More than 100 years ago in a quiet town in Oklahoma territory, members of the infamous Dolin-Dalton gang clashed against a group of deputies in one of the deadliest confrontations in the history of American marshals.
At the end of the shooting, nine men had died or injured, and the inhabitants of Ingalls had a living image of Western anarchy and hard means had to restore justice.
The wild group
Bill Doolin was born in 1858 in the county of Johnson, Arkansas, at the age of 23, he derived west, working in small jobs until the top ranch is a ranch along the Cimarron river in the territory of Oklahoma.
While working as a cowboy. He met most of the men who would later form his own gang, a group of colored outlaws known as Wild Bunch.
A story tells that the gang struck the ground in 1891 when he celebrated the July 4 holidays in Coffeyville, Kansas, by typing a barrel of beer.
The problem was that Kansas was a dry state. When the legislators entered the scene to confiscate alcohol, they met bullets. From that day, Doolin and his cohorts were on the run, and the flight provided their means of support.
In September 1891, the Wild Bunch joined the Gang Dalton Brothers to steal several banks throughout the region. A year later, however, Doolin took control after most of the Daltons were killed in a raid on two banks in Coffeyville.
A series of robberies followed for the newly consolidated Gang Dolin-Dalton, whose members were good enough to refer to capture. But in the fall of 1893, the assistant marshals concentrated when they discovered that the marauders used the city of Ingalls as a hiding place between the raids.
The scene was ready for a fateful battle.
The blood is overthrown
In the afternoon of September 1, 1893, found the gang inside the George Ransom show. Dan “Dynamite Dick” Clifton, George “Red Buck”, George “Creek” Newcomb, “Arkansas Tom” Jones (Roy Daugherty) and Bill “Tulsa” Blake “were present in Doolin and Bill Dalton.
The legislators who move in for arrests were led by deputy marshal John Hixon, who brought four other deputies with him – Lafe Shadley, Tom Hueston, Dick Speed and Jim Masterson. Eight additional men joined the ranks as members of the Posse.
In the horrible confrontation that afternoon, a warden was dismissed while diving for covers. Doolin shot Speed Dead while the deputy was trying in vain to join Shadley, who was hidden behind the body of a horse.
Then, when Shadley saw one of the fallen outlaws injured, he moved. But Dalton pulled him in his footsteps. Masterson then threw dynamite into the hiding place of the Outlaws and captured Jones, but the others fled to the south-east of the city.
The outlaws that escape have stopped at the top of a neighboring crest long enough to firm a few final blows to the legislators, and one of these bullets killed Frank Briggs, an innocent passer-by.
All in all, the men on both sides of the law met their destiny this afternoon. The assistant speed was killed during real fights; The Hueston and Shadley deputies died of their injuries the next day.
We talked about the lynching of Arkansas Tom Jones, but instead, he was sent to the federal prison in Guthrie, in Oklahoma territory, about 35 miles away.
In the marshal's own words
Ed Nix was the marshal of the Oklahoma territory at the time. In his book, “Oklahombres”, published in 1929, he clarified this fight as one of the most critical of his entire career. Of course, it was also one of the most devastating, three deputies losing their lives. (Nix, shown on the right, was appointed American marshal on the Oklahoma territory by President Grover Cleveland. He supervised the work of more than 150 deputies, including the famous Three guards.)
Almost two years after the Ingalls' confrontation, the Marshal has reconstructed the details of the fight in a letter he wrote to the Attorney General Judson Harmon. The letter came in response to a man by the name of Murray, who took care of the combat bar.
Murray was arrested that day for hosting the criminals. Having been killed by deputy marshals during the battle, he now complained of damage and sought to repair.
The letter from Nix to Harmon, dated July 30, 1895, is hosted in the national archives. Transcription, containing all of spelling and follow -up punctuation.
A George Ransom had a living room in the city of Ingalls and this Murray man worked for him as a Tender bar. The outlaws Bill DOOLAN, “Bitter Creek” “” “Lacks”, “Dynamite Dick”, “Red Buck” “Tom) and many others have made this fair their headquarters. These facts were well known to the community, although a condemnation of the accusation of hosting or helping and encouraging criminals against the laws of the United States could never be supported, due to the fact that the whole community was under constraint and would not testify for fear of losing their lives and its goods.
On the 1st day of September 1893, a group of deputy marshals who had been sent after these outlaws by me, arrived near Ingalls, and the outlaws mentioned here were at the time in the city and in the catering fair, where this Murray man worked. As usual, the outlaws had received a proximity notice from the deputies and they sent a messenger to the deputies inviting them to come to town if they thought they, the deputies, could take them. The deputies accepted the invitation and after having published their forces, sent a messenger to outlaws with a request for a discount and was answered with Winchester shots. “Bitter Creek” ran out of the show in question and fired a blow to the north where certain deputies were parked, and turning, received the fire from the deputies who broke out the magazine from its Winchester and injured it in the thigh. Meanwhile, a heavy fire was directed to the deputies by the balance of the outlaws of the living room building and the fire was returned by the deputies who literally riddled the show. A horse was killed by the deputies who were attached in front of the living room … The fire of the deputies becoming too hot for the outlaws, they escaped a side door and took refuge in a large stable mentioned. This Murray man came to the gateway to the living room, just before the outlaws leave the building or just after, we know who. However, when he appeared for the first time in the door, he had opened the door at a short distance and had his Winchester on the shoulder shooting. This was before the deputies became aware of the fact that the outlaws left the building. Three of the deputies seeing him in the position in which he was, pulled him simultaneously. Two shots hit him in the ribs and one broke his arm in two places.
Eight or ten horses were killed and nine people killed and injured. A deputy was killed squarely during the first fire and two others died the next day. Three outlaws were injured and a captured. The one captured was then sentenced to the fifty years of the penitentiary and is now serving his time.
Very respectfully,
