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 Meanwhile,
back in
California,
Bill
Dalton
was acquitted on October 10, 1891, for the
train robbery that
Grat
had been sentenced to twenty years for.
The winter of
1891 found the
Dalton
brothers relatively quiet, but as soon as spring arrived they teamed
up with Pierce, Newcomb, Power, Broadwell, and Doolin to plan another
train holdup.
Waiting for the
at the train at the station on June 1, 1892 at Red Rock in
Oklahoma
Territory, they sensed danger when the train arrived without any
lights shining from its coach windows.
Quickly, they abandoned their plans and allowed the train to
pass without incident.
However, within a short time a second train came along, and this one,
they boarded.
Charlie Bryant
and
Dick Broadwell
held the engineer and fireman in the locomotive while
Bob,
Emmett,
and Bill Power walked through
the passenger cars taking jewelry and cash. Bill Doolin
and
Grat Dalton
took on the express car, throwing the safe out of the train. Loot in hand, the bandits rode away, only to discover they had gained
little for their efforts, as the safe only contained about $50.
Later, they
found out that their suspicions were correct regarding the train that
they had allowed to pass as it had been full of armed guards
protecting $70,000 of the Sac and Fox annuity.
Obviously not happy with their take in June, they planned another
train heist on July 14, 1892 at Pryor Creek in
Indian
Territory. Arriving at the train station they first took
what they could find from the express and baggage rooms, then calmly
sat down waiting for the train to arrive with their shotguns over
their knees. Once again
the train was loaded with deputies, but for some reason they were all
at the back of the train. The gang backed a wagon up to the
express car and unloaded all of the contents, easily subduing the one
armed guard in the express car.
When the marshals finally discovered the robbery, a fierce gun battle
broke out where two guards were killed, as well as an innocent
bystander and another wounded. However, the gang escaped unharmed making off with $17,000 in
cash. After this train robbery, a prize of $5,000 was placed on
each of the
Dalton's heads.
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