B. J. and I feasted sumptuously at the old Sirloin Stockade Restaurant in Coffeyville, Kansas. As we dined on the savory fare that was spread along the old western buffet, tried to imagine how it would have been dining in the old “cow town” back in the rip-roaring frontier days.

After a great meal surrounded by old west décor and atmosphere, B. J. and I mounted GT and headed to the Historic District of Coffeyville which, according to our information, hadn’t changed much for over 100 years. We were excited.

We went to the sites of the banks that the Dalton Gang had attempted to rob and stood on the actual sites that some of the Dalton gang fell when they were shot. There were markers to indicate the exact spots. There were also markers to show where the citizens of Coffeyville that were killed in the shootout fell.

After spending some time in the Coffeyville Historic District, we drove a few miles out to the Elmwood Cemetery where the members of the Dalton Gang are buried.

The Dalton Raid story goes like this: Three Daltons, Bob, Grat, and Emmet, and Dick Broadwell and Bill Powers wanted to do what no one had ever done before—rob two banks at one time. After camping on Onion Creek, west of Coffeyville, they rode into town on horseback heading east on Eighth Street early on the morning of October 5, 1892. The Dalton brothers, being former residents of Coffeyville, wore disguises. They had planned to tie their horses between the two banks, but because Eighth Street was torn up, they tied them in the alley close to the jail. That was their first mistake.

Three of the bandits Grat Dalton, Bill Powers and Dick Broadwell went into the Condon Bank. Bob and Emmet entered the First National Bank. When the gang demanded money from the safe at the Condon, the quick thinking bank employee told him that the safe would not open until 9:30am. It was twenty past nine at the time. Grat said, “I’ll wait.” That was their second mistake. The safe did not have a time lock on it. Those ten minutes gave the townspeople the time they needed to get to Isham Hardware, grab some guns and ammunition and begin defending the town. When the raid, which lasted 12 minutes, was over, four of the Dalton Gang were dead and four of Coffeyville’s citizens had been killed. Three of the citizens, George Cubine, Charles Brown and Lucius Baldwin, were killed near Isham Hardware, Marshall Connelly died in what is today known as Death Alley. Bob and Grat Dalton were killed in Death Alley and are buried in Coffeyville’s Elmwood Cemetery. Dick Broadwell, although shot, escaped on horseback and died about a mile from the downtown. He was buried at Hutchinson, Kansas.

The Dalton’s were “laid out” in the city jail following their death prior to burial. There were souvenir hunters even in the Dalton’s Days. Portions of the manes and tails of the Dalton’s horses were cut off and all the strings from the saddles. In addition, pieces of clothing from the gang members were cut off.

Emmet Dalton, the youngest of the Dalton’s, survived the raid but received 23 gunshot wounds. The projectiles were removed from his body and he was given a life sentence in the Kansas Penitentiary at Lansing and pardoned after 14 years. He moved to California and became a real estate agent, author and actor, dying at the age of 66.

The banks were robbed of approximately $25,000. After the day’s banking business was completed and the books were balanced, the Condon came up $20 short and First National was $1.98 over. So, fortunately for the banks most of the money was recovered.

After spending time in the Elmwood Cemetery, B. J. and I mounted GT and headed east. We kicked around the idea of visiting the grave of another notorious outlaw buried in Kearney, Missouri about 150 miles to the north but since the floods had made travel difficult up that way, we would postpone a visit to the grave of Jesse James.

We headed east. Our route would carry us east across southern Missouri, southern Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee and back to Georgia.