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Bob and Grat Dalton, bandit
brothers, were not the first
members of that ill-starred
family to be buried in
Coffeyville after violent death.
When aroused Coffeyville
citizens shot down Bob and Grat,
Coffeyville’s Elmwood Cemetery
had held the body of another
brother, Frank Dalton, almost
four years.
The Dalton’s mother tried to
have Bob and Grat buried beside
Frank after the Coffeyville
Raid. Indignant Coffeyville
citizens said no.
So, today in Elmwood, Frank
Dalton is buried two cemetery
blocks away from Bob and Grat,
whose funerals, according to
record still at the Skinner
Mortuary, were arranged for by
the then mayor of Coffeyville.
And Frank Dalton occupies a
hero’s grave. Frank was shot
and killed by a bootlegger near
Ft. Smith, AR, November 27,
1888, while trying to make an
arrest. The 28-year old Frank
was a deputy U.S. marshal.
The line between the law and
banditry was pretty thin in
those pioneer days where
individuals were concerned.
Both professions called for
brave and venturesome men and
the same person was likely to
show up on either side at
different times.
Emmett, Bob and Grat Dalton had
served as deputy marshals before
the Raid. Another brother,
Bill, accepted an appointment to
a similar position after his
brothers had been killed in
Coffeyville-not without strong
protests from citizens.
In contrast to the plain stone
erected by Emmett Dalton, Kansas
State Penitentiary, over the
graves of Bob and Grat and Bill
Powers (the body of Dick
Broadwell, the fourth member of
the gang killed here, was taken
to Hutchinson by a brother for
burial there) the Frank Dalton
monument is elaborate.
“Erected by his affectionate
mother,” it bears this deeply
religious sentiment: “Whose God
was thy ransom, thy guardian and
guide. He gave thee; He took
thee and He will restore thee.
And death has no sting for the
Savior has died.”
This may well have been an
expression of deep religious
conviction on the part of Mrs.
Dalton rather than some stock
inscription which a tombstone
cutter had on ready call for
customers.
True, Mrs. Dalton was a
Younger. That made her the aunt
of that branch of pioneer
Western outlawry. Cole, Bob and
Jim Younger were her nephews.
And the Daltons had a reputation
for “meanness” long before they
became train and bank robbers.
But the meanness was more on the
side of the father, whom Mrs.
Dalton divorced before the Raid.
“Mrs. Dalton and the children
came to out house to see
father,” Leila Elliott, one of
the three daughters of Col. D.D.
Elliott, early day Coffeyville
editor-lawyer, said. “Father had
represented her in her divorce
action.
“We children know who the
Daltons were and we were
thrilled and excited to peek
around the door at them while
Mrs. Dalton and father talked
about her legal problems.
Father would not have had her
for a client if he had not
thought she was all right.”
Emmett recalled in his adult
years that his mother did not
approve of the Youngers or
banditry of any degree.
When Adeline Younger married
Louis Dalton, he was in the
saloon business at Westport
Landing near the present site of
Kansas City. She prevailed on
him to get out of that business,
and the couple left Westport and
spent the early years of their
married lives in Cass, Clay and
Jackson counties in Missouri.
All 15 of the children of Louis
and Adeline Dalton were born in
Missouri.
Some of the older children had
already left home, and some of
them had had minor brushes with
the law, when Mrs. Dalton moved
to Vinita, Indian Territory, in
1882. Louis Dalton was away
from home most of the time
following the harness racing
circuit in some capacity or
other. He rejoined his family
shortly before his death in
1890, two years before the
Coffeyville Raid.
Mrs. Dalton moved what was left
of her family at home, from
Vinita to Coffeyville for a
short time and then located at
Kingfisher, Indian Territory.
She was living there at the time
of the Raid.
Two sons, Ben and Bill Dalton
and a daughter, a Mrs. Whipple,
were also then living in
Kingfisher with the mother.
They came to Coffeyville after
the Raid to bury their dead and
care for Emmett. The only other
child of Louis and Adeline
Dalton, of which printed mention
can be found, was Littleton.
At the time of the Raid, Emmett
was just 20 years old. Gratton
was 33, and Bob was apparently
between them in age.
Emmett was sentenced to life in
the state prison at Lansing, KS,
by Judge J.D. McCue of the
Montgomery County District Court
for second degree murder. He
spent 15 years in prison before
winning a parole.
The remaining years of Emmett’s
life were spent on the stage,
writing a book on the family and
the Raid and as a real estate
dealer in California. He died
in Los Angeles on July 13, 1937.
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