The infamous Dalton gang performed its last robbery attempt, which ended in a bloody gunfight of epic proportions.
The gang tried to rob two banks simultaneously in Coffeyville, Kan., but met resistance from townspeople, who killed four of the five bandits.
Three of the Dalton brothers — Emmett, Grat and Bob — along with Dick Broadwell and Bill Power rode into town, wearing false beards and carrying rifles. One of the citizens recognized the Daltons and quickly called the town’s men to action.
The five thieves shot their way to the alley where their horses were waiting. In the gunbattle that ensued, all five men were shot, but not before killing a number of the vigilantes, many of whom had been armed for the fight by a local hardware store.
Emmett, the sole survivor, had been shot more than 20 times. He returned to the site of the crime nearly 40 years later and offered a caution to would-be thieves: “The biggest fool on Earth is the one who thinks he can beat the law, that crime can be made to pay. It never paid and it never will and that was the one big lesson of the Coffeyville raid.”
