The Dalton Gang's Last Raid, 1892

EyeWitness to History ^ | 2001 (original story, 1892) | David Elliott

[Mars55]

The Dalton Gang's Last Raid, 1892 Around 9:30 the morning of October 5, 1892 five members of the Dalton Gang (Grat Dalton, Emmett Dalton, Bob Dalton, Bill Powers and Dick Broadwell) rode into the small town of Coffeyville, Kansas. Their objective was to achieve financial security and make outlaw history by simultaneously robbing two banks.

[Mars55]

Saw a good program on the History Channel last night and found a good website w/ more info on this. Good food for thought for those who are squeamish around guns. What else could these folks have done? You be the judge. In any case, these who shot up the robbers could teach anybody a lesson about self-defense. What impressed me most about the program and the news article was the agressiveness and courage of the townspeople. With more folks like that around, the crime rate would drop like a rock.

[demnomo]

I was switching around channels last night and discovered the History Channel Dalton special. It was very compelling.

When I was in college, I used to play the Eagles "Desperado"
album over and over again. I loved the Dueling Dalton songs and now I know why there were "...two brothers lyin dead in Coffeville..."

Facinating stuff.

[ClearCase_guy]

"The Wild Bunch" is my favorite western. The opening scene is reminiscent of the Coffeyville raid -- with a bit of the Northfield, MN raid by the James-Younger gang thrown in.

Some people really knew how to defend themselves.

[Ciexyz]

Time to rewatch the 80's film, The Long Riders, with the Carradines and the Quaids.

[demnomo]

Ooops. Meant "...four brothers lyin dead in Coffeyville..."

[KJacob]

When I was in college, I used to play the Eagles "Desperado

IMHO the band's best album.

[FatLoser]

With more folks like that around, the crime rate would drop like a rock.

Public schools, most media outlets, and the rest of society have done their best to purge this kind of thinking from young men.

In L.A. county, our sheriff wants to hike the sales tax but won't issue CCW permits.

Same goes for the city of L.A. and County of Riverside, and San Diego, etc. etc.....

[dstarr]

My husband, my niece and I visited Coffeyville, KS and stopped by the museum and walked and saw where the Daltons were gunned down. The have these shapes painted on the pavement where the robbers supposedly fell. It was really interesting. I saw the show last night too. I like the background information that it gave. This is an interesting place to visit and is also not that far from one of the "Little House On the Prairie" sites. We visited there also.

[Lee Heggy]

Bill Kurtis of A&E and The History Channel is a native Kansan. He is producing several pieces on Kansas history that will be airing over the next year. I was recently involved as an extra in the upcoming piece on The Battle of Mine Creek. This was one of if not the largest cavalry engagement of the Civil War. Bill's pieces are always excellent in the detail and accuracy of the historical event.

[cav68]

One must not leave out the Keach brothers

[Billthedrill]

There wasn't an FDIC in those days, so the money those folks were protecting was their life savings. And $20,000 was a lot of it.

[demnomo]

Definitely their best. I know a lot of folks would argue that "Hotel California" was the Eagle's best, but for me, "Desperado" was pure creative genius, not to mention highly entertaining because it had a sort of storyline to it.

I once knew an off-Broadway producer (a close friend of Brian Enos) who tried to get the Eagles to give him the rights to the songs for a musical based on the Dalton legends. At the time, the Eagles were in the midst of a legal and personal battle and so the producer just gave up. (Maybe that's a good thing as I would hate to see what the girlie-men of Broadway might do to such a manly epic.)

[Ditto]

Some people really knew how to defend themselves.

Considering that a very high percentage of the men were Civil War vets, you're damn right that they knew how to take care of themselves.

The old Hollywood stock story of a hand full of bad guys terrorizing a town full of sissy-men is pure BS. Most of the townsfolk back then were steely-eyed vets from both the Union and Confederate side who didn't back down from a fight.

[Mars55]

You bring up some excellent points. I can only quote Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson) from Death Wish: "What have we become"? When we look for help from the state, it seeks only to "control" us. What good does that do us if we are already dead? We have guns in order to control those who are OUT OF CONTROL, NOT THOSE WHO ARE IN CONTROL OF THEMSELVES! This requires a RAPID RESPONSE. The police cannot help anyone post mortum.

[FatLoser]

... "What have we become"? When we look for help from the state, it seeks only to "control" us...

Maybe I should go find and Re-Post Mr. Snyder's A Nation of Cowards as a refresher.

[Bonaparte]

If you want to read a killer novel on the Daltons, try Desperados by Ron Hansen. He also wrote an even better novel on Jesse James, before he quit writing westerns. I met the guy at a book signing and talk. Practically begged him to start writing them again, LOL!

[Bonaparte]

If you want to read a killer novel on the Daltons, try Desperados by Ron Hansen. He also wrote an even better novel on Jesse James, before he quit writing westerns. I met the guy at a book signing and talk. Practically begged him to start writing them again, LOL!

[APFel]

I made a "pilgrimage" to Coffeyville as well (not a difficult feat as I have relatives in Joplin, MO that I frequently visit). I have read at least twenty books on the Wild West, and I never tire of reading more. I enjoyed my Coffeyville visit quite a bit; I even bought an old cobblestone from the gift store. After reading so much about the town and the events that makes it famous, I spent the whole day walking around the town taking it all in. While the visit wasn't spiritual in the religious sense, it really, really put the literature I had absorbed on the Coffeyville raid in perspective.

On the other hand, I have visited Northfield as well. The town is now in the far ring of the outer suburbs of Minneapolis, and it has developed accordingly. It is also a college town now, and that has made the town change even more.

I went to the ridiculous "Jesse James Days" festival they have there every year, and the reenactment of the raid contradicted virtually everything I have read about the raid. My wife challenged, "Well, it HAPPENED HERE", insinuating that we were somehow getting a firsthand history lesson; as though we were watching the actual raid.

The answer is simple, really. They have a whole damned FESTIVAL set up to celebrate the rout of the James gang and an embellishment here or there makes it more interesting to watch. After all, they can't very well show Clell Miller's face drooping off of his skull after taking a blast from a shotgun, now can they? Instead, they Hollywooded it up in order to appeal to the TV western watchers.

If you ever make it up to Northfield (anyone), go during the off season and visit the museum. It's a fun visit when you can take it in on your own terms.

APf

[Grut]

I wonder how many felonies the citizens of Coffeyville committed by current standards? ;^)

[Little Bill]

I saw that movie in Boston years ago, Bronson got a standing "O" from the watcching the movie.