of the oldest open-air history museums in ce ...
in
Wichita, Kansas
Wichita ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 397,532. The Wichita metro area had a population of 647,610 in 2020. It is located in ...
,
Flint Hills
The Flint Hills, historically known as Bluestem Pastures or Blue Stem Hills, are a region in eastern Kansas and north-central Oklahoma named for the abundant residual flint eroded from the bedrock that lies near or at the surface. It consists of ...
in Kansas,
Sedgwick, Kansas
Sedgwick is a city in Harvey and Sedgwick counties in the State of Kansas. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 1,603.
History
For millennia, the land now known as Kansas was inhabited by Native Americans. In 1803, most o ...
,
Lawrence, Kansas,
Broken Bow, Oklahoma
Broken Bow is a city in McCurtain County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 4,120 at the 2010 census. It is named after Broken Bow, Nebraska, the former hometown of the city's founders, the Dierks brothers. Other Dierks-associate ...
, Southwest
Missouri
Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...
.
See also
*
Smith Gang
References
Further reading
*
* Latta, Frank F. ''Dalton Gang Days''. Santa Cruz, California: Bear State Books, 1976.
External links
''Coffeyville, Kansas: The Town That Stopped the Dalton Gang,'' a National Park Service Teaching with Historic Places (TwHP) lesson plan by Robert Barr Smith, History Net
*
*
*
*
*
*
{{American frontier
Crime families
James–Younger Gang
Gangs in Kansas
Gangs in Oklahoma
Outlaw gangs in the United States
American outlaws
Pre-statehood history of Oklahoma
1890s in the United States