They were known for robbing banks, stagecoaches and trains, primarily in Kansas and Oklahoma Territory, quickly attracting pursuit by lawmen.

On October 5, 1892 the gang attempted to rob two banks the same day in Coffeyville, Kansas, hoping to gain enough loot to leave the country.

Attacked by civilians and law enforcement officers, Bob and Grat Dalton, Bill Power, and Richard L. "Dick" Broadwell were all killed.

In 1877, while their father was running horses in Visalia, California, the oldest sons were offered steady work but refused at the time.

Grat quickly made a reputation as a bar fighter in the many saloons up and down the San Joaquin Valley.

Bill joined his brothers in California in 1884, where he started a family and settled in San Luis Obispo County.

In 1890 their mother Adeline bought a piece of land near Kingfisher, when the Oklahoma Territory was opened for white settlement.

They hid out in the bluffs on the Canadian River about seventy miles southwest of Kingfisher, Oklahoma, and sent for Grat for help.

They worked there for about a month, but also played poker and regularly got into bar fights in San Luis Obispo County.

On the night of February 6, 1891, two masked men held up a Southern Pacific Railroad passenger train near the town of Alila (present day Earlimart, California).

Years later, Littleton Dalton said that his brothers, Bob and Emmett, had told him many times that they had robbed the Alila train.

Asking around about the Dalton brothers, Sheriff Kay's posse learned that Bob, Emmett and Grat had spent the past few days drinking heavily, gambling, and following the Southern Pacific pay car as it made its monthly journey down the San Joaquin Valley.

On March 17, 1891 the Tulare County Grand Jury indicted brothers Bob, Emmett, Grat, and Bill Dalton for the Alila robbery.

Bill secured bondsmen and gained release, then hired attorneys to defend Grat, who was jailed in Visalia.

Bob and Emmett had borrowed money and supplies from their brothers, Cole and Lit; they crossed the Mojave Desert.

After their horses were discovered at Ludlow, California, Sheriff Kay decided to pursue them with his deputy, Jim Ford.

Sheriff Kay continued to track them throughout the Southwest for several months, even at one point entering Mexico, but with no success.

The Daltons had many friends in Oklahoma willing to hide them, and Sheriff Kay gave up the chase to return to California for Grat's trial.

Even though much of the evidence showed that Grat was in Fresno, California the night of the Alila robbery, including the testimony of several witnesses, the influence of the powerful Southern Pacific Railroad resulted in his having an unfair trail.

As the circumstances were similar to the Alila robbery, Sheriff Kay suspected Bill Dalton, and arrested him and an associate named Riley Dean.

He sold the lease to his ranch in San Luis Obispo County, moved his family to his wife's parents in Livingston, California and left for Kingfisher, Oklahoma.

Grat managed to escape, firing at the lawmen with his Winchester rifle and stealing a horse from a nearby ranch, but Riley Dean was captured.

Grat rode to a friends near Livingston, California and stayed for several weeks before escaping back to Oklahoma with the help of his brother Cole.

The gang was assisted by Dalton's lover Eugenia Moore, known by her aliases "Tom King" and "Miss Mundays."

Short put the baggage man in charge of Bryant giving him his revolver while he went to the rear platform with his rifle.

Here the Santa Fe had found out about the Daltons plans and attempted to set up a trap for the gang filling the train with heavily armed officers.

They were also accused of robbing a bank in El Reno, Oklahoma on July 28, however this was based on little evidence as no one saw any members of the gang.

Their plan was to rob two banks in the same town at the same time to get the money and to also make history for accomplishing something that no other outlaw gang had attempted.

Civilians quickly armed themselves with guns from the local hardware stores and took positions with law enforcement to defend their town.

Dalton is buried at the Coffeyville, Kansas Cemetery under a group marker for himself, his brother Grat, and Bill Power.