Texas ‘Guardsman’ Takes Down ‘Oklahombre’ Doolin
Bill Doolin and his outlaw gang with the catchy name “Oklahombres” robbed a bank in Longview, Texas on May 23, 1894 and got away with $4,000 in cold cash.
Bill Doolin and his outlaw gang with the catchy name “Oklahombres” robbed a bank in Longview, Texas on May 23, 1894 and got away with $4,000 in cold cash.
For 10 years, the son of an Arkansas cotton farmer was a workaday cowboy with nothing more than his skill with a six-gun to distinguish him from the other ranch-hands in the Oklahoma Territory. And he might have spent the rest of his days toiling in law-abiding anonymity if not for a chance encounter with a couple of Kansas constables in 1891.
Doolin was drinking beer with friends in a saloon, when the local lawmen crashed the party. They demanded to know whose beer it was, and Doolin piped up, “Nobody owns it. It’s free. Help yourselves.”
Instead of accepting the gracious invitation, the constables declared the foamy brew was illegal in Kansas and announced their intention to pour it out. Doolin cautioned them against taking such rash action warning that someone was liable to get hurt.
But the would-be prohibition agents ignored his advice and proceeded to do their duty. Guns were drawn, shots were fired and both cops fell dead to the floor.
Bill Doolin realized in an instant that he had nothing to gain by waiting around for the authorities to determine who fired the fatal shots. He jumped on his horse and rode off to join three brothers, who had graduated from cattle rustling to robbing trains and banks.
The Daltons welcomed their old friend with open arms remembering what a great shot he was. Doolin proved to be a valuable addition to the gang and took part in numerous holdups and several shootouts over the next year and a half.
Then in October 1892 Bob Dalton’s ego finally got the better of him. Driven by a mad ambition to outdo the James and Younger brothers, he concocted the suicidal scheme of robbing two banks in the same town in broad daylight.
So how did Doolin miss out on all the fun at Coffeyville, Kansas? One story has him looking for a replacement for his lame horse as his comrades are being shot to pieces by the irate citizens of that targeted town. Another alleges he quit the gang after arguing with Bob Dalton over his expected share of the loot.
The third and least plausible version comes from Emmett Dalton, the only brother to survive the slaughter. He claimed in his memoirs written years later that brother Bob fired Doolin for being “too undisciplined,” “wild and unruly” and “mentally awkward.”
Whatever the reason for his no-show at Coffeyville, the demise of the Daltons provided Doolin with a terrific business opportunity. By the spring of 1893, he had organized a gang of his own with the coolest name in the Old West.
The “Okahombres” included at any given time George “Bitter Creek” Newcomb, Ol Yantis, Little Dick West, Roy Daugherty (aka “Arkansas Tom Jones”), Charley Pierce, Dan “Dynamite Dick” Clifton, Bob Grounds, George “Red Buck” Weightman, Alf Sohn, Little Bill Raidler, Tulsa Jack Blake and Bill Dalton, the last of the brothers on the loose.
With this formidable supporting cast, Doolin went on a three-year crime spree in the Oklahoma Territory with an occasional side trip to North Texas. He soon had not one, not two but all three of the legendary “Guardsmen” on his trail.
The trio of U.S. Marshals assigned to the Oklahoma Territory rarely pooled their resources in pursuit of a single outlaw or outfit. But the only way to stop Doolin and the Oklahombres was for Danish-born Chris Madsen, formerly of the French Foreign Legion, Bill Tilghman, who later made a motion picture of his exploits, and Heck Thomas, a bounty hunter that turned down the Texas Rangers for the marshal appointment, to work together.
While Madsen was off fighting with the Rough Riders in Cuba, young Evett Dumas Nix filled in for him. Only an inexperienced marshal like Nix would have tried to take on the Oklahombres on their home ground, the outlaw stronghold of Ingalls, and he paid for his bad judgment with no arrests and a shot-up posse.
Tilghman had better luck in January 1896. Receiving a tip that Doolin was taking the cure for his rheumatism in the mineral waters at Eureka Springs, he disguised himself as a preacher and caught the next train for the Arkansas spa.
The Guardsman got the drop on Doolin in a bathhouse and took him into custody without firing a shot – or throwing a punch, as some accounts had it. On the “perp walk” to the federal lockup in Guthrie, hundreds of fans cheered the “king of the outlaws.”
On July 5, 1896, Doolin broke out of jail taking between 12 and 37 other prisoners with him. He hid out at the Mexican ranch of western writer Eugene Manlove Rhodes before returning to the Oklahoma Territory for his wife and child.
But Marshal Heck Thomas was waiting, and on the night of Aug. 25 he walked right into the Texan’s trap on a dark road. Doolin got off one or maybe two rounds with his pistol before Thomas and a deputy opened up with a shotgun and a rifle.
The famous bare-chested photograph of the dead desperado shows many of the 21 bullet holes that ended Bill Doolin’s life at age 38.
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