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N0KFQ > TODAY 05.10.14 16:08l 72 Lines 3459 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 37420_N0KFQ
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Subj: Today in History - Oct 5
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Sent: 141005/1500Z 37420@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA BPQK1.4.60
Oct 5, 1892:
The Dalton gang performs their last robbery attempt
The Dalton gang attempts to rob two banks simultaneously in
Coffeyville, Kansas, but meets resistance from townspeople, who
wind up killing four of the five bandits. Emmett Dalton, the sole
survivor, returned to the site of the crime nearly 40 years later
and offered a caution to would-be thieves: "The biggest fool on
earth is the one who thinks he can beat the law, that crime can
be made to pay. It never paid and it never will and that was the
one big lesson of the Coffeyville raid."
Grat, Bob, and Emmett Dalton turned to a life of crime when they
became bored with their other career possibilities on the Western
frontier. They started with cattle rustling and moved on to armed
robbery in 1890. Their younger brother, Bill, soon joined their
endeavors. On February 6, 1891, Bob, Grat, and Bill tried to rob
a Southern Pacific train heading to Los Angeles, California.
Despite shooting and wounding a guard, the brothers didn't score
any money, and Bill and Grat were captured.
Although Bill managed to escape the charges, Grat received a
20-year sentence. However, he escaped from the train that was
taking him to prison, and all the brothers headed back to the
Midwest together, where they recruited the best gunmen they could
find and began an impressive crime spree. They got $14,000 from a
train robbery in Oklahoma and then $19,000 from a bank.
Eugenia Moore, who was engaged to Bob, was in charge of scouting
out the best robbery targets for the gang. She was adept at
chatting with bankers and railroad workers in order to find out
when large sums of money were to be transported. For over a year,
the Dalton gang completed a streak of successful robberies that
were designed to bring them enough money to retire. However,
Eugenia died of cancer, and the gang soon made a huge blunder.
Emmett, Grat, Bob, Dick Broadwell, and Bill Power rode into
Coffeyville, Kansas, wearing false beards and carrying rifles. As
Grat, Broadwell, and Power walked into the Condon Bank and Bob
and Emmett entered the First National Bank, one of town's
citizens recognized the Daltons and quickly called the town's men
to action. (Some sources report that Moore was still alive when
the gang went to Coffeyville; others report that there were in
fact six robbers that day, not five, and that Moore was the
sixth.)
As the gang was about to make their getaway, a throng of armed
townsfolk surprised them. The five thieves shot their way to the
alley where their horses were waiting and tried to defend
themselves, but they were greatly outnumbered. In the epic
gunfight that ensued, all five men were shot, but not before
killing a number of the makeshift vigilantes, many of whom had
been armed for the fight by a local hardware store. Dick
Broadwell made it out of the alley on his horse but died a few
miles outside of town.
Emmett Dalton, who had been shot more than 20 times, was the only
one that managed to survive. He received a life sentence for the
murder of the men who tried to stop him but was released a mere
15 years later. He lived a peaceful and law-abiding life until
his death in 1937. In 1894, law enforcement officials shot his
younger brother Bill, who was not at the fateful Coffeyville
robbery, as he tried to escape deputy marshals who were trying to
arrest him.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
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