Legends of the Old West - LEGENDS Ep. 1 | “The Coffeyville Raid”

Episode Date: April 1, 2018

On October 5th, 1892, the Dalton Gang attempted one of the most daring robberies in the history of the West. Armed with Winchester rifles, they tried to rob two banks at the same time in broad daylight in Coffeyville, Kansas. The result was a running gun battle with the townsfolk that has become legend. Special guest discussion with Bob Boze Bell, Executive Editor of True West Magazine. Join Black Barrel+ for early access and bingeable seasons: blackbarrel.supportingcast.fm/join For more details, visit our website www.blackbarrelmedia.com and check out our social media pages. We’re @OldWestPodcast on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Benefits vary by card. Other conditions apply. History has a way of repeating itself. A common expression we use today is, those who don't learn from the past are doomed to repeat it. That expression is adapted from George Santayana's original quote, those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. By 1876, the people of Northfield, Minnesota had been hearing stories of raids and bank robberies for 10 years.

The events were described in vivid detail in the newspapers. So when the most famous band of outlaws in the Old West, the gang led by Frank and Jesse James, tried to rob the first national bank in broad daylight, the townsfolk quickly realized what was going on. As members of the gang slipped into the bank to begin the robbery, others rode into town shouting and firing their guns. They wanted to cause a panic. They wanted people to run and hide and stay hidden.

a panic. They wanted people to run and hide and stay hidden. The townsfolk ran, but they didn't hide. They took cover and armed themselves. The gang's plan of a quick robbery and an easy escape dissolved almost immediately. A firefight erupted as the town of Northfield fought back against the intruders. Two outlaws were killed and more were wounded. Six of the eight bandits made it out of town, but one was eventually killed by the posse that chased them and three more were caught. They were the younger brothers, Bob, Jim, and Cole. Only Frank and Jesse James escaped Minnesota. After all that, the gang came away with exactly $26.70 of the $15,000 that was in the bank. Fourteen years and one month later, the Dalton gang, whose founding members were cousins of the Youngers, proved they had learned no lessons from the downfall of their kin. As they rode into Coffeyville, Kansas on October 5th, 1892, history was about to repeat itself.

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Loblaws is committed to fresh, so you get the best fruits and veggies. Look for new value programs when you shop at Loblaws, in-store and online. Conditions may apply. See in-store for details. Welcome to the Legends of the Old West podcast. I'm your host, Chris Wimmer, and this is Episode 1, The Coffeyville Raid. The Dalton Gang was not the best group of outlaws in the Old West. When the most famous photograph of your gang is of four of its members laid out dead on a boardwalk, that's not great. The bandits were riding a hot streak when they decided to raid Coffeyville, that's true, but they did not have

an auspicious beginning. The core of the gang was the three brothers who were its namesake, Bob, Grat, and Emmett Dalton. They were three of 15 children born to Louis Dalton and Adeline Younger. Adeline was the aunt of the famous Younger brothers, who had ridden with Jesse James 15 years earlier. The clan began in Oklahoma Territory and then moved to Kansas, eventually settling just four miles from Coffeyville. As with many gangs in the West, several members of the Daltons started their careers as lawmen. Bob, Gratt, and Emmett followed in the footsteps of their older brother, Frank, who was a deputy U.S. Marshal for Judge Isaac Parker. Parker was famously known as

Hanging Judge Parker because of his penchant for sending criminals to the gallows. When Frank was killed in the line of duty in 1887, the three brothers became lawmen to avenge his death, but their time wearing badges was brief. By 1890, they were firmly on the outlaw trail, and they started off their lawless careers poorly. Bob and Emmett tried to steal horses near Claremore in Indian Territory, Oklahoma today, but failed. They fled west to California to link up with brothers Bill and Grant.

