Bill Radler
William F. “Little Bill” Radler (aka Raidler) was an Old West outlaw and member of the Doolin-Dalton gang.
An educated man from Pennsylvania, Bill Radler drifted into Texas, where he became a cowboy. Soon, he moved on to Oklahoma, where he met Bill Doolin, and the next thing you know, he was riding with the Doolin-Dalton Gang. Along with robbing banks and trains, Radler was involved in several gunfights; the most well-known of which was when a posse jumped the Doolin Gang near Dover, Oklahoma, on April 4, 1895. After some 200 shots were exchanged, Radler and three other members galloped away to safety, leaving behind “Tulsa Jack” Blake, who U.S. Deputy Marshal William Banks had killed. It would be the beginning of a violent end to Bill Doolin’s gang, as the rest of the gang would soon be killed or captured as well.
A few months later, on September 6, Radler was tracked down by Bill Tilghman and two other law enforcement officers. When Radler fought back by firing his rifle, the lawmen returned shots, and Radler was hit in the wrist by a rifle slug. Dropping his gun and running, he was hit again, in the back and the neck, but survived. He stood trial for his part in a train robbery in Dover, Oklahoma, and was sentenced to ten years in prison.
He was released in 1902, and according to author and Radler family researcher Robbie Gries, Bill Radler returned to Northwest Oklahoma and married Blanche Whitenack, the mother of his child born around the same time he went to prison in 1896. Gries tells us Radler and his wife ran a cigar and tobacco store in Woodward until about 1905, when they moved to Yale, OK, and ran a general store. In January 1907, Blanche and daughter Dollie returned to western Okla, leaving Billie with friends while she looked for work.
Gries indicates that information on when and where Bill Radler died has been elusive, even for the family. However, his wife Blanche was listed as a widow in the Oklahoma City Directory in 1910.
© Kathy Alexander/Legends of America, with additional information from author Robbie Gries. Updated November 2024.
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