Wild Bunch - Career

Career

Doolin wasted no time. On November 1, 1892, his new gang, the Wild Bunch, robbed the Ford County Bank at Spearville, Kansas, getting away with all the cash on hand and over $1,500 in treasury notes. From the postcard descriptions sent out, the Stillwater, Oklahoma Territory, city marshal recognized Ol Yantis, the newest member of the gang. Shortly, Yantis was cornered and killed in a shootout with the marshal's posse.

On June 11, 1893, the Wild Bunch held up a Santa Fe train west of Cimarron, Kansas, and took $1,000 in silver from the California-New Mexico Express. A sheriff's posse from old Beaver County, Oklahoma Territory, caught up with the gang north of Fort Supply. The gang got away, but, in the ensuing gunfight, Doolin received a bullet in his left foot. Doolin was to suffer with the pain for the rest of his life, and it led indirectly to his capture.

On September 1, 1893, a posse organized by the new U.S. Marshal, Evett Dumas "E.D." Nix, entered the outlaw town of Ingalls with the intent to capture the gang. In what would be remembered as the Battle of Ingalls, three of the fourteen lawmen carrying Deputy U.S. Marshals' commissions would die as a result of the battle. Two town citizens would also die; one killed protecting the outlaws. Of the outlaws, Newcomb was seriously wounded but escaped, and Arkansas Tom Jones, the killer of the three deputies and one citizen, was captured.

After a short break the gang continued its activities. On January 3, 1894, Pierce and Waightman held up store and post office at Clarkson, Oklahoma Territory. On January 23, the gang robbed the Farmers Citizens Bank at Pawnee, Oklahoma Territory, and March 10, the Wild Bunch robbed the Santa Fe station at Woodward, Oklahoma Territory, of over $6,000.

On March 20, Nix sent the Three Guardsmen a directive to take care of the Wild Bunch. The directive stated in part, "I have selected you to do this work, placing explicit confidence in your abilities to cope with those desperadoes and bring them in—alive if possible—dead if necessary."

On April 1, 1894, the gang attempted to rob the store of retired US Deputy Marshal W.H. Carr at Sacred Heart, Indian Territory. Carr, shot through the stomach, managed to shoot Newcomb in the shoulder and the gang fled without getting anything.

On May 10, 1894, the Wild Bunch robbed the bank at Southwest City, Missouri, of $4,000, wounding several townspeople and killing one.

On May 21, 1894, the jurors in Arkansas Tom's trial found him only guilty of manslaughter in the killing of the three Deputy US Marshals. Frank Dale, the territorial judge hearing the case, returned to Guthrie, the territorial capitol, and told E.D. Nix, " ... you will instruct your deputies to bring them in dead."

Bill Dalton, meanwhile, had left Doolin to form his own Dalton Gang. On May 23, 1894, Dalton and his new gang robbed the First National Bank at Longview, Texas. This was the only job by the gang. Various posses would kill three of the members and send the last one to life in prison.

On April 3, 1895, the Wild Bunch, without Doolin, held up a Rock Island train at Dover but were unable to open the safe with the $50,000 army payroll. So they robbed passengers of cash and jewelry. Deputy U.S. Marshal Chris Madsen and his posse took a special train to Dover and picked up the trail at daybreak, surprising the gang around noon. The marshals killed Blake and scattered the gang. This would be the last robbery by the Wild Bunch as a gang, although its members kept up the robberies and killings for which they were known.