Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Coffeyville Kansas

May 5th found us in  Coffeyville Kansas.  We didn’t stay long in Coffeyville due to road construction and the mass confusion that comes with it. They were directing 18-wheelers through Coffeyville and it was interesting to say the least to watch the truckers navigate those narrow streets. We stopped at the cemetery where the Daltons were buried and walked through. I took the following article from Coffeyville webpage.

The Dalton Raid Three Daltons, Bob, Grat and Emmet, Dick Broadwell and Bill Powers wanted to do what no one had ever done before - rob two banks at the same time. After camping on Onion Creek, west of Coffeyville, they rode into town on horseback heading east on Eighth Street early on the morning of October 5, 1892. The Dalton brothers, being former residents of Coffeyville, wore disguises. They had planned to tie their horses between the two banks, but because Eighth Street was torn up, they tied them in the alley close to the jail. That was their first mistake.

Three of the bandits - Grat Dalton, Bill Powers and Dick Broadwell - went into the Condon Bank; Bob and Emmet entered the First National. When the gang demanded money from the safe at the Condon, the quick thinking bank employee told him that the safe would not open until 9:30 a.m. It was twenty past nine at the time. Grat said, "I’ll wait," which was their second mistake. Those ten minutes (the vault did not have a time lock on it) gave the townspeople the time they needed to get to Isham Hardware, grab some guns and ammunition and begin defending the town.


When the raid was over, which lasted 12 minutes, four of the Dalton gang were dead and four of Coffeyville’s citizens were killed. Three of the citizens - George Cubine, Charles Brown and Lucius Baldwin - were killed near Isham Hardware, Marshall Connelly died in what is today known as Death Alley. Bob and Grat Dalton and Bill Powers were killed in Death Alley and are buried in Coffeyville’s Elmwood Cemetery. Dick Broadwell escaped the on horseback and died about a half mile from the downtown. He was buried at Hutchinson.


The Daltons were "laid out" in the city jail following their death prior to burial. There were souvenir hunters even in the Dalton’s days. Portions of the manes and tails of the Dalton’s horses were cut off and all the strings from the saddles. In addition, pieces of clothing from the gang members were cut off.

Emmet Dalton, the youngest of the Daltons, survived the Raid but received 23 gunshot wounds. He was given a life sentence in the Kansas penitentiary at Lansing and pardoned after 14 years. He moved to California and became a real estate agent, author and actor, dying at the age of 66. He also purchased the headstone for Bob Dalton, Grat Dalton, and Bill Powers.

The banks were robbed of approximately $25,000. After the day’s banking business was completed and the books were balanced, the Condon came up $20 short and First National was $1.98 over, so fortunately for the banks most of the money was recovered.

The "iron" next to the grave is the actual hitching post the men used to tie up their horses.

Frank Dalton, Deputy U.S. Marshal On Sunday, November 27, 1887, Deputy Marshals Dalton and James R. Cole were attempting to arrest Dave Smith on a warrant for horse stealing and introducing whiskey in Indian country. The deputies located Smith in a wood chopper’s camp in the Arkansas River bottoms west of Arkoma in Sequoyah County, Oklahoma Territory. Smith was hiding in a tent and fired a shot that hit Deputy Dalton in the chest. Deputy Cole was near the tent when Smith fired and shot Smith to death. Friends of Smith, Lee Dixon and William Towerly opened fire on Deputy Cole wounding him. As Deputy Dalton lay helpless on the ground, Towerly ran over to him and shot him two more times in the head with his rifle even as Dalton pleaded with him not to shoot him.
 

 More photos of  Elmwood Cemetery



 
This blog was automatically generated because I am on the road and/or I am without internet.  I write up my travels when I find internet service and  set blogger to automatically publish them so I can "blog" everyday without being online

1 comments:

Al Bossence said...

I always enjoy hearing realistic accounts of the old west.... AL.

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