The Wild Bunch , also known as the Doolin–Dalton Gang , or the Oklahombres, were a gang of American outlaws based in the Indian Territory in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They were active in Kansas , Missouri , Arkansas , and Oklahoma Territory during the 1890s—robbing banks and stores, holding up trains, and killing lawmen. They were also known as The Oklahoma Long Riders because of the long dusters that they wore.
35-747: The gang formed in the last decade of the 19th century, and most of its members were killed before 1900. Only two of its eleven members survived into the 20th century, and all eleven met violent deaths in gun battles with lawmen. The gang was led by Bill Doolin and William Marion "Bill" Dalton ; it included the following men at various times: William "Tulsa Jack" Blake , Dan "Dynamite Dick" Clifton , Roy Daugherty (a.k.a. "Arkansas Tom Jones"), George "Bitter Creek" Newcomb (a.k.a. "Slaughter Kid"), Charley Pierce , William F. "Little Bill" Raidler , George "Red Buck" Waightman , Richard "Little Dick" West , and Oliver "Ol" Yantis . Additionally, two teenaged girls, known as Little Britches and Cattle Annie , followed
70-842: A bank robbery in Coffeyville, Kansas . Doolin had worked as a cowboy in Kansas and the Cherokee Outlet . As a leader of the Wild Bunch, he had something of a Robin Hood image because he and his gang preyed on wealthy institutions. He and his gang received considerable aid from the general public in eluding the law (see Ingalls, Oklahoma ). What was known as the Dalton Gang had been dominated by several Dalton brothers, and led by Bob Dalton . Doolin, Newcomb, and Charley Pierce were also members. They took part in
105-515: A train near Cimarron, Kansas . During a shootout with lawmen, Doolin was shot and seriously wounded in the foot. He retreated to Ingalls. On September 1, 1893, 14 deputy U.S. marshals entered Ingalls to apprehend the gang. The armed confrontation became known as the Battle of Ingalls . During the shootout, three marshals and two bystanders were killed, one bystander was wounded, three of the gang members were wounded, and gang member "Arkansas Tom Jones"
140-758: The Red River War of 1874-1875. By 1880 the Indian Wars on the Southern Plains were nearly over and the fort was in bad repair. Army officers in the Department of Missouri recommended its abandonment. Philip Sheridan , by then General of the Army, objected and worked to establish the Fort Supply Military Reservation giving permanence to the fort and an accompanying reserve of 36 square miles. Fort Supply
175-482: The Three Guardsmen with 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 . Although shot through
210-457: The $ 50,000 army payroll, 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 was the last robbery committed by the Wild Bunch as a gang, although some of its members kept up the robberies and killings for which they were known. U.S. Marshal Evett "E.D." Nix
245-401: The 1874 Ordnance Sergeant's Quarters and 1882 Civilian Employee Quarters, which are picket-style log buildings, the frame-style 1878 Commanding Officer's Quarters and duplex 1882 Officers' Quarters, and the brick 1892 Guard House. The Guard House features exhibits of artifacts and photographs. The site also features replicas of the 1869 stockade , an army supply wagon, a mountain howitzer, and
280-648: The Dalton Gang tried to rob two banks simultaneously in Coffeyville. It was an utter failure. Coffeyville residents and lawmen rallied in a shootout against the outlaws, resulting in four of the five gang members being killed. Emmett Dalton was captured and convicted at trial, and imprisoned. Historians have speculated that a sixth gang member was in town, holding the horses in an alley, and escaped. The sixth man has never been identified. Some speculate that he may have been Bill Doolin. In late 1892, Doolin formed his own gang,
315-492: The Wild Bunch. On November 1, 1892, the gang robbed a bank in Spearville, Kansas . After the robbery, the gang fled with gang member Oliver Yantis to Oklahoma Territory, where they hid out at the house of Yantis's sister. Less than a month later, the gang was tracked to that location. In a shootout, Yantis was killed, but the rest of the gang escaped. Two teenaged girls, known as Little Britches and Cattle Annie , also followed
350-408: The better-known Emmett Dalton . Doolin's first encounter with the law came on July 4, 1891, in Coffeyville in southeastern Kansas. Doolin and some friends were drunk in public, and lawmen attempted to confiscate their alcohol. A shootout ensued, and two of the lawmen were wounded. Doolin escaped capture by fleeing. Shortly thereafter, Doolin became a member of the Dalton Gang. On October 5, 1892,
385-628: The botched train robbery in Adair, Oklahoma Territory, on July 15, 1892, in which two guards and two townsmen, both doctors, were wounded, one of the doctors dying the next day. Doolin, Newcomb, and Pierce complained that Bob Dalton was not dividing money fairly among the gang and left in protest, but would later return. According to some accounts, Bob Dalton told Doolin, Newcomb, and Pierce that he no longer needed them. Doolin and his friends returned to their hideout in Ingalls, Oklahoma Territory . On October 5, four of
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#1732854714077420-573: The cash on hand and over $ 1,500 in treasury notes . From the postcard descriptions sent out, the city marshal of Stillwater, Oklahoma Territory recognized Ol' Yantis, the gang's newest member. The marshal's posse soon cornered and killed Yantis in a shootout. On June 11, 1893, the Wild Bunch held up a Santa Fe train west of Cimarron, Kansas . They took $ 1,000 in silver from the California-New Mexico Express. A sheriff's posse from old Beaver County, Oklahoma Territory , caught up with
455-522: The end of 1898, all but one of the remaining former Wild Bunch gang were dead, having been killed in various shootouts with lawmen. Heck Thomas had tracked most of them; the remainder were tracked down and eliminated by lawmen Madsen and Tilghman, or other posses . The only survivor of the Wild Bunch was "Little Bill" Raidler (aka Radler) who had been shot and captured by Tilghman in Osage territory near Caney Creek on September 6, 1895. Little Billie had split from
490-485: The former Artemina Beller. Doolin left home in 1881 to become a cowboy in Indian Territory , where he worked for cattleman Oscar Halsell, a Texas native. During this time, Doolin worked with other cowboy and outlaw names of the day, including George Newcomb (known as "Bitter Creek"), Charley Pierce , Bill Power, Dick Broadwell, Bill "Tulsa Jack" Blake, Dan "Dynamite Dick" Clifton , Billie "Little Bill" Raidler and
525-707: The gang after the Rock Island robbery near Dover. Near death, Billie was nursed back to health and stood trial in Kingfisher, Ok. He was permanently crippled, but sent to the Ohio Penitentiary near Columbus. He was released for poor health in 1892 and returned to western Oklahoma where he married his girlfriend, Blanch Whitenack on Nov.19, 1902 in Taloga, Oklahoma. He died an early, natural death in about 1910. Fort Supply (Oklahoma) Fort Supply (originally Camp Supply )
560-456: The gang as bandits. They warned the men whenever law-enforcement officers were in pursuit. Sources indicate that Doolin gave bandit Jennie Stevens her nickname of Little Britches. Following the Spearville robbery, the gang embarked on a spree of successful bank and train robberies. In March 1893, Doolin married Edith Ellsworth in Ingalls, Oklahoma . Shortly thereafter, Doolin and his gang robbed
595-710: The gang members. Bill Doolin William Doolin (1858–August 24, 1896) was an American bandit outlaw and founder of the Wild Bunch , sometimes known as the Doolin-Dalton Gang. Like the earlier Dalton Gang alone, it specialized in robbing banks , trains , and stagecoaches in Arkansas , Kansas , Indiana , and Oklahoma during the 1890s. Doolin was born in 1858 in Johnson County, Arkansas , to Michael Doolin and
630-430: The gang north of Fort Supply . The gang got away but, in the ensuing gunfight, Doolin was shot in the left foot. The injury gave him pain for the rest of his life. 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 were killed in
665-405: The gang, informing them of the movements of law enforcement officers whenever they pursued the criminals. Doolin, Newcomb, and Pierce had previously been members of the Dalton Gang , which had been dominated by Bill Dalton's brothers. Bill Dalton had aided his brothers in their gang, but had never taken part in any of their robberies and did not get involved until after the deaths of two of them at
700-627: The gunfire. Two town citizens also died; one was killed protecting the outlaws. After a short break the gang continued its activities in Oklahoma Territory. On January 3, 1894, Pierce and Waightman held up the store and post office at Clarkson . On January 23, the gang robbed the Farmers Citizens Bank at Pawnee , and March 10, the Wild Bunch robbed the Santa Fe Railway station at Woodward of more than $ 6,000. On March 20, Nix sent
735-659: The last remaining troops turned over operation of the old fort to the Department of the Interior. In 1908 Oklahoma's first insane asylum was established at the old post and which is now called the Western State Psychiatric Center. In 1988, the state legislature designated the remaining buildings at the old fort as the Fort Supply Historic District. Shortly afterwards the William S. Key Correctional Center
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#1732854714077770-406: The members and sent the last one to life in prison. On December 19, 1894, Doolin was reportedly one of six men who attempted to rob the J.R. Pearce store at Texana, Oklahoma Territory ; they were driven off having looted with less than $ 20.00 worth of merchandise. On April 3, 1895, the Wild Bunch, without Doolin, held up a Rock Island train at Dover, Oklahoma . Unable to open the safe containing
805-481: The outlaws' hideout. Doolin fled to New Mexico Territory , where he hid with outlaw Richard "Little Dick" West during the summer of 1895. In late 1895, Doolin and his wife hid out near Burden, Kansas . They went over the border to visit the resort community of Eureka Springs in northwestern Arkansas. There, Doolin soaked in the sulfur springs in the bathhouses; the waters relieved the rheumatism in his foot that set in after an earlier gunshot. In early 1896, Doolin
840-712: The remaining five members of the Dalton Gang would be killed in Coffeyville, Kansas during a botched robbery. For a time, Doolin and his partners operated under outlaw Henry Starr ( Cherokee ), hiding out about 75 miles northeast of Kingfisher, Oklahoma , from where they made several raids. Doolin, Newcomb, and Pierce visited the Daltons' mother in Kingfisher to console her after her sons' deaths. Brothers Lit and Bill Dalton were also visiting their mother, and Doolin proposed that they join him and his group to avenge their brothers. Bill Dalton agreed to join them and soon took part in several robberies, but Lit refused in disgust. Henry Starr
875-485: The stomach, Carr shot 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 the Roy Daugherty (a.k.a. "Arkansas Tom Jones") trial found him guilty of manslaughter rather than murder in the killing of three Deputy US Marshals. Frank Dale ,
910-534: The territorial judge hearing the case, returned to Guthrie , the territorial capitol in Oklahoma, and told US Marshal E.D. Nix, " ... you will instruct your deputies to bring them in dead." 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 gang's only job. Various posses would kill three of
945-471: Was a United States Army post established on November 18, 1868, in Indian Territory to protect the Southern Plains. It was located just east of present-day Fort Supply, Oklahoma , in what was then the Cherokee Outlet . Fort Supply was originally established as "Camp of Supply" on November 18, 1868 in support of General Philip Sheridan 's winter campaign against the Southern Plains Indians . It
980-413: 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 that they hunt down all outlaws, but making this gang a priority. Marshal Nix was staunchly supportive of his deputies and whatever they felt was necessary to bring down the gang. With him as their defender politically, his deputy marshals systematically hunted down
1015-581: Was arrested in 1893 and held for trial at Fort Smith . As Doolin and Dalton were accepted as leaders of the gang, it became known as the Doolin—Dalton Gang, and also as the Wild Bunch. They hid out in northeastern Payne County, and were obtaining ammunition and supplies at the little village of Ingalls. Doolin soon took action: On November 1, 1892, his new gang, the Wild Bunch, robbed the Ford County Bank at Spearville, Kansas , getting away with all
1050-568: Was captured in a bathhouse by deputy marshal Bill Tilghman. Doolin escaped from jail on July 5, and took refuge with his wife in Lawson in the Oklahoma Territory. There, on August 24, Doolin was killed by a shotgun blast in a confrontation with Deputy U.S. Marshal Heck Thomas. Bill Doolin is buried next to outlaw Elmer McCurdy , in the Boot Hill section of Summit View Cemetery in Guthrie, Oklahoma . By
1085-796: Was from Camp Supply that George Armstrong Custer led the Seventh United States Cavalry south to the banks of the Washita River to destroy the village of the Cheyenne Indian chief Black Kettle in what became known as the Battle of the Washita . Later, the camp served to protect the Cheyenne and Arapaho reservations, under the Darlington Agency, from incursions by whites. Camp Supply was renamed Fort Supply in 1878 following its role in
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1120-523: Was killed by U.S. marshals. Rewards were offered for the capture or death of remaining gang members, a lure that sometimes turned friends into foes to collect the money. On May 1, 1895, gang members Charlie Pierce and George "Bittercreek" Newcomb were shot and killed by bounty hunters known as the Dunn brothers . They were the older brothers of Rose Dunn , the teenaged girlfriend of Newcomb. Allegedly, she had betrayed Newcomb, but her brothers may have trailed her to
1155-605: Was officially closed September 1894 following the opening of the Cherokee Outlet to settlement. One of the last missions troops from Fort Supply performed was bringing to end the violence of the Enid-Pond Creek Railroad War during the summer of 1894. Troops from Fort Reno and U.S. Marshal E.D. Dix and his deputies had been unable to quell the wrecking of trains, destruction of tracks, and demolition of trestles by residents from both communities. On February 26, 1895,
1190-489: Was opened at the site. The Fort Supply Historic District was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971 (#71000675). The Oklahoma Historical Society operates a visitor center and is restoring five of the original structures. The visitor center features exhibits about the history of Fort Supply and northwest Oklahoma. The buildings that are being preserved and restored to their original appearance are
1225-493: Was wounded and captured. Doolin shot and killed Deputy Marshal Richard Speed during that shootout. For a time, the Wild Bunch was the most powerful outlaw group in the Old West . Because of the relentless pursuit by the deputy marshals known as the Three Guardsmen (lawmen Bill Tilghman , Chris Madsen , and Heck Thomas ), by the end of 1894, they had either captured or killed many of the gang. In late 1894, gang member Bill Dalton
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