The Dalton Gang flagged down the Atlantic Express with a red lantern
The Dalton Gang enjoyed a short-lived crime spree for about
eighteen months, beginning in early 1890. The funny thing is, before turning
outlaw, the three Dalton brothers—Grat, Bob, and Emmett — served as lawmen.
Their
oldest brother, Frank Dalton, a United States Marshal, was shot and killed
while trailing horse thieves through Oklahoma Territory in 1887. Then, brothers
Bob, Grat, and Emmett turned outlaws in early 1890
after they had trouble collecting their pay for some law enforcement work they
were involved in.
The
Dalton Gang pulled off a handful of train robberies between 1891 and 1892.
The
first train they robbed was the Atlantic Express on February 6, 1891. The boys
flagged the train down with a red lantern they grabbed from the station agent.
As soon as the train stopped, two men wearing long black masks stepped onto the
locomotive and covered the engineer with
Colt revolvers.
They
forced the fireman to grab his pick-ax and dragged him to the door of the
express car. They ordered the agent to open the door. When he refused, they
busted down the door. In the commotion, the robbers shot and killed fireman
George Radliff. The agent jumped through the window
and escaped into the brush. With him went any hope the Daltons had of getting
at the money in the safe. Unfortunately, in their rush to rob the train, the
gang had forgotten to bring dynamite.
Disgusted,
they fired their guns into the air and
rode away empty-handed.
They dragged the fireman to the express car, and forced him to break the door open
The Dalton’s next robbery took place at Wharton Depot on the Cherokee Strip. Three men rode up to the station about 9:30 p.m. to meet the Texas Fast Express. Bob Dalton ordered the station agent to signal the train to stop, and then the gang pulled black masks over their faces before they boarded the train. The plan was the same as their previous robbery. They dragged the fireman to the express car, pick-ax in hand, and forced him to break down the door.
The Dallas Morning News,
on May 11, 1891, reported, “It was a cool and successful piece of work done by
experts. No shots were fired during the robbery,
and most passengers were unaware of what was happening. When a passenger thrust
his head out of a window, he was promptly
made to withdraw it.”
The
robbery at Red Rock Station occurred just before 10:00 p.m. on June 2, 1892. An
article in the Norman Transcript said,
“Six masked men got on board and compelled fireman Rogers at the muzzle of
Winchesters to break open the door of the express car with his pick, enter the
car and smash the safe with a sledgehammer.”
Another
group of bandits made their way through the train, gathering cash and valuables
from the passengers. The robbers fired a volley through the windows of the
passenger car as they rode away. The take from the express car was slightly
less than $2000.
The Dallas Morning News
reported, “One of the more daring train robberies on record took place last
night at Adair, I. T. As the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas north-bound express
train pulled into Adair station, the train was held up and everything of value
to be found was taken.”
Grat Dalton, Bill Powers, and Dick Broadwell reushed out of the C.M. Condon Bank
into a wall of gunfire from the townspeople
Nine gang members rode into Adair Station that night. They took everything they could inside the station, tied up the stationmaster, and waited patiently on the platform for the train to arrive. It was a classic Dalton hold-up. They dragged the fireman to the express car, pick-ax in hand. When expressman George Williams refused to open the door, the gang fired shots through the car windows and threatened to dynamite the car. Williams opened the door, and they soon had all the valuables from the safe.
The
Dallas Morning News added, “After a
hard fight in which Chief Detective Kinney, Indian Policeman Laflore, and two
doctors, passengers on the train, were seriously wounded. None of the
passengers coming to their aid and their revolvers being empty, they were
forced to retreat into the train...A
posse was hastily formed and returned to
the scene of the robbery.”
The
take was estimated as high as $70,000 or $80,000.
Bob Dalton had this crazy idea.
He
wanted to make the Dalton Gang more famous than Jesse James. The only problem
was that he had to do something spectacular, something never tried before,
something so bold, so daring that the newspapers couldn’t help but take notice.
Emmett
thought Bob was nuts when he told him what he wanted to do. Rob two banks in
the same town in a town where everyone knew you. It didn’t make sense. The only
reason Emmett said he went along with the plan was, “he was damned if he did,
and damned if he didn’t.” Even if he stayed out of it, he was sure the law
would hunt him down.
The
best account of the daring robbery was published in the Coffeyville Journal shortly after the robbery took place. “Between
9:30 and 10:00 on Wednesday morning, [the Dalton Gang] armed to the teeth and
apparently disguised, rode boldly into [Coffeyville].”
The Dalton Gang shooting it out with the townspeople at Coffeyville
The boys hitched their horses in an alley and headed to the two banks. Grat Dalton, Bill Powers, and Dick Broadwell entered the C. M. Condon Bank; Bob and Emmett Dalton hurried into the First National Bank.
Grat
disguised himself with a black mustache
and side-whiskers. He ordered the clerk to hand over the cash, “and be quick
about it.” When the robber told the cashier, C. M. Ball, to grab the money from
the safe, he told them he couldn’t. It was on a time lock, and no one could
open it for another three minutes. By that time, gunfire had erupted outside
the bank, and the robbers made a rush for the alley.
Bob
Dalton disguised himself with a mustache and a false goatee at the First
National Bank. “They covered the teller and cashiers with their Winchesters...and
directed [the cashier] to hand over all the money in the bank.” Bob and Emmett
hurried out the back door when they heard gunshots outside and opened fire.
Townsmen Lucius Baldwin, George Cubine, and Charles Brown fell dead.
By
this time, all five bandits were in the alley attempting to make their way to
their horses. “A dozen men with Winchesters and shotguns made a barricade of
some wagons. The robbers had to run the gauntlet of three hundred feet with
their backs to the Winchesters in the hands of men who knew how to use them.” A
murderous fire poured through the alley for three minutes. “Three of the
robbers were dead, and the fourth helpless.” Dick Broadwell made it to his horse but was discovered dead on the ground
about a half-mile outside of town.
Emmett
Dalton was the only member of the gang to survive. They carried him to Slosson’s Drug Store and later to Dr. Wells’ office.
There was talk about lynching Emmett, but what probably saved his life more
than anything was that the doctor didn’t give him a chance in hell of
surviving.
Bystanders
carried the bodies of the dead gang members to the sheriff’s office and later placed them in four varnished
black coffins, where they were displayed and photographed so everyone could see
them. Some people touched the bodies to
make the experience more real. “Whenever Grat Dalton’s right arm was lifted, a little spurt of blood would jump
from the round black hole in his throat.”
The
next day the entire town watched the undertaker shoo flies away from the bodies
and nail the lids on the caskets down. Then, finally, the coffins were planted
two to a grave in Potter’s Field.
The
Galveston Daily News headline on
October 6, 1892, read, “The Dalton Gang has been exterminated—wiped off the
face of the earth.”
The only survivor, Emmett Dalton, received a life sentence in the Kansas State Penitentiary at Lansing. However, he was pardoned by Governor Ed Hoch in 1907 and lived until 1937. He later became a policeman and an actor. Towards the end of his life, Emmett wrote his story, When the Daltons Rode, published in 1931.
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