b'The Real VirginianFRANK CANTONPART 2 By Alan RockmanAt the end of 1892, Frank Canton was at loose ends with his already adventurous life. True, he had been acquitted along with the rest of the Johnson County invaders, but the verdict was met with outrage by much if not most of Johnson County. The political atmosphere itself was such that the largely Republican Cattle Barons and leaders of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association would be defeated in the next election. And for a man trying to raise a family, the physical environment was fraught with danger for Canton who was now damaged goods because of his leadership and participation in the invasion. The population was filled with resentment and it was clear the former Sheriff of Johnson County was no longer welcome in the communities of the county.A ccordingly, he packed his bags and together withDesperate to make a deal, the Dunns not only offeredEven though Canton wanted nothing to do with the his family moved south to a job in Nebraska.to quit the gang, they also offered to help the MarshalsDunns, they approached him with knowledge of where However that didn\'t suit him and putting hisapprehend all of the Doolin-Daltons they wereBill Doolin was albeit weak from wounds and unwell Johnson County misadventure behind him, Cantonpersonally involved with, including Bill Doolin, Bitterafter six months in prison. The location was the town of accepted a job as a Deputy U.S. Marshal for the IndianCreek, and Charley Pierce. After a follow-up meetingLawson, Oklahoma, where Doolin\'s wife and baby were Territory (Oklahoma) offered to him in the spring ofwhere U.S. Marshal Nix was present, the Dunns agreedwaiting for him and the hopeful escape to a new life in 1894 by the notorious "Hanging Judge" Isaac C. Parker.to the demands set forth by Canton and Lake. TheTexas or further west. Before Canton was able to act Canton now worked under the supervision of JudgeