May 3, 1871
On this day Emmett Dalton, lawman turned bank robber and 
celluloid cowboy, was born in Belton Missouri. He and three of his 13 surviving siblings turned crime into a family enterprise. (Right, Emmett’s mug shot)
Apparently coming by their dishonesty honestly, their mother was Adeline Younger, an aunt to Cole, Bob and Jim Younger of James/ Younger gang fame and was related to the James family, as well.
Older brother Frank Dalton, started out setting a good example, serving as 
a U. S. Deputy Marshal under “hanging judge” Isaac Parker. Unfortunately, good brother Frank (right) was killed in the line of duty while tracking down whiskey runners on November 27, 1887.
Gratton “Grat” Dalton and Robert Dalton became deputies following their brother’s murder and Emmett worked the fringes of law enforcement as a guard and “posse man.”
The jury is still out on the Daltons as lawmen. Some sources say they were brave, polite and honest. Other contemporary reports insist they were often unnecessarily ruthless and cold-hearted – with the exception of Emmett.
When father James Dalton died in July of 1890, Grat (right) and Bob sold the family’s stock of horses and reportedly strayed into selling other people’s horses that they had stolen, as well. Unclear if Emmett was also involved. He’d had a brush with the law four months earlier, when he and Bob were arrested for selling liquor to members of the Osage Nation, a crime at the time. Both were charged; Emmett was acquitted and Bob (below) was released on bail.
Despite the good opinion of friends and neighbors, Emmett trailed along after his older brothers into crime. U.S. Marshal E.D. Nix characterized him as fearless and loving excitement but “lack[ing] the bloodthirsty bravado to be a successful bandit.” It didn’t stop him, however, from becoming a full-fledged member of family business known then and now as the notorious “Dalton Gang.”
Their glory days lasting only from 1890 to 1892, were short-lived compared to several other infamous outlaw consortiums. The James brothers wreaked havoc across the frontier for two decades and Butch Cassidy’s Wild Bunch evaded capture for nearly a dozen years.
The Dalton Gang’s Waterloo came on October 5, 1892, with an overly ambitious scheme to simultaneously hold up two banks in Coffeyville, Kansas. Bob and Emmett would rob First National while Grat, and two other gang members, Dick Broadwell and Bill Powers, would empty the vault at the C.M. Condon bank. What could possibly go wrong?
Coffeyville’s main street, 1890s
The Daltons were already famous and had known ties to the town. Their parents, Lewis and Adeline, had lived in Coffeyville for three years. In a vain attempt to avoid recognition, two of the Daltons donned fake beards and wigs. Dispute the theatrics, residents sussed out the plan in a hurry.
Not unlike the miscalculation the James/Younger bunch had made in Northfield, Minnesota, 16 years earlier citizens didn’t stand idly by while bandits made off with their money. Quickly arming themselves, they opened fire on the outlaws as they attempted to escape, killing all the gang but Emmett.
Shot 23 times in the hail of bullets, the 21-year-old remarkably survived 
and was sentenced to life in prison. After serving just 14, however, he was released at age 35, pardoned in 1907 by the unusually kind-hearted Kansas governor, Walter R. Stubbs. (Right) Even more surprising, he found employment as a “special police officer” for a time in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Emmitt was the end of the line for the lawless Daltons. Bill had outlasted most of his brothers by two years, killed after the Coffeyville fiasco while riding with the Doolin/Dalton gang. He was shot to death at 31, a ripe old age by Dalton standards.
Capitalizing on the family’s notoriety, Emmett authored two books, “When the Daltons Rode” and “Beyond the Law.” He portrayed himself in a movie version of the second book. His first book, “When the Daltons Rode” didn’t find its way to the Silver Screen until 1940. It starred box office star Randolph Scott. (Left)
The role of the young outlaw this time fell to the young character actor Frank Albertson. Albertan (below) is much better known, however, for uttering one of the most memorable movie lines of all time 
in Frank Capra’s “It’s a Wonderful Life,” – “So long, George. See you in the funny pages.”
By all accounts, Emmett lived an exemplary life following his pardon. He’d married his childhood sweetheart, Julia Johnson, his flirtation with the cut movies short. He became a building contractor in California and died quietly July 13, 1937, at age 66. He was buried in Kingfisher Cemetery, Kingfisher County, Oklahoma.
The Dalton Gang, while actually guilty of a long list of crimes, may have been blamed for more misdeeds than humanly possible, given the timing and the distances back in the day. Helping the legend to live on, Hollywood has continued to retell the Dalton story from Walter Conkrite’s 1957 “You Are There” television show, to “Tales of Wells Fargo” to “Death Valley Days” where Emmett was portrayed by Emmy-Award-winning actor Tom Skerritt. (Above)
The Dalton Defenders Museum, 113 East 8th St., Coffeyville, Kansas, is administered by the Coffeyville Historical Society and staffed by volunteers. It’s named not for the criminal Daltons but for the four Coffeyville citizens who died during the ill-fated 1892 robberies. Exhibits include mementos from that raid and early Coffeyville days, as well as collections pertaining to other well-known Coffeyville residents.
Admission is $6 for adults, $5 for seniors, $3 for children 7 to 17 and children 6 and under are free but must be accompanied by an adult. Open Monday through Saturday, 10 to 4 and Sunday, 1 to 4. Please call ahead as museum hours are subject to change. For information go to daltondefendersmuseum.com, e-mail to chamber@coffeyville.com, call the museum at (620) 251-5944 or the Chamber at (620) 251-2559, toll-free (800 )626-3357.
© Text Only – 2019 – Headin’ West LLC – All photos – public domain or fair use.
*Head On West strives for historic accuracy and uses a number of sources considered reliable. When research differs on significant facts, the various points of view will be cited.