Image: Memento Mori of the Dalton Gang following the 1892 Coffeyville, Kansas raid. Left to right: Bill Powers; Bob Dalton; Grat Dalton, Dick Broadwell. (Public Domain)
On this day in history, the Dalton Gang attempted to hold up two banks at the same time when five members of the Dalton Gang (Grat Dalton, Emmett Dalton, Bob Dalton, Bill Power, and Dick Broadwell) rode into the town of Coffeyville, Kansas determined to rob the First National Bank and C.M. Condon and Company’s Bank located on different sides of the street.
Bob had organized the complete heist. Emmett, conversely, was opposed to the idea. He knew hundreds of people in town and feared some would get hurt, but Bob guaranteed there would be no gunfire and that it would be ended before anyone knew what had occurred. The arrangement called for Emmett and Bob to rob the First National Bank while Broadwell, Grat, and Powers raided the Condon Bank across the road.
Bob had intended that the gang hitch their horses to a column behind the Condon Bank, where it was safeguarded from the middle of the town by brick walls. They had not been to Coffeyville for many years, and the hitching post was subsequently eliminated during street work. Bob would not allow Emmett to scope out the town in advance for fear that he would be identified. When they arrived, Bob decided to secure their horses in a lane across from the bank to the west, close to the city jail, which allowed them little security. This is now known as Dalton Alley.
Early on October 5, the gang appeared from the alleyway onto the square of Coffeyville. A shopkeeper cleaning the walkway noticed Bob, Emmett, and even Grat, sporting fake mustaches and proceeded inside his store. The five bandits crossed Walnut Street from the alley to the Condon Bank, holding their Winchester rifles. Grat, Broadwell, and Powers entered the Condon Bank, and Emmett and Bob hurried across Union Street to the First National Bank. Street work was being done then, and some of the workers detected the men running across the alley with rifles and began to bellow, “The Daltons are robbing the bank!” Quickly, half the businessmen from the square realized what was happening, and the word soon spread throughout the town.
Grat arrived at the Condon Bank and pointed his rifle at the cashier, directing his hands up, while Powers and Broadwell took places at the door. Grat then gave the cashier a bag and ordered him to fill it with cash. Then, seeing that the vault door was open, Grat ordered the manager and a cashier into the vault, where the safe with the gold was. When told to open the safe, the manager fibbed, stating to Grat it was on a time lock and it would only open in 10 minutes. He believed him and agreed to wait until it opened.
Meanwhile, Bob and Emmett had entered the First National Bank, guarded the officers and two customers, and instructed the cashier to open the cash and gold safe. They loaded their satchel, forced the cashier in front of them as cover, and went out the front door. They had planned to meet with Grat in the alley, where they would escape, but news of the robbery had spread through the town. As they left the bank, an American Express agent opened fire. Bob and Emmett returned fire and left the cashier on the sidewalk.
Grat heard the shots from the Express agent. Two hardware stores in Coffeyville had begun giving guns to the local citizens, who opened fire into the windows at the Condon Bank. The three gang members returned fire and waited for the time lock to open. Several residents were injured in the fighting.
When Bob and Emmett came out the rear entrance of the First National Bank, Lucius Baldwin, who had been watching the door, met them. Bob ordered him to drop his gun, and when he failed to do so, he shot and killed him. At the drug store across from the First National, George Cubine was standing with his rifle aimed at the bank’s front door, waiting for Bob and Emmett to leave. Bob hit him in the head with a bullet, killing him. Charles Brown, Cubine’s partner, was standing next to him and ventured to pick up his rifle. As he picked the Winchester up, Bob shot and murdered him.
After being left on the sidewalk by Bob and Emmett, the cashier had darted into one of the hardware stores and grabbed a Winchester. He saw Bob just as he had killed Brown and took aim at him from behind the store window. Bob saw the cashier about 200 feet away and quickly shot him in the head. The cashier did not die but was paralyzed for life.
As the Daltons moved west down the path towards their horses, Town Marshal Charles T. Connelly entered the alley and ran east towards the square without observing the robbers behind him. Grat shot him in the head and murdered him. Following behind Marshal Connelly was John Kloehr. Grat saw him, but Kloehr shot him in the throat before he could aim.
Being fired upon from the hardware store, Bob was struck in the head and the chest, killing him immediately. Powers tried to get on his horse, but shots fired from the store killed him. Emmett was able to get on his horse unwounded and started riding away, but after observing that Bob had been hit, he returned and tried to pick up Bob and put him onto his horse. Emmett was then hit with a load of buckshot. Broadwell was shot several times but was able to ride away. He was discovered 2 miles away, dead.
Grat, Bob Dalton, Bill Powers, and Dick Broadwell were slain. Four residents of Coffeyville died during the bank robbery. Emmett Dalton was shot through the right arm, below the shoulder, through the left–right, hip, and groin, and received 23 buckshot in the back and survived. He received a life sentence in the Kansas State Penitentiary, of which he served 14 years before being pardoned. He moved to Hollywood, California, and became a real estate agent, author, and actor, and he died in 1937 at age 66.
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