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Lawmen Turned Outlaws - Bob and Grat

Robert "Bob" Reddick Dalton (1868-1892) - The very same Bob Dalton that was part of the Dalton Gang and killed at the Coffeeville, Kansas raid, Bob was also a U.S. Deputy Marshal for a time. Born in 1868 in Missouri, Bob was one of fifteen children. The family moved to Indian Territory in 1882 and when Bob's older brother Frank became a U.S. Deputy Marshal, Bob Dalton served on several of his posses. Some accounts say that he was with his brother, Frank, when he was killed by a gang of horse thieves in November, 1887. Bob, himself was later commissioned in the Western District at Fort Smith, Arkansas and assigned to work out of the Wichita, Kansas Court. Bob Dalton also served as Chief of Police for the Osage Indian Nation when he worked out of the Kansas court.

On August 26, 1889, Bob was sent to Coffeyville, Kansas to arrest a man named Charley Montgomery, who was charged with peddling whiskey and stealing horses in Indian Territory.

Bob Dalton, leader of the outlaw Dalton Gang.

Note: Some historians dispute that this image is

 that of  Bob Dalton.

This image is available for photographic prints HERE

However, when the outlaw resisted arrest and drew his guns, Montgomery died at the end of Dalton's pistol. Bob did not receive any payment for Montgomery when he delivered him to Fort Smith because there was not a reward on his head for "Dead or Alive." Unfortunately, no one claimed the outlaws body, and was the custom of the time, Bob had to pay for his burial.

In April, 1890, both Bob and Grattan Dalton were sent to Claremore, Oklahoma to arrest a man named Alex Cochran who had killed U.S. Deputy Marshal Cox. When they came upon a rider who fit the description of the fugitive, they began to follow him, who quickly tried to outdistance himself from the deputies. When the man would not stop, Bob shot both the horse and rider from a distance of some 300 years. Unfortunately, the dead man was not Alex Chochran, but his son.  

Bob continued to work in the Osage Nation under the Wichita court for a time. However, rumors soon began to abound that he and Emmett were selling whiskey to the Indians and the Dalton brothers were involved in a noisy disturbance with the natives. When U.S. Commissioner Fitzpatrick received word of these events, he called in Bob Dalton,  demanded his badge and discharged hims from service. An angry Bob insisted that he resigned claiming that court had cheated him out of several expenses.

In any event, in 1891, Bob, Grattan and Emmett traveled to California, where they robbed a Southern Pacific Railroad of $60,000 and began a life of crime. With Bob as their leader, they soon formed the Dalton Gang, recruiting a number of outlaws, which included Dick Broadwell; George "Bitter Creek" Newcomb, Bill Power "Black-Faced" Charlie Bryant, and Bill Doolin. These tough characters, along with Bob, Grat, and Emmett then robbed banks and trains throughout Oklahoma for the next 18 months. However, the Dalton Gang came to an end in 1892, at Coffeyville, Kansas, when they attempted a double bank robbery in on October 5, 1892. Spotted by locals, a shootout followed the attempted robbery which claimed the lives of Grat and Bob Dalton, Dick Broadwell and Bill Power; as well as four Coffeyville residents. Emmett Dalton, though seriously wounded, was the only the only one to survive and wound up serving 14 years in prison.  

The bodies of Bill Power, Bob Dalton, Grattan Dalton

and Dick Broadwell.

This image available for photographic prints HERE!

Grattan “Grat”  Dalton (1865-1892) - Also serving as a U.S. Deputy Marshal before he turned outlaw,  Grattan Dalton was born in 1865 near Lawrence, Kansas, one of fifteen children. The family moved to Indian Territory in 1882. Grat took his brother, Frank's job as a U.S. Deputy Marshal after Frank was killed on November 27,1887. The following year, he took a bullet in the left arm when he was trying to serve an arrest warrant on an Indian outlaw. In August, 1889, he was working as a Deputy Marshal for the Muskogee court in Indian Territory.

For the next year, he assisted in arresting a number of fugitives. However, when Grat forced a young black boy to place an apple on his head, then shooting it off, Marshal Jacob Yoes got wind of the incident. He then dismissed Grat for misuse of his authority.

By 1991, he had turned to a life of crime with his brothers and other members of the Dalton Gang. He was killed on October 5, 1892, when they gang attempted a double bank robbery in Coffeeville, Kansas. He is buried at the Coffeyville, Kansas Cemetery under a marker for himself, his brother Bob, and Bill Power.

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