Very interesting collection of items, highlighted by a TLS and signed and notated book from Dalton, as well as photos relating to the Coffeyville Raid, and books signed by Raid survivor Thomas G. Ayers.
The one-page letter, signed “Emmett Dalton,” 8.5 x 11, on his personal letterhead, dated July 8, 1932, is written to George W. Pierson, owner of the Pierson Dude Ranch in Wonder Valley, California, the location of the Dalton Gang hideout in 1891. Letter reads, in full (with grammar and spelling retained): “I gave away all the literature you gave me and am addressing this from memory. We have rented our home for the summer and are going on a trip, somewhere up North between the first and tenth of next august, to see if I can partly regain some of the health I have lost. If there is anything I can do to help you get some publicity for your business, let me know, or better still if you are coming to LA anways soon call and see us and we will see what we can frame up. At least drop me a line or if you come down give me a ring.”
Signed book: When The Daltons Rode. First Edition. NY: Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc., 1931. Hardcover with its incredibly rare dust jacket, 6 x 8.5, 313 pages. Signed in black ink on the reverse of Dalton’s image at the beginning of the book, “Sincerely yours, Emmett Dalton.” On the reverse of the first free end page, Dalton has made four pencil notations concerning the text on different pages. Notations read, in part: “Page 114–115 Middleton name of rancher that betrayed Grat Dalton to sheriff when located in cover on Dalton Mt. Page 117 ‘Unhook your team fast and strip the harness off that near horse.’”
Six law books from the personal collection of Coffeyville Raid survivor Thomas G. Ayers, who at the time was a cashier at the First National Bank. Four volumes of American State Reports, each signed on the title page in black ink, “Ths. G. Ayers,” American Digest 1658–1896 Century Edition Volume 2, also signed on the title page; and an unsigned edition of State of Kansas, Session Laws of 1883, bearing Ayers’s ownership stamps to the covers and fore-edge. Books are accompanied by a letter of provenace from James Chappell, which reads, in part: “Enclosed please find six books that were originally owned by Thoas G. Ayers, who was an attorney in Coffeyville, Kansas…Mr. Ayers was present in The First National Bank, acting as cashier…when the notorious Dalton Gang attempted to rob the bank…Mr. Ayers was shot during the robbery…I purchased the books and furnishings of the Frank Liebert law practice in Coffeyville…Mr. Liebert’s wife Mary Knapp Liebert had a brother named Charles Knapp. Mr. Knapp practiced law also in Coffeyville with his father…The elder Mr. Knapp’s original law partner was a man named Charles Welch. Mr. Welch’s original law partner was Thomas G. Ayers.”
Also included are: two original photos: a 4.25 x 6.5 cabinet photo of a young boy, identified as Coffeyville witness Alexander Woodson by C. M. Buck of Coffeyville. A ballpoint notation on the reverse reads, “Alexander Woodson, youngest eyewitness to the Coffeyville Bank robbery.” Second photo is a silver gelatin photo of dead Dalton gang members Tom Evans, Bob Dalton, Grat Dalton, and Texas Jack, all lying dead in a row by E. R. Rose of Oswego, Kansas. Photo is affixed to a cabinet photo size mount; and two printed informational pamphlets for Pierson’s Dude Ranch and a pricing card for the ranch’s rate for its cabins and ranch house. In overall very good condition.
In early February of 1891, the Dalton gang made their first attempt at train robbery on a Southern Pacific Railroad passenger train near Alila, California. Unable to access the cash-carrying express car, the brothers fled: while Bill and Bob escaped back to Oklahoma, Grat was arrested and held in the Visalia jail for six months awaiting trial. After being found guilty, he managed a quick escape, driving a stolen horse to the ranch of a “supposed friend” named Middleton. In a passage on page 115 of the book offered here, marked in pencil by Emmett Dalton, he writes, “Grat and Middleton rode up into the Sierra foothills above the village of Sanger and pitched camp in a pine thicket, awaiting opportunity for my brother to slip away southward toward Oklahoma.” This hideout, at the foot of Dalton Mountain, was on the George W. Pierson’s Dude Ranch (later renamed the Wonder Valley Ranch). Unable to fight the temptation of the sheriff’s reward, Middleton betrayed Grat and revealed his location to the police; by a narrow margin, the outlaw was able to escape again, eventually making his way back to his brothers in Oklahoma.
In the months following the Alila incident, the gang carried out a series of successful robberies before hatching their plan to rob two banks at once in Coffeyville in what would become their final job. On October 5, 1892, donning fake beards that did little to hide their true identities, they split up into the two buildings. Easily recognizing what was happening, several people armed themselves in preparation of a gun battle; when the gang exited the banks, the shootout began. In the blaze of gunfire, Town Marshal Charles Connelly was killed, as were Grat and Bob Dalton, Dick Broadwell, and Bill Power; Emmett Dalton received 23 gunshot wounds but survived and was captured; and three townspeople were shot and severely injured. One of the three survivors was Thomas G. Ayres, a lawyer by training who was then working as a cashier at the First National Bank. Receiving a near-fatal shot to the face as the gang came at him around a corner, Ayres miraculously fully recovered within a year, returning to his legal practice and going on to serve a term as the city’s mayor. The set of books in this collection all come from Ayres private library, a wonderful connection to the gruesome raid that stopped the Dalton gang for good.
After serving fourteen years of his life sentence in the Kansas penitentiary, Emmett Dalton was pardoned and moved to Los Angeles, where he married and became a successful real estate agent, author and actor. Staying in touch with George Pierson, whose ranch that had previously served as Grat’s hideout had since been transformed into a beautiful guest ranch, Dalton offered Pierson information “from memory,” most likely to use as publicity. Items signed by Dalton are quite rare, with only about a dozen examples sold at RR in the past 20 years. This collection, touching on so many key places and times in the Dalton Gang’s career and holding Dalton’s scarce signature, along with extensive hand-written notes, is an outstanding, one-of-a-kind archive. RR Auction COA.
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