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 William
E. Walters, a/k/a: Bill Anderson, Billy Brown, Bronco
Billy
- Born at Fort Sill,
Indian
Territory
(Oklahoma)
in 1869, Walters worked first as a
cowboy and later as a section
hand on the Santa Fe Railroad. However, as he neared his
thirties, he turned gunman and bandit in
Arizona,
at one point joining the
Black Jack Ketchum Gang. After leaving
Ketchum's gang, he was known to have shot several men and
committed a number of robberies with his own gang. However,
Walter's luck was about to run out when he and his gang attempted
to rob a train at
Grants
Station,
New
Mexico. Lawmen drove them
off with heavy gunfire and Walters was soon tracked down by a
posse led by Jeff Milton, who shot and injured the
outlaw. Walters was convicted of train robbery and sent
to prison for life. However, he was released in 1917 and
moved to Hachita,
New
Mexico
where he worked as a wrangler for the Diamond A Cattle Company. Walters died when he fell from a windmill tower he was working on.
Richard "Little Dick”
West (18??-1898) – Though to have been born in
Texas,
West was working as a
cowboy on the Halsell ranch in
Oklahoma
when he met
Bill Doolin and joined up with the
Oklahombres
in 1892. He was with the gang when they robbed the bank in Southwest
City,
Missouri
and was wounded in a
gunfight that ensued. He continued to ride with
Doolin until he was killed in 1896. The next year, West helped to
form the
Jennings Gang, who made a number of bungled train robbery
attempts. After failing miserably, the gang broke up and though
the other four member were caught and sentenced to jail in 1897, West
remained on the lam until the next year. Pursued by the "Three
Guardsmen” –
Bill Tilghman,
Heck
Thomas and
Chris Madsen, the lawmen finally tracked him down near Guthrie,
Oklahoma.
On April 8, 1898, when he was approached by
Thomas
and
Tilgman, he refused to surrender and in the ultimate
gunfight that
took place, as killed. He is buried in the Summit View Cemetery in
Guthrie,
Oklahoma
near
Bill Doolin.
William
Henry Whitley, aka: Bill, Will (1864-1888) - The co-leader of
a gang sometimes referred to as the
Bill Whitley Gang, and at other times, the
Brack Cornett Gang, Whitley was a bank and train robber in
Texas during
the late 1880's. Born on September 7, 1864, in Itawamba County, Missisippi, the youngest child of William Taylor Whitley and Elizabeth
Henry Whitley. His older brothers served as Confederate soldiers in
the
Civil War and William grew up in the wild and violent lawlessness
that swirled throughout the south when the war was over. When his
older brother was killed by a lawman in 1884, "Bill" launched his own
career of violence, during which he would allegedly kill eight men.
Though history tells us that some of Whitley's descendants say that
his exploits were greatly exaggerated and that he was a good man, most
legends claim that he participated in some eight bank robberies and
one train robbery. Somewhere along the line he married a woman named
Lucinda "Cord" Cox Whitley of Lampasas,
Texas. His
marriage to Lucinda soon began to create problems for her relatives,
when some were arrested for harboring a criminal and others charged
with being his confederates. The couple had two children, Minnie
Margaret Whitley, born in November, 1884 and Temperance Alice Whitley
born in March, 1886. The "heat" was getting so bad that Whitley fled
to England for a time, leaving his wife and children in the care of
her brother, who moved them to Coryell County,
Texas. When
he returned, he took up with
Brack Cornett,
and a gang of outlaws who began to actively rob trains and banks.
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In September, 1888, the
Bill Whitley Gang planned to rob a a Southern Pacific train out of
Harwood,
Texas.
However, their plans were foisted when U.S. Marshal John Rankin
somehow found out about the scheme. On the day of the planned robbery,
Rankin, along with Deputy U.S. Marshal, Duval West, and several
Texas Rangers
hid on board the train. Just three miles outside of Harwood, the gang
predictably stopped the train but were effectively driven off by the
lawmen. Though followed, the would-be robbers were able to escape.
Pursued more than ever by numerous posses, the gang were finally run
to ground by
U.S. Deputy Marshals
just a few days later on September 25, 1888 in Floresville,
Texas. When
the law caught up with them, the inevitable gunfight occurred, in
which Bill Whitley was killed and another gang member taken prisoner.
Bill Whitley was just 24 years-old.
Brack Cornett
was able to escape and fled to
Arizona.
However, one
Texas Ranger,
Alfred Allee,
doggedly pursued
Cornett to
Frio,
Arizona,
where he caught up with him. Gunplay erupted once again and when the
smoke cleared,
Cornett was dead.
Oliver "Ol" Yantis (18??-1892) -
Born in Kentucky, Oliver made his way to
Oklahoma
somewhere along the line where he was a cotton farmer near Orlando.
Unfortunately, he made the acquaintance of George "Bitter Creek"
Newcomb, who soon recruited him into the
Doolin-Dalton Gang.
He was with the gang when they
robbed a train in Caney,
Oklahoma
on October 14, 1892 and again participated in the Spearville, Kansas
bank robbery just a few weeks later on November 1st. After the bank
robbery, the gang split up as many of them had bounties of their head
for as high as $5,000 "dead or alive." With the law hot on their
trail, Yantis was first trailed to the McGinn farm near Dodge City,
Kansas by
Ford County, Kansas Sheriff
Chalkey Beeson and U.S. Deputy Marshal
Thomas Huestonc ,
but by the time the officers arrived, Yantis was already gone. The
fugitive then headed to his
sister's ranch south of Orlando,
Oklahoma.
Still trailed by
U.S. Deputy Marshal
Thomas Hueston
,
along with fellow Deputy Marshals Heck Thomas and Chris Madsen, the
lawmen caught up with him on November 29th. Announcing themselves and
demanding his surrender, Yantis walked out as if he were going to
comply. However, he then pulled out a pistol and began to fire on the
officers who returned the shots, hitting Yantis in the leg and
stomach. Though the lawmen nursed his wounds, Yantis died the next
day.
He was buried in the Rose
Lawn Cemetery south of Mulhall,
Oklahoma.
 Cole
(or Code) Young, aka: Bob Harris, Tom Harris, Cole Estes (1872-1896) -
Hailing from Texas, Young was working as a cowboy near Roswell,
New Mexico
when he hooked up with the likes of
George Musgrave.
The pair then joined
Will "Black Jack" Christian's
High Fives Gang,
and began to rustle cattle, and rob banks, trains, and post offices.
However, on the night of October 2, 1896, the gang attempted a train
robbery in Rio Puerco,
New Mexico,
luck would run out for Young. After the Atlantic and Pacific train
made a brief stop, a shot was fired, striking the brakeman's lantern.
By happenstance,
U.S. Deputy Marshal
Will Loomis, just happened to be on the train, and upon hearing the
shot, went to investigate. As an engineer was trying to uncouple the
Express Car at gunpoint, Loomis arrived and fired at the outlaws,
leaving Young dead. The other bandits quickly fled. Young was buried
in
Albuquerque,
New Mexico.
©
Kathy Weiser/Legends
of America, updated July,
2011.
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