William Marion “Bill” Dalton, a 30-year-old White man, once seemed destined for a quiet, respectable life far from the outlaw trail blazed by his notorious brothers. Born in Missouri, Bill moved to California as a young man, where he married Jane Bliven in 1885 and started a family, welcoming a son, Charles, and a daughter, Grace. He became a landowner, a businessman, and even a Democratic central committee chairman in Merced County. Those who knew him described him as charming and good-looking. But the Dalton family name, and the influence of his brothers, would ultimately pull him into the violent world of the Old West.
His life began to unravel in 1891. His brothers Bob, Grat, and Emmett, already wanted by the law, used Bill's ranch as a hideout after a failed train robbery in Alila, California. Though Bill was not involved in the robbery, he was arrested along with Grat for his association with them. He was eventually acquitted, but the damage was done.
His reputation was tarnished, and he was now seen as just another lawless Dalton. After his brothers Grat and Bob were killed during a disastrous attempt to rob two banks at once in Coffeyville, Kansas, in 1892, Bill fully embraced the outlaw life. He partnered with Bill Doolin to form a new criminal enterprise, the Doolin-Dalton Gang, which would become known as the Wild Bunch.
The gang was suspected in a string of robberies, including the brazen daylight robbery of the First National Bank in Longview, Texas, on May 21, 1894. The crime put a significant bounty on Bill Dalton's head, and law enforcement across the territory was on high alert. Just a few weeks later, his time as a wanted man would come to a violent end in the Indian Territory of what is now Oklahoma.
On June 7, 1894, a local man named Houston Wallace drew suspicion in Ardmore when he purchased an unusual amount of ammunition and supplies. A U.S. Deputy Marshal, acting on a "strong clue," assembled a posse of lawmen and rode out to Wallace's ranch near Elk, about twenty miles from Ardmore. They arrived on the morning of June 8th, Dalton's 30th birthday. As the posse cautiously approached the cabin where Dalton was hiding, they were spotted. A woman at the ranch ran back to the house and alerted Dalton.
Thinking he could escape out the back, Dalton grabbed a pistol and leaped through a rear window. He found himself facing Deputy Marshal Los Hart, who ordered him to surrender. Instead, Dalton ducked his head and ran for the cover of nearby timber. Hart again called for him to surrender. When Dalton went for his weapon, the deputies opened fire. Dalton was struck by at least two Winchester rounds, one in the chest and one in the back, and fell to the ground, killed instantly.
Inside the cabin, the posse found a money sack from the Longview bank, which they felt confirmed Dalton's involvement in the robbery. His wife, Jane, was brought in to identify his body before it was sent back to California for burial. The officers who killed him were initially hailed as heroes for bringing down one of the West's most wanted men.
In a bizarre and still mysterious turn of events, a federal court in Ardmore indicted nine of the deputy U.S. marshals for the murder of Bill Dalton in June 1896. The case lingered for years, but in December 1898, after hearing the evidence, a judge discharged all the defendants. None of the lawmen were ever tried for the killing, and the precise reasons for their indictment remain unclear to this day. The case is considered closed, ending the story of the last of the infamous Dalton brothers to live and die as an outlaw.
