Bill Doolin

This article is about the American outlaw. For the Australian rules footballer, seeBill Doolan.

Bill Doolin
Born	1858 Johnson County,Arkansas, USA
Died	August 24, 1896 (aged 37–38) Lawson,Oklahoma Territory
Cause of death	Gunshot wound
Resting place	Summit View Cemetery 35°53′45″N97°24′12″W
Occupations	Founder of theWild Bunch Old West Outlaw Bank, Stagecoach, Train Robbery
Spouse	Edith Ellsworth Doolin
Parents	Michael Doolin Artemina Beller Doolin

William Doolin(1858–August 24, 1896) was an American bandit outlaw and founder of theWild Bunch,sometimes known as the Doolin-Dalton Gang. Like the earlierDalton Gangalone, it specialized inrobbing banks,trains,andstagecoachesinArkansas,Kansas,Indiana,andOklahomaduring the 1890s.

Early life

Doolin was born in 1858 inJohnson County, Arkansas,to Michael Doolin and the former Artemina Beller. Doolin left home in 1881 to become acowboyinIndian Territory,where he worked for cattleman Oscar Halsell, aTexasnative. During this time, Doolin worked with other cowboy and outlaw names of the day, includingGeorge Newcomb(known as "Bitter Creek" ),Charley Pierce,Bill Power, Dick Broadwell, Bill "Tulsa Jack" Blake,Dan "Dynamite Dick" Clifton,and the better-knownEmmett Dalton.

Doolin's first encounter with the law came on July 4, 1891, inCoffeyvillein southeastern Kansas. Doolin and some friends were drunk in public, and lawmen attempted to confiscate their alcohol. A shootout ensued, and two of the lawmen were wounded. Doolin escaped capture by fleeing.

Dalton Gang

Shortly thereafter, Doolin became a member of the Dalton Gang. On October 5, 1892, the Dalton Gang tried to rob two banks simultaneously in Coffeyville. It was an utter failure. Coffeyville residents and lawmen rallied in a shootout against the outlaws, resulting in four of the five gang members being killed. Emmett Dalton was captured and convicted at trial, and imprisoned. Historians have speculated that a sixth gang member was in town, holding the horses in an alley, and escaped. The sixth man has never been identified. Some speculate that he may have been Bill Doolin.

Wild Bunch

In late 1892, Doolin formed his own gang, the Wild Bunch. On November 1, 1892, the gang robbed a bank inSpearville, Kansas.After the robbery, the gang fled with gang memberOliver Yantisto Oklahoma Territory, where they hid out at the house of Yantis's sister. Less than a month later, the gang was tracked to that location. In a shootout, Yantis was killed, but the rest of the gang escaped.

Two teenaged girls, known asLittle BritchesandCattle Annie,also followed the gang as bandits. They warned the men whenever law-enforcement officers were in pursuit. Sources indicate that Doolin gave bandit Jennie Stevens her nickname of Little Britches.

Following the Spearville robbery, the gang embarked on a spree of successful bank and train robberies. In March 1893, Doolin married Edith Ellsworth inIngalls, Oklahoma.Shortly thereafter, Doolin and his gang robbed a train nearCimarron, Kansas.During a shootout with lawmen, Doolin was shot and seriously wounded in the foot.He retreated to Ingalls.

On September 1, 1893, 14 deputyU.S. marshalsentered Ingalls to apprehend the gang. The armed confrontation became known as theBattle of Ingalls.During the shootout, three marshals and two bystanders were killed, one bystander was wounded, three of the gang members were wounded, and gang member"Arkansas Tom Jones"was wounded and captured. Doolin shot and killed Deputy Marshal Richard Speed during that shootout.

For a time, the Wild Bunch was the most powerful outlaw group in theOld West.Because of the relentless pursuit by the deputy marshals known as theThree Guardsmen(lawmenBill Tilghman,Chris Madsen,andHeck Thomas), by the end of 1894, they had either captured or killed many of the gang. In late 1894, gang member Bill Dalton was killed by U.S. marshals. Rewards were offered for the capture or death of remaining gang members, a lure that sometimes turned friends into foes to collect the money. On May 1, 1895, gang members Charlie Pierce and George "Bittercreek" Newcomb were shot and killed bybounty huntersknown as theDunn brothers.They were the older brothers ofRose Dunn,the teenaged girlfriend of Newcomb. Allegedly, she had betrayed Newcomb, but her brothers may have trailed her to the outlaws' hideout.

Doolin fled toNew Mexico Territory,where he hid with outlaw Richard "Little Dick" West during the summer of 1895. In late 1895, Doolin and his wife hid out nearBurden, Kansas.They went over the border to visit the resort community ofEureka Springsin northwestern Arkansas. There, Doolin soaked in the sulfur springs in the bathhouses; the waters relieved therheumatismin his foot that set in after an earlier gunshot. In early 1896, Doolin was captured in a bathhouse by deputy marshal Bill Tilghman.

Posthumous photograph of Bill Doolin

Doolin escaped from jail on July 5, and took refuge with his wife inLawsonin the Oklahoma Territory. There, on August 24, Doolin was killed by a shotgun blast in a confrontation with Deputy U.S. Marshal Heck Thomas.

Bill Doolin is buried next to outlawElmer McCurdy,in the Boot Hill section of Summit View Cemetery inGuthrie, Oklahoma.

By the end of 1898, all of the remaining former Wild Bunch gang were dead, having been killed in various shootouts with lawmen. Heck Thomas had tracked most of them; the remainder were tracked down and eliminated by lawmen Madsen and Tilghman, or otherposses.

In popular media

• Burt Lancasterportrayed Doolin in the filmCattle Annie and Little Britches(1981). Lancaster was 65 during the shooting of the film, but was playing Doolin in his 30s.
• In the filmReturn of the Bad Men(1948),Robert Armstrongplays Doolin as the leader of a gang more powerful than the Wild Bunch. This fictional account added theSundance Kid,Billy the Kid,and two of theYounger brothersto the known members of Doolin's gang.Randolph Scott,as Marshal Vance Cordrell, is a fictional composite of the many lawmen who pursued Doolin.
• Randolph Scott portrayed Bill Doolin in the filmThe Doolins of Oklahoma(1949)
• War heroAudie Murphyplayed a fictionalized Bill Doolin in the filmThe Cimarron Kid(1952).
• Leo Gordonportrayed Doolin in a 1954 episode ofJim Davis'ssyndicatedtelevision series,Stories of the Century.The dramatization concludes with Doolin being shot to death after an earlier escape. Heck Thomas inStories of the Centuryis referred to as Deputy Marshal Gleason, played byKenneth MacDonald.
• In theTV movieYou Know My Name,Marshal Bill Tilghman, played bySam Elliott,tells his sons how he arrested Doolin, who is played by James Baker.
• TheEaglesalbumDesperadocontains two tracks titled "Doolin-Dalton" and one named "Bitter Creek".The album is loosely themed around the Dalton Gang.

External links

• Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture - Doolin, Bill
• The Doolins of Oklahoma
• The Doolin Gang
• "Bill Doolin".Old West Outlaw.Find a Grave.January 1, 2001.RetrievedDecember 29,2012.