Together, they tried to rob a train, but failed, somewhat. They couldn't open the safe, so they robbed the passengers instead. Bill and Grant were arrested, and Bob and Emmett fled back to Oklahoma territory. It was there, in 1891, that they formed the gang in earnest. In the early stages, Bob recruited George Bittercreek Newcomb, Bill McElhaney, Charlie Pierce, and blackface Charlie Bryant to ride with him. Charlie Bryant's nickname derived from a gunpowder burn on his cheek. Later, Bill Doolin, Dick Broadwell, and Bill Powers joined the group. As with any outlaw gang, members came and went depending on the time and the job, but the majority of the players began

their ride in May of 1891. On May 9th, five members of the gang robbed the Santa Fe train in Wharton, Oklahoma, which is now the town of Perry. Accounts vary as to how much money they took, but at least they learned they worked pretty well together as a team. But they lost a charter member of the gang just three months later. In August 1891, blackface Charlie Bryant was caught by Deputy U.S. Marshal Ed Short in Hennessey, Oklahoma. The nearest jail was 140 miles away in Wichita, so the deputy loaded his prisoner onto a train for the trip. At the first stop, Bryant broke free and he and Short shot it out on the train platform. Both men died. A month later, in September 1891,

the gang made its biggest score. Four members robbed the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas train in Indian Territory. While Bob and Emmett and the gang were working in the Oklahoma area, Bill and Grat stood trial in California for the brothers' first train robbery. Bill and Grat stood trial in California for the brothers' first train robbery. Bill was quickly acquitted. He drifted back to Oklahoma, and we won't hear from him for a while. Grat was found guilty. But in September, as Bob and Emmett were making their big score in Oklahoma,

Grat escaped custody and headed for home to rejoin his brothers. The third of four train robberies pulled by the gang came on June 1st, 1892. They took the Santa Fe Railroad again, this time at Red Rock, Oklahoma. Their final train robbery came six weeks later on July 14th in Adair, Oklahoma, and it was this heist that began their downfall. The Daltons got into a gunfight with guards on the train. By some accounts, more than 200 shots were fired. None of the Daltons were injured, but three guards were wounded. Worse yet, a doctor was killed by a stray bullet. And that was a no-no in the Old West. You did not harm doctors because there were so few around. In the aftermath, the outlaws laid low, knowing the heat was about to come down. When it did, it was in the form of one of the best lawmen in the West,

When it did, it was in the form of one of the best lawmen in the West, Deputy U.S. Marshal Henry Andrew Thomas, better known as Heck Thomas. He also worked for Hanging Judge Isaac Parker and had been a colleague of Frank Dalton before Frank was killed. After the Adair robbery, Thomas and fellow Marshal Chris Madsen began to track the Dalton gang. The marshals trailed the outlaws through the Osage Nation and at last located their hideout, but the outlaws were already gone. The two men stayed on the trail and eventually it led them to a campsite 20 miles south of Coffeyville, Kansas. Like many frontier towns, Coffeyville began life as a trading post. In the Civil War years of the mid-1860s, Colonel James A. Coffee set up a store on the west bank of the Verdigris River to trade with the Osage Nation. The store quickly grew into a thriving business, and in 1869, the town of

Coffeeville was officially founded. But its early years were overshadowed by a trading post on the east side of the river. Parker had been established before Coffeyville and had been more prosperous. But when the railroads started competing for lines into Indian territory, one town lived and one town died. In 1871, the Leavenworth, Lawrence, and Galveston Railroad chose to make Coffeyville its terminus instead of Parker. Almost overnight, people and businesses migrated from Parker to Coffeyville, and the promoters of the railroad laid out the town site of the growing community.

Parker quickly dried up. Not long afterward, the few buildings that were still standing washed away in a flood, officially putting an end to the town of Parker. With Coffeyville as a new railroad terminus just over the Oklahoma border in Kansas, the town quickly became a hub for cattle drives. Abilene was 200 miles farther north. Wichita was 135 miles farther west. Dodge City was another 150 miles west beyond that.

So Coffeyville was an attractive landing spot for Texas cattlemen who were driving their herds north to market. As with the other famous cow towns in Kansas, Coffeyville rapidly became infested with lawlessness. Gambling dens were everywhere. Gunshots were nightly occurrences. Vice of every kind invaded the town. But that era didn't last long. Soon, the railroad expanded west, and the criminals and raucous cowboys had new towns to terrorize. Coffeyville quieted down as the 1870s moved into the 1880s. The Coffeyville Journal was established in 1879. In 1880, the First Bank was founded. T.G. Ayers and Samuel Steele built First National Bank on Union Street. Next door was Isham's Hardware Store. In 1890, Luther Perkins constructed the

Perkins Building on an island across the plaza from the First National. The building had office space on the second floor, but its main attraction was the C.M. Condon & Company Bank on the ground floor. And those two banks, the First National and the Condon, were what attracted the Dalton Gang to Coffeyville on October 5th, 1892. By the 1890s, nearly all of the mythical bandits of the Old West were dead or in prison. Coffeyville was established as a small city of commerce and order. City Marshal Charles T. Connolly didn't even carry a gun. Now that's not to say that there weren't saloons with gambling and drinking and everything else, but the wild old days of the early 1870s were 20 years in the past.

