Wild Bunch
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The Wild Bunch, also known as the Doolin–Dalton Gang, was one of the names of a group of outlaws based in the Indian Territory, that terrorized Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma Territory during the 1890s—robbing banks and stores, holding up trains, and killing lawmen. They were also know as The Oklahoma Long Riders from the long dusters they wore.[1] Of all the outlaw gangs produced by the Old West, none met a more violent end than the Doolin Dalton gang. Being formed in the last decade of the 19th century, of its eleven members, only one would survive into the 20th century. All eleven would meet with a violent death in gunbattles with lawmen.
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[edit] Activities of the gang
William "Bill" Doolin, in addition to having been a member of the Dalton Gang, had been a cowboy in Kansas and the Cherokee Outlet and held something of a "Robin Hood" image. He was well liked by many, and he and his gang received considerable aid in eluding the law (see Ingalls, Oklahoma). The gang consisted at various times of Bill Doolin, George "Bittercreek" Newcomb (aka "Slaughter Kid"), Charley Pierce, Oliver "Ol" Yantis, William Marion "Bill" Dalton, William "Tulsa Jack" Blake, Dan "Dynamite Dick" Clifton, "Arkansas Tom" Jones, George "Red Buck" Waightman, Richard "Little Dick" West, and William F. "Little Bill" Raidler.
The Wild Bunch had its origins following the Dalton Gang's botched train robbery in Adair, Oklahoma Territory on July 15, 1892, in which two guards and two townspeople, both doctors, were wounded. One of the doctors died the next day. Bob Dalton told Doolin, Newcomb, and Pierce, he no longer needed them. Doolin and his friends returned to their hideout in Ingalls, Oklahoma Territory. It was fortunate for the three, because on October 5th, the Dalton Gang would be wiped out in Coffeyville, Kansas.
Doolin wasted no time. On November 1, 1892, his new gang, the Wild Bunch, robbed the Ford County Bank at Spearville, Kansas, getting away with all the cash on hand and over $1,500 in treasury notes. From the postcard descriptions sent out, the Stillwater, Oklahoma Territory city marshal recognized Ol Yantis, the newest member of the gang. Shortly, Yantis was cornered and killed in a shootout with the marshal's posse.
Next, on June 11, 1893, the Wild Bunch held up a Santa Fe train west of Cimarron, Kansas, and took $1,000 in silver from the California-New Mexico Express. A sheriff's posse from old old Beaver County, Oklahoma Territory, caught up with the gang north of Fort Supply. The gang got away but in the ensuing gunfight, Doolin received a bullet in his left foot. Doolin was to suffer with the pain the rest of his life and it led indirectly to his capture.
On September 1, 1893, a posse organized by the new U.S. Marshal, Evett Dumas "E.D." Nix, entered the outlaw town of Ingalls with the intent to capture the gang. In what would be remembered as the Battle of Ingalls, three of the fourteen lawmen carrying Deputy U.S. Marshals' commissions would die as a result of the battle. Two town citizens would also die; one killed protecting the outlaws. Of the outlaws, Newcomb was seriously wounded but escaped, and Arkansas Tom Jones, the killer of the three deputies and one citizen was captured.
After a short break the gang continued its activities. On January 3, 1894, Pierce and Waightman held up store and post office at Clarkson, Oklahoma Territory. On January 23, the gang robbed the Farmers Citizens Bank at Pawnee, Oklahoma Territory, and March 10, the Wild Bunch robbed the Santa Fe station at Woodward, Oklahoma Territory, of over $6,000.
On March 20, Nix sent the Three Guardsmen a directive to take care of the Wild Bunch. The directive stated in part, "I have selected you to do this work, placing explicit confidence in your abilities to cope with those desperadoes and bring them in—alive if possible—dead if necessary."
On April 1, 1894, the gang attempted to rob the store of retired US Deputy Marshal W.H. Carr at Sacred Heart, Indian Territory. Carr, shot through the stomach, managed to shoot Newcomb in the shoulder and the gang fled without getting anything.
On May 10, 1894, the Wild Bunch robbed the bank at Southwest City, Missouri, of $4,000, wounding several townspeople and killing one.
On May 21, 1894, the jurors in Arkansas Tom's trial found him only guilty of manslaughter in the killing of the three Deputy US Marshals. Frank Dale, the territorial judge hearing the case, returned to Guthrie, the territorial capitol, and told E.D. Nix, " ... you will instruct your deputies to bring them in dead." [2]
Bill Dalton, meanwhile, had 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. This was the only job by the gang. Various posses would kill three of the members and send the last one to life in prison.
On April 3, 1895, the Wild Bunch, without Doolin, held up a Rock Island train at Dover but were unable to open the safe with the $50,000 army payroll. So they robbed passengers of cash and jewelry. Deputy U.S. Marshal Chris Madsen and his posse took a special train to Dover and picked up the trail at daybreak, surprising the gang around noon. The marshals killed Blake and scattered the gang. This would be the last robbery by the Wild Bunch as a gang, although its members kept up the robberies and killings for which they were known.
[edit] The passing of the Wild Bunch--a.k.a. The Oklahoma Long Riders
U.S. Marshal Evett "E.D." Nix was appointed in 1893. He made his main priority the toppling of the Doolin Dalton Gang. Nix appointed one hundred marshals to the task, insisting they hunt down all outlaws, but with a priority on this gang. Marshal Nix was staunchly supportive of his deputies and in the means they felt were necessary to bring down the gang, and with him as their defender politically, his deputy marshals systematically hunted down the gang members.
- Ol Yantis — killed November 29, 1892 at Orlando, Oklahoma Territory by Ford County, Kansas Sheriff Chalkey Beeson and Deputy US Marshal Tom Hueston.
- Arkansas Tom Jones — captured September 1, 1893, in Ingalls, Oklahoma Territory; pardoned in 1910; killed August 16, 1924, in Joplin, Missouri, by Joplin police detectives.
- Bill Dalton — killed June 8, 1894, near Elk, Indian Territory, by an Anadarko posse.
- Tulsa Jack Blake — killed April 4, 1895, near Ames, Oklahoma Territory, by Deputy U.S. Marshals Will Banks and Isaac Prater.
- Bitter Creek Newcomb — killed May 2, 1895, in Payne County, Oklahoma Territory, by the Dunn Brothers, who were Bounty Hunters.
- Charley Pierce — killed May 2, 1895, in Payne County, Oklahoma Territory, by the Dunn brothers.
- Little Bill Raidler — shot and captured September 6, 1895, by Deputy U.S. Marshal Bill Tilghman; paroled in 1903 because of complication from wounds received when he was captured; died 1904.
- Bill Doolin — captured January 15, 1896, in Eureka Springs, Arkansas by Deputy U.S. Marshal Bill Tilghman; escaped with Dynamite Dick Clifton; killed August 24, 1896, in Lawson, Oklahoma Territory, by a posse under Deputy U.S. Marshal Heck Thomas.
- Red Buck Waightman — killed March 4, 1896, near Arapaho, Oklahoma Territory, by a Custer County posse.
- Dynamite Dick Clifton — captured June, 1896, by Deputy U.S. Marshals from Texas; escaped with Bill Doolin; killed November 7, 1897, near Checotah, Indian Territory, by Deputy U.S. Marshals under Deputy Marshal Chris Madsen.
- Little Dick West — killed April 8, 1898, in Logan County, Oklahoma Territory, by Deputy U.S. Marshals under Deputy Marshal Chris Madsen.
[edit] Footnotes
[edit] Bibliography
- McRill, Leslie. "Old Ingalls: The Story of a Town That Will Not Die", Chronicles of Oklahoma 36:4 (October 1958) 429-445 (accessed March 18, 2007)
- Shirley, Glenn. Gunfight at Ingalls: Death of an Outlaw Town. Stillwater, Oklahoma: Barbed Wire Press, 1990. ISBN 0-935269-96-1
- Wellman, Paul I. A Dynasty of Western Outlaws.
