bumblebee
10-05-2006, 09:59 AM
The Dalton Gang was an infamous outlaw group in the Western United States in the 1890s. They specialized in bank and train robberies. Their name is associated with Jesse James (to whom they were shirttail relatives), though they acted later and independently of the James Gang.
The gang could have kept themselves busy with train robberies, but Bob Dalton wanted to make sure his name would long be remembered. 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 in Coffeyville, Kansas. Due to the fact that the locals were aware of what they looked like, they wore fake beards. But that didn't stop them from eventually being identified by one of the townspeople.
While the gang was busy trying to hold up the banks, the people armed themselves and prepared for a gun battle. When the gang exited the banks, a shootout began. On the towns side, the shootout resulted in several townspeople shot, and town Marshal Charles Connelly being killed.
In the Dalton Gang, Grat Dalton, Bob Dalton, Dick Broadwell and Bill Power were killed. Emmett Dalton received 23 gunshot wounds, but survived. He was given a life sentence in the Kansas penitentiary in Lansing, Kansas, of which he served 14 years. He died in 1937.
Bill Doolin, "Bitter Creek" Newcomb, and Charlie Pierce were the only members left of the Dalton Gang, although none were present at the Coffeyville shootout. Speculation later suggested that there had been a sixth man holding horses in an alleyway, and that he had escaped, and that man was believed to have been Bill Doolin. However, that has never been confirmed.