The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-08-09
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Short Stories of Mans Natural
Half, Shown at Home.
DaItons in Wichita.

their raids of ten or q dozen years ago.
Many Wichitans remember the incidents
Of that day. and some people Of this city
have some OF the incidents clearly i'm
printed on their minds. The story deals
with the three Daltons, Frank, Emmett,
Bob and Grattan. He tells of their first
attempt at train-robbing at Alila, Cal,
which occurred February s, 1881, and
henceforth the brother started on a career
Of crime unequalled by Robin Hood or
Dick Turpin. They planned and carried
cut robbezies which for CELEBRITY, execu-
ton and escape have never been attempt
ed before or since In the first robbery
the Daltons learned the use OF fremans
pick in breaking open car doors accord
ing to Mr. Dickinson, and In their future
robberies OF express cars used this dis
tiactive method of gaining entrance to
cars
Soon after the California robbery the
DaItons returned to Kingfisher, O. T..
where they owned two farms and they
began stealing horses. A brether-in-law
named Whipple at Kfngfsher was arrest
led for receiving a horse stolen by Bob
land was brought to Wichita for safe
! keeping While locked in the sedgwick
county jail Whipple delivered to the au-
thorities the following missiye from Bob
Dalton.
You are making id fools of your
selves il yo1 think you can tackle any
OF our people without putting yourselves
IN a hell Of a fix. That Ransom Payne,
"a deputy who had been active in the
chase Of them), II have to swing for
II sure, or have so much lead pumped into
his ID carcass that his own mother
won't know him. Yet those that are called
as witnesses beware" A crudely drawn
skull and cross bones adorned the docu-
ment. and below in big. red letters was
written: We shoot to kiH." Brother-in-
law Whipple was released and the in
jured vanity of the Daltons was repaired.
Immediately after the release of Whip
pie. Bob Dalton learned that the deputy,
Ransom Payne, whom they had promised
10 kin would leave Wichita on the Santa
Fe express of May 9, and that the train
would reach Wharton, a signal station
IN the Cherokee Strip. at ten o'clock that
night With his brother and a companion
he descended upon the STATEN half an
hour before the train was due, forced the
agent to set the signal light TO stop the
express and locked HIM. bound and gag
ged him IN his his own bedroom.
Deputy Payne's story furnishes the
additional details:
I had been doing for some time in
the last car at the rear. tagged out from
my week s stay at Wichita and was think
ing that il would be pleasant to get into
Jerking of the cars as they stopped woke
me up. There had not been a hold-up in
that neighborhood for a long time and
the thought that this was one did not
occur to me. Then l remembered that
the night train which I often rode on was
seldom signaIed to stop between AIkan-
sas Sity and Guthrie, so l raised the win
dow to find out if anything was the mat
ter. Suddenly a couple of shots rang out
and 1t came over me that here were the
Dalton boys come 70 carry out their
threat of making a sieve Of my precious
hide. I had received their warning and
knew that they had nerve to carry it out.
q I didn't want to fight the gang. so
ran to the rear of the car, dropped to
the ground and kept in the shadow Of
brush by the side of the grade. There
/ stood waiting, my pistol drawn, swear
ing to myself that if they found me they'd
get all the fight there was in me before
was killed.
. From where I stood 1 could hear the
yells and threats of the rascals as they
raced back through the cars looking for
me. After they had gone through the
train and Conductor McTaggart had
sworn that I was not a passenger they
gave up their hunt. Then they turned
their attention TO the express car.
- The fireman was brought back from
the engine with his coal pick, a trick
they had learned in California and under
stood. and they soon had the door down
era the safe open. They got $3.50 IN
currency but overlooked $, 900 in silver.
Perhaps they couldn't manage IL
No blood was spilled this time and
tn. whole business vas over in hair an
hour Then the train pulled OF lsaving
rae one in the bushes. re Moonlight
chewing me the three robbers llain a
day They passed within few feet of
me on the way to the horses. but didn't
notify en- that I was watching EN-. 1
kept quite still. Pretty soon / heard
their horses hoofs pounding on the road
and l ran to the station. 1 united the
agent and We fixed up the north wire
where il had been cut. Then ! telegraph
ed to Wichita for a carload OF horses and
men to join me in getting after the gang.
Next morning We started on a six weeks
chase that led US all over the Indian Ter
ritory and Oklahoma and resulted in the
capture Of one OF the sang. a man named
Bryant.
Bryant was made a prisoner at his
sister home in Oklahoma ana Ed Short.
one OF my men. started to Guthrie with
him. Ed had him handcuffed and the
two were riding in the express car. At
Enid Ed got out TO stretch his less, Civ
ing his pistol TO the messenger who was
q friend or his. and telling him TO watch
Bryant. The prisoner seemed to be quiet
enough. so the messenger laid down the
pistol to move some packages.
As he turned away Bryant dived
fer the gun. his hands tied together as
they were. grabbed it and waited for
Short 10 come UP to the car. When the
breast ard in the neck; but before Short
fell he put three bullets into Bryant, who
tumbled cut OF the car almost on top OF
him ."
The article then tells OF the further
raids of the Daltons. the robbery Of the
Santa Fe at Red Rock in June. 1882. and
six weeks later in the Cherokee nation.
the Missouri KaDS2e and Texas train