May 3
On this day in 1871, Emmett Dalton, the eighth son of Lewis and Adeline Dalton, was born in Belton, Missouri. Of Emmett’s 13 surviving siblings, three would become outlaws.
They apparently came by their dishonesty, honestly. Lewis Dalton was operating a saloon in Kansas City, when he met and married Adeline Younger, aunt to Cole, Bob and Jim Younger of James/ Younger gang fame.
Big brother, Frank Dalton, started out setting a good example as a U. S. Deputy Marshal serving under “hanging judge” Isaac Parker. Gratton “Grat” Dalton, became a deputy, as well, along with Robert Dalton. Emmett followed his brothers into the fringes of law enforcement, working as a guard and “posse man.” Unfortunately, good brother Frank was killed in the line of duty while tracking whiskey runners on November 27, 1887.
The jury is still out on the Daltons’ performance as lawmen. Some sources say they were brave, polite and honest, while other contemporaries insist they were often unnecessarily ruthless and cold-hearted – with the exception of Emmett.
When the elder Dalton died in July of 1890, Grat and Bob sold their father’s stock of horses and reportedly strayed into selling other people’s horses they had stolen. Some believed 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 acquitted and Bob released on bail.
Despite the good opinion of friends and neighbors, Emmett followed his 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.” However, he became a full-fledged member of a notorious criminal enterprise known then and now as the “Dalton Gang.”
Their glory days only lasted from 1890 to 1892, short-lived compared to several other infamous outlaw consortions. The James brothers wreaked havoc across the frontier for two decades and Butch Cassidy’s Wild Bunch evaded capture for a decade.
The gang’s Waterloo came on October 5, 1892, with an overly ambitious scheme to simultaneously rob two banks in Coffeyville, Kansas; Bob and Emmett at one, Grat, and two other gang members, Dick Broadwell and Bill Powers, at the other. What could possibly go wrong?
Already famous and with known ties to the town, since Lewis and Adeline had lived in Coffeyville for three years, it didn’t take residents long to sniff out the plan. Not unlike the James/Younger miscalculation in Northfield, Minnesota 16 years earlier, citizens didn’t stand by while bandits made off with their money. Quickly arming themselves, they opened fire on the outlaws as they attempted to escape, killing all but Emmett.
Shot 23 times in the hail of bullets, the 21-year-old remarkably survived and was sentenced to life in prison. 
(Mug shot at left) After serving just 14, however, at age 35 he was released, pardoned by the Kansas governor in 1907 and, astoundingly found employment for a time in Tulsa, Oklahoma as a “special police officer.”
Trading on his notorious past, the last of the outlaw Daltons, (Bill Dalton, part of the Doolin/Dalton gang had been killed in 1894), Emmett authored two books, When the Daltons Rode and Beyond the Law. He portrayed himself in a movie version of Beyond the Law. In 1940, When the Daltons Rode was also made into a movie starring Randolph Scott. The duty of playing the young outlaw this time fell to character actor Frank Albertson, much less famous for playing Dalton than for his line from Frank Capra’s “It’s a Wonderful Life, “So long, George. See you in the funny pages.”
By all accounts, Emmett lived a respectable life following his pardon. He’d married his childhood sweetheart, Julia Johnson, and after a brief flirtation with the movies became a building contractor in California. He died quietly July 13, 1937 at age 66, and was buried in Kingfisher Cemetery, Kingfisher County, Oklahoma.
The Dalton gang, while actually guilty of a long list of crimes, may have been credited for more misdeeds than humanly possible, given time and distance back in the day. Helping the legend to live on, Hollywood has retold the Dalton story from the respected 1957 “You Are There” television show hosted by Walter Conkrite to a Death Valley Days episode where a young Emmett was portrayed by Emmy-Award-winning actor Tom Skerritt.
The Dalton Defenders Museum, 113 East 8th St., Coffeyville, Kansas, is administered by the Coffeyville Historical Society and staffed by volunteers. 
It derives its name from 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 famous Coffeyville residents. Admission is $6 for adults, $5 for senors, $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.