More than 100 years ago in a quiet little town in the Oklahoma Territory, members of the infamous Doolin-Dalton gang squared off against a posse of deputies in one of the deadliest confrontations in the history of the U.S. marshals.
By the end of the gunfight, nine men lay dead or wounded, and the people of Ingalls had a vivid picture of Western lawlessness and the harsh means needed to restore justice.
Members of the Dalton Gang
Four members of the notorious Dalton Gang (l. to r.) - Bill Power, Bob Dalton, Grat Dalton, and Dick Broadwell - lay dead after a shootout in Coffeyville, Kansas, On October 5, 1892. When the gang attempted to rob two of the town's banks at the same time, brave townspeople took up arms against the intruders. After the smoke cleared, eight people were killed and three wounded.
The Wild Bunch
Bill Doolin was born in 1858 in Johnson County, Arkansas At the age of 23 he drifted west, working odd jobs until settling in as a top ranch hand along the Cimarron River in the Oklahoma Territory.
While working as a cowboy. he met most of the men who would later form his own gang, a group of colorful outlaws known as the Wild Bunch.
One story recounts that the gang hit the ground running in 1891, when it celebrated the Fourth of July holiday in Coffeyville, Kansas, by tapping a keg of beer.
Problem was, Kansas was a dry state. When lawmen entered the scene to confiscate the alcohol, they were met with bullets. From that day forward, Doolin and his cohorts were on the run, and larceny provided their means of support.