The town's leaders were now more concerned with civic improvements than possible bank robberies. And that was the first problem the Dalton gang ran into as it approached Coffeyville on October 5, 1892. The Daltons knew they had the law on their trail. The two U.S. Marshals, Heck Thomas and Chris Madsen, had been tracking them for weeks. The Dalton brothers decided they needed one more big score, a score that would allow them to disappear for good. The plan was to pull off a heist that had never been done before, rob two banks at the same time in broad daylight. Almost 15 years earlier, the James Younger gang had nearly been destroyed when it tried to rob one bank in broad daylight. But now the Daltons wanted to try for two.

And the achievement would also satisfy Bob Dalton's ego. He was the leader of the gang, and by all accounts, he was a brash young man. Supposedly, he killed his first man when he was 19 years old. Now he wanted to one-up the James boys and his famous cousins the Youngers. A popular quote attributed to him is that he wanted to beat anything Jesse James ever did, rob two banks at once in broad daylight. So that's what they set out to do. No one knows for sure why the gang attempted the raid with only five men, but that's what happened. Bob, Gratt, and Emmett Dalton, along with Dick Broadwell and Bill Powers, headed for Coffeyville in the early morning hours of October 5th.

Bob had had a mistress named Eugenia Moore who acted as a spy and a scout for the gang, but she had died several weeks before the Coffeyville raid. The gang could have used her, because right off the bat, they were in trouble. As they rode into town a little before 9.30 in the morning, they were immediately forced to change their plan. Coffeyville was making upgrades. The town was paving its streets. To make way for the construction, workers had removed the hitching posts near

the two banks. The Daltons had intended to use those posts to tie up their horses. They wanted to tie them in front of McCoy's Hardware Store or the Opera House, both of which were only about a block from the banks. But now they had to adjust on the fly. They'd done almost no planning for their last big raid, and now they had to find a place to stash their horses. They found a narrow alley that ran behind the buildings that faced 8th Street on the north and 9th Street on the south. They tied their horses to a length of pipe, and a couple of them put on hasty disguises of fake beards and mustaches. They strode through the alley, each man carrying a Winchester rifle. Three were in front, two followed behind.

Bob Dalton, tall and good-looking, was also said to have been a dead shot with a rifle. He and Emmett, the baby of the bunch at just 21 years old, were in the rear. Grat Dalton, who was a big man but apparently not the sharpest tool in the shed, led Dick Broadwell and Bill Powers up the alley first. The long alley dumped them right into the town plaza where Walnut Street and Union Street converged with 9th Street to form a V. In the middle of the plaza was the island that separated Walnut and Union. On the tip of the island, the point of the V was the Condon Bank. As the five men strode out of the alley, rifles in hand, Grant, Dick, and Bill Powers walked

into the Condon Bank. Bob and Emmett continued across the street to the First National, which was sandwiched between a drug store and Isham's hardware store. Before they even entered the Ils ont passé la rue à la première nationale, qui était entre une magasin de drogues et l'agriculture de l'Isham. Avant qu'ils n'entrent même dans les banques, ils ont été reconnaissus. Si vous faites vos achats tout en travaillant, en mangeant ou même en écoutant ce balado, alors vous connaissez et aimez l'excitation du magasinage. Mais avez-vous ce frisson d'obtenir le meilleur deal? Les membres de Rakuten, eux, oui. Ils magasinent les marques qu'ils aiment et font d'importantes économies,

en plus des remises en argent. Et vous pouvez aussi commencer à gagner des remises en argent dans vos magasins préférés, comme Old Navy, Best Buy et Expedia, et même cumuler les ventes et les remises en argent. C'est facile à utiliser et vous obtenez vos remises par PayPal ou par chèque. Sous-titrage Société Radio-Canada The Daltons had grown up just four miles from Coffeyville. They were essentially robbing their hometown banks. A businessman ran into Isham's hardware store right next to the First National Bank and sounded the alarm. He shouted,

The Daltons are robbing the bank. The idea of a bank robbery in Coffeyville, in broad daylight no less, sounded crazy to some, but others took it seriously. The news spread around town, and the hardware stores began handing out rifles. In the Condon Bank, the bandits rushed in and Grat shoved a wheat sack toward cashier Charles Ball. Grat demanded all the money in the safe, $40,000. Ball made a brave but risky play. He said he couldn't open the safe because it was on a time lock, and the lock wouldn't open until 9.30 a.m. Grat asked what time it was.

Ball took out his pocket watch and said 9.20, but a clock on the wall read 9.40. Either way, Grat said they could wait. There was $40,000 in there, after all. But he never checked the vault doors himself, which had been unlocked since 8 a.m. vault doors himself, which had been unlocked since 8 a.m. Across the street in the First National, a cashier tried a similar ruse on Bob Dalton. When Bob and Emmett walked in, there were already three employees and three customers in the bank. Not long after the robbery began, two more customers stumbled into the heist and became hostages. The cashier told Bob that he didn't know the combination to the safe, but Bob didn't buy it, and he and Emmett eventually loaded $20,000

into a burlap sack. Outside, the townsfolk were now taking the alarm seriously. Men grabbed rifles and pistols. Women and children hurried off the streets. City Marshal Charles Connolly borrowed a rifle from a nearby shop. Luther Perkins, the owner of the Perkins Building, which housed the Condon Bank on the ground floor, received word of the robberies in his second floor office. A heist was happening right below him. He grabbed two pistols and headed for the stairwell. Over in the First National, Bob and Emmett were ready to go. They shoved the hostages toward the front door. As they pushed their way outside, the first shots of the Battle of Coffeyville rang out.

Citizens were set up in Isham's hardware store right next to the First National. Others were down the street. The entrances to both banks were covered. When Bob and Emmett stepped outside, gunfire erupted, and they rushed back inside. In the Condon, Grat began to get suspicious. The time lock delay was falling apart. Just then, the owner of the building, Luther Perkins, threw open the door from the stairwell. It was the back door of the bank, and he came face to face with Dick Broadwell, and more importantly, Dick's Winchester rifle.

Perkins dove back into the stairwell and slammed the door. Then, the shooting started. Bullets hammered the front of the building and crashed through the windows. One of the outlaws was hit, either Broadwell or Powers. The accounts vary, but one of them yelled, I'm shot, I can't use my arm. With the streets and the plaza turning into a storm of gunfire, Bob and Emmett ran out the back of the First National.

Emmett carried the sack of money. Bob did the shooting. They busted out of the back of the First National. Emmett carried the sack of money. Bob did the shooting. They busted out of the back of the building and landed in an alley that ran behind all the shops on Union Street. Just then, Lucius Baldwin, a 23-year-old clerk who'd grabbed a pistol and run out the back of Isham's hardware, collided with Bob and Emmett. Bob killed him instantly. The outlaws then bolted north up the alley, heading for 8th Street as they made a wide circle away from the plaza to eventually reach their horses. In the Condon Bank,

Gratt, Dick Broadwell, and Bill Powers were in a terrible spot. They were caught on a literal island taking heavy gunfire. But instead of leading Broadwell and powers out the back door of the bank where luther perkins had appeared moments before grat led them straight out the front door and into the plaza the outlaws ran out into a hail of gunfire all three men were hit immediately but they kept running they raced Walnut Street and into the narrow alley where they tied their horses, but making it to the alley did not mean they were safe. There's a reason it's called Death Alley today. Across the plaza, Bob and Emmett ran north up the alley behind the shops

that faced Union Street. They hit 8th Street and turned left to run across Union. As they neared the opera house, where they wanted to tie their horses, they paused and took shelter. They looked back down Union Street toward the First National. Bob spotted two men crouching near the entrance, ready to pick them off when they left their shelter. He fired twice and dropped both men. Bob then saw a man he recognized. Thomas Ayers, one of the cashiers at the First National. Ayers had grabbed a rifle from Isham's hardware store and was now targeting Bob and Emmett. Bob shot him beneath the left eye from 70 yards away. In the alley, Grat found shelter under a stairwell near an oil wagon.

