Dalton Gang

Dalton Gang

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 and train robberies. During an attempted double bank robbery in Coffeyville, Kansas in 1892, two of the brothers and two other gang members were killed.

About Dalton Gang in brief

Summary Dalton GangThe 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 and train robberies. During an attempted double bank robbery in Coffeyville, Kansas in 1892, two of the brothers and two other gang members were killed. Emmett survived and was captured, tried, and convicted. He was paroled after serving 14 years in prison. Due to the sensationalism that surrounded the Dalton Gang’s exploits, they were accused of several different robberies all over the country, but operated chiefly in Kansas and Oklahoma Territory. Their father James Lewis Dalton spent much of his time unsuccessfully gambling on his own race horses. The father Lewis Dalton eventually gambled away the family home in Belton, Missouri, and died shortly after, before any of his sons became outlaws. The Dalton children were: The brothers who were members of the Dalton gang were: Bob, Grat, emmett, and Bill. The middle brother never joined any heists, he served as their spy and informant. Bill Dalton formed another gang with Bill Doolin. It was known as the Wild Bunch, or the Dalton-Doolin Gang. The oldest sons were offered steady work, but refused. After returning home from the races, Ben, Lit, and Frank decided to take up the offer and traveled back to California to work as muleskinners.

Grat quickly made a reputation as a bar fighter in saloons up and down the San Joaquin Valley. That same year, Frank was offered a job in the Indian Territory, now the state of Oklahoma, as a deputy U.S. marshal based at Fort Smith, Arkansas. The job would result in his being closer to home. On Nov 27, 1887, Frank Dalton and another deputy marshal, Jim Cole, went across the river from Fort Smith to arrest three whiskey bootleggers. Frank shot and killed two, but his gun jammed and he was killed by the remaining bootlegger. His deputy abandoned him after being wounded. After Frank’s death, brothers Grat and Bob took over his job as marshal atFort Smith. Bob killed a man in the line of duty, which he claimed was in self defense. Afterwards, Bob became restless and began organizing a police force in the Osage Nation, Oklahoma. In 1890, their mother Adeline acquired a piece of land near Kingfisher, when the Oklahoma Territory was opened for white settlement. Eventually, a posse organized to capture them and forced Bob and Grat to flee. They hid out on the bluffs of the Canadian River about 70 miles southwest of Kingfishers, Oklahoma, where they tried to send them food and ammunition, but was caught in jail and thrown in jail. In July 1890, when they began stealing horses, they began trying to escape. Bob kept good reputations in theOsage Nation.