Bill Doolin

William Doolin (1858–August 24, 1896) was an American bandit outlaw and founder of the Wild Bunch, sometimes known as the Doolin-Dalton Gang.

Like the earlier Dalton Gang alone, it specialized in robbing banks, trains, and stagecoaches in Arkansas, Kansas, Indiana, and Oklahoma during the 1890s.

Doolin left home in 1881 to become a cowboy in Indian Territory, where he worked for cattleman Oscar Halsell, a Texas native.

Historians have speculated that a sixth gang member was in town, holding the horses in an alley, and escaped.

Because of the relentless pursuit by the deputy marshals known as the Three Guardsmen (lawmen Bill Tilghman, Chris Madsen, and Heck Thomas), by the end of 1894, they had either captured or killed many of the gang.

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 by bounty hunters known as the Dunn brothers.

[citation needed] Doolin fled to New Mexico Territory, where he hid with outlaw Richard "Little Dick" West during the summer of 1895.

There, Doolin soaked in the sulfur springs in the bathhouses; the waters relieved the rheumatism in his foot that set in after an earlier gunshot.

[1] Bill Doolin is buried next to outlaw Elmer McCurdy, in the Boot Hill section of Summit View Cemetery in Guthrie, Oklahoma.

[1][page needed] The only survivor of the Wild Bunch was "Little Bill" Raidler (aka Radler) who had been shot and captured by Tilghman in Osage territory near Caney Creek on September 6, 1895.