He'd been hit, but began to fire back down the alley toward the people in the plaza. Powers had been shot in the back, and he ducked into a doorway. He tried to open the door, but it was locked, so he continued to run down the alley toward the horses. Dick Broadwell got closest to the horses. He found cover in a lumber yard across the alley from their mounts, but the gunfire was so heavy he couldn't risk making a run for his horse. He returned fire and waited for his moment. With three of the outlaws now trapped in the alley, the heroes of the town began to converge. Marshall Conley came up from the south through a vacant lot on 9th Street. Town barber

Carrie Seaman and livery owner John Clure cut through Clure's stable. At the opera house, Bob and Emmett broke cover and rushed down 8th Street, crossing over Walnut Street. They headed for an alley that ran perpendicular to the one where they'd stashed their horses. They cut down that little lane and landed in the alley shortly after the others had found cover. Now, all five outlaws were in the alley near their horses, but it would be hell getting to them. Marshall Connelly burst into the alley from the vacant lot, hoping to catch the outlaws by surprise. He turned west and saw their horses, but no one else. Grat Dalton was hiding under some stairs behind him.

Connolly never saw him. Grat shot the marshal in the back and killed him. Grat thought that was his chance. He broke cover and ran for his horse. At the same time, the barber and the livery owner made it to the alley. The barber was armed with a double-barrel shotgun, and the livery owner had his rifle. They peered around the corner and saw Grat Dalton running for his horse. When Grat turned around to check behind him, the livery men stepped into the alley and fired.

The bullet hit Gratt in the throat and broke his neck. He collapsed into a heap in the dust. After Gratt died, there was a brief pause in the fighting. Dick Broadwell took advantage of the lull to run for his horse. He made it into the saddle, and it looked like he might have a clean chance for an escape, the saddle, and it looked like he might have a clean chance for an escape. But the barber and the liverymen took aim again. They unloaded on him. He took a load of buckshot from the barber and a rifle slug from the liverymen, but somehow he stayed on his horse. He galloped out of the alley and disappeared around a corner. Bob and Emmett made a last desperate try for their horses. Two of the animals had already been killed in the gunfight, which left two remaining for the brothers.

As they sprinted for their mounts, Bob took a slug to the chest and toppled over onto a pile of cobblestones. He was mortally wounded, but he kept firing his Winchester. Emmett actually made it to his horse with a sack full of money. He climbed into the saddle and got riddled with bullets. Despite numerous wounds, he leaned down to try to scoop up Bob, but the liverymen put a rifle shot through his chest. At the same time, the barber unloaded both barrels of his shotgun into Emmett. The force of the blast blew him out of the saddle. He landed in the dusty alley, and the fight was over. In the aftermath of the battle, the townsfolk of Coffeyville took stock of the damage.

Four of their citizens were dead. Three more were wounded. Tom Ayers, the cashier who had been shot under the left eye by Bob Dalton, survived his serious wound and went on to become town mayor. Emmett Dalton also survived, somehow, after having been wounded more than 20 times. He served 14 years in prison and then moved to California, where he became famous in the early years of Hollywood as one of the few remaining outlaws of the Old West. He died in 1937 at the age of 66. Dick Broadwell made it to the outskirts of town

after being fatally wounded by Carrie Seaman, the barber, and John Clure, the livery owner. A posse later found him crumpled in a heap in the dirt. He was dead in a puddle of his own blood, and his horse stood quietly beside him. There's no detailed account of how Bill Powers died, but his body was found 10 feet from Bob Dalton. Deputy U.S. Marshals Heck Thomas and Chris Madsen arrived after the battle and identified the bodies of the dead outlaws. Although they missed one of the most famous gun battles of the Old West, they would run into other members of the Dalton gang down the road. Their stories were just beginning. The Dalton gang had been on a crime spree for just 18 months. That's all. The gang,

as we think of it today, was wiped out in the Coffeyville raid. But that wasn't the last time we'd hear from the Dalton family. There's always been speculation that a sixth rider was present in the early stages of the robbery. If that person existed at all, his or her identity will never be known. But the most likely candidate is Bill Doolin, and after the raid, he would join up with Bill Dalton and the other original members of the Dalton Gang to form the Doolin-Dalton Gang. Dalton gang. Next time on the Legends of the Old West podcast, you'll hear the story of one of the great con artists of the West, a man known as the Baron of Arizona. The closing song for Season 1 was composed and performed by The Mighty Ork, a great musician from Houston, Texas.

Additional original music by Rob Valliere. Audio editing and sound design by Dave Harrison. I'm your writer, host, and producer, Chris Wimmer. If you enjoyed the show, please leave us a rating and a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you're listening. Check out our website, blackbarrelmedia.com, and find us on social media. We're at Old West Podcast on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Thanks for listening. Thank you.