Bob And Grat Dalton On Display
Coffeyville, Kansas - 10/5/1892
Formed after outlaw Bill Doolin escapes being a sixth victim of the failed Dalton raid on Coffeyville, Kansas in which the outlaw gang attempts to rob two banks at the same time (Doolin is said to have pulled out of the heist on the ride into town, recognizing the insanity of trying to pull off twin robberies in the town the Daltons grew up in ... or because his horse throws a shoe and goes lame) and is instead gunned down by the citizens of the town, the Oklahombres go into action for the first time on 11/1/1892 and will terrorize the region for the next three years. Robbing the Ford County Bank of Spearville, Kansas the gang takes cash and $1,500 in treasury notes out of the bank (in the aftermath of the robbery, the gang loses its first member when "Ol" Yantis loses a gunfight with Ford County, Kansas Sheriff Chalkey Beeson and Deputy United States Marshal Tom Hueston), a California-New Mexico Express train is pillaged in Cimarron, Kansas of over $1,000 in silver, survives a shootout in the town of Ingalls, Oklahoma against fourteen invading United States marshals (in the shooting, three lawmen and an innocent bystander will be killed), rob the Farmers & Citizens Bank of Pawnee, Oklahoma of $300 (a greater take prevented by a time-locked safe) in January of 1894, and in March of the same year, rob the Santa Fe Railroad station at Woodward, Oklahoma of $6,540 meant for an Army paymaster at nearby Fort Supply.
Bill Doolin
Ingalls
Always prepping for the next job, as 1894 stretches into spring, Doolin uses one of his assets in the Indian territory to case the bank in Southwest City, Missouri. Operating out of the community of Fairland in the Indian Territory, Dr. Charles Wynn is a general practitioner for the wild region that specializes in cancer treatments ... and to make ends meet, patches up damaged outlaws in need of his services. Already a criminal offender himself for his work on local bandits, in 1893 the good doctor, for a special extra fee, also begins the groundwork for the Oklahombres next robbery ... riding in and out of town frequently, making note of the town's and bank's layout, a seeming innocent just going about his business. Liking what he sees (the small town seems easily escapable as it is located on the banks of the Honey Creek, known for its excellent fishing, in a mountain valley in the extreme southwest corner of McDonald County, Missouri, hence the name, with the Arkansas state line on its south side and the Indian Territory forming the town's western city limits, and Kansas is just a short ride to the northwest ... it is prosperous, but isolated), Dr. Wynn contacts Doolin with word that the robbery is a go. Formulating a simple plan and assigning roles for the robbery, on the morning of May 10, 1894, the gang, in company with Dr. Wynn, begin a leisurely ride from Wynn's home to Southwest City. In the saddle with Wynn are the desperadoes that form the core of the Oklahombres ... fully armed with pistols and rifles, leader Bill Doolin is mounted on his favorite ride, a horse called Old Dick, and is followed by George "Bitter Creek" Newcomb (a cowboy from the age of 12, a former member like Doolin of the Dalton Gang, and the lover of 14-year-old Rosa Dunn, the infamous Rose of Cimarron ... he is named Bitter Creek for his seemingly endless singing of an old cowboy song that includes the lyrics, "I'm a wild wolf from Bitter Creek and it's my night to howl), Richard "Little Dick" West (a 5'1" outlaw from North Texas), Charley Pierce (another former member of the Dalton Gang), William L. "Little Bill" Raidler (a quick-fingered cowboy gunman from Texas), William Marion "Bill" Dalton (a former Californian politician turned gunman, the last of the "criminal" Dalton brothers), and Dan "Dynamite Dick" Clifton (an Indian Territory robber, safe cracker, and cattle rustler before he joins Doolin's gang).
Newcomb
Raidler
Dalton
Clifton
Arriving outside of Southwest City, the gang sends Dr. Wynn into town as an advance scout (marked as being part of the robbery, the doctor will be put on trial for the robbery, but will be releaed when he comes up with an alibi for the afternoon of the 20th). Reporting all appears well in town, the doctor then makes his way back to Fairfield (at a considerable quicker clip), to be there to establish an alibi should one be required, and so he is available again for any outlaw patching that might be needed after the raid. Gathered on a hill above the city where they can watch the citizens of the town go about their normal activities, content that all seems well, the gang finally rides into town, from the south at around 3:00 in the afternoon. Riding down Main Street, as if they are just passing through town, the men stop at the the southwest corner of Main and Cherokee Streets, and at the home/office of Dr. Nichols, just behind and west of the town's post office, they tie their horses to a hitching post, grab their weapons, and don bandanna masks. Ready, Doolin, Bitter Creek, and Dalton make their way into the bank, while two more of the gang take up positions protecting the horses and the last two bandits position themselves across the street at a pool hall (two men for each side of the street). Inside the bank, Bitter Creek gets the drop on the owner of the financial institution, Mr. A. F. Ault and his cashier, Mr. Synder, while Doolin and Dalton crawl into the cashier's cage and begin putting the bank's assets from the open vault into a large grain sack. The trio is inside the bank for about ten minutes and leave with almost $4,000 in cash (in their haste to vacate the premises as quckly as possible, they miss an additional $5,000 in bank notes) ... they also leave with Ault and Synder as hostages, walking in front of the outlaws as cover as the group makes its way to Dr. Nichols' lawn and their horses.
Wanted Poster
Outside the bank, the men on both sides of the street use the "shock-and-awe" tactics that the James Gang learned as Quantrill guerrillas during; cursing citizens on the street with spectacularly colored and loud language to find "hiding holes" while firing their rifles into the air. Unfortunately, like the James Gang discovers raiding the town of Northfield, Minnesota in 1876, the shock quickly wears off and there is no awe, only citizens drawn to the bank robbery by all the noise that arm themselves and begin firing at the outlaws congregating on the town's Main Street. Hostages released as the trio from the bank joins their companions, all seven Oklahombres mount up and begin their hasty withdrawal as weapons up and down the street begin firing at the intruders, only quick movement and luck keep them alive, others in Southwest City however will not be as lucky (over a hundred bullets will be fired on Main Street during the robbery). Stepping out of the Dustin hardware store to see what all the commotion on the street is, former sheriff and state senator J. C. Seaborn and his brother, Oscar Seaborn, are both wounded by bullets to their right hip area (in some accounts, a single shot does all the damage to the brothers, while other tales have two rounds causing the wounds ... and the culprit guilty of hitting the Seaborns is identified as being Little Bill Raider ... or Little Dick West ... or Bill Dalton). Taken to the local doctor afterwards, Oscar will eventually recover, but three days later, J.C. dies from his abdomen wound. Also unlucky, while in the process of taking refuge inside Barker's Saloon, Southwest City resident M. V. Hembree is hit in the ankle by a bullet that nearly severs his foot from his leg (the foot ends up being amputated).
The Town Fights Back
Spurring their horses down Main Street, hostages no longer impeding citizens from firing on the desperadoes, the gang turns south on Broadway and is shot at by a group of townspeople that includes Deputy United States Marshal Simpson Melton (Melton is wounded in the leg, but hits an outlaw horse as it rides by) and City Marshal Carlyle. Buckshot from a window, Doolin and his horse are hit hard by a shotgun blast, but neither goes down ... bleeding profusely from lead pellets in his forehead, Doolin keeps Old Dick moving and manages to stay with his retreating men (Doolin will recover from his wounding, but will suffer from headaches caused by the unremoved buckshot for the rest of his life, unwilling to be at the mercy of a doctor that could put him under and then betray him to law enforcement ... as for Old Dick, unable to properly lift his head due to his shotgun wound, Doolin will sell the horse to a doctor in Ingalls who will use him to drive about town at the head of a cart). Retreating men that have another horse hit as they ride by the residence of J. D. Powell and are fired on by Charles Franks and Dick Prather as they pass by the town's Baptist church (it will be reported that the men give the outlaws "a good dose" as they gallop out of town, Needing new mounts if they are to escape back into the Indian Territory, a few miles outside of town the gang waylays two citizens driving wagons into Southwest City and takes horses out of their rigs to replace their wounded mounts, and when one of the mounts proves to slow for the riding the outlaws have in mind, a third wagon is stopped for a mount swap (balking at first, a brother and sister headed to Siloam Springs, Arkansas are convinced to "horse trade" when several Winchester rifles are pointed their way).
McDonald County, Missouri
Leaving Town At A Gallop
Riding southwest out of town, the outlaws will stop about 14 miles out of town for supper at an isolated farm where a woman with no love for banks or bankers, also dresses the gang's wounds and supplies more horses (when a posse from Southwest City reaches her the next day she will tell them that all but one of the gang have been wounded in the robbery). The next morning, before the posse from town can reach them, the outlaws cross the Grand River (also known as the Neosho River) and vanish back into the wilds of the Indian Territory. Loose for more infamies on the region, retribution for the bandits will continue to whittle away at the gang, none will escape being behind bars or being shot to death:
*Wanting to go off on his own, Bill Dalton and his new gang of bandits rob the First National Bank of Longview, Texas, but Bill s tracked back to his home in Pooleville, Oklahoma by a posse and killed on 6/8/1894.
Dead Bill Dalton
*Biitercreek Newcomb and Charley Pierce are betrayed by men they consider to be their friends, the Dunn Brothers, and are shot to death while they are sleeping in the Dunn's barn in Payne County, Oklahoma on 5/2/1895.
Bittercreek & Pierce
*Little Bill Raidler is shot and captured by Deputy United States Marshal Bill Tilghman on 9/6/1895 outside his cave hideout near Bartlesville, Oklahomas, paroled in 1903, he will die from complications with the wounds he received from Tilghman in 1895.
*After escaping from a jailing at the hands of Deputy United States Marshal Bill Tilghman, Bill Doolin will be gunned down by the Dee Brothers and Deputy United States Marshal Heck Thomas while visiting his wife outside of Lawson, Oklahoma on 8/24/1896.
Doolin
*Dynamite Dick Clifton will be escape jailing with Doolin, and like Doolin will be gunned down
by a posse of United States deputy marshals led by Chris Madsen near Checotah, Indian Territory on 11/7/1897.
Dynamite Dick Clifton
*Little Dick West will meet his maker in Logan County, Oklahoma Territory on 4/8/1898 ... once again at the hands of a posse of lawmen led by Deputy United States Marshal Chris Madsen.
Little Dick West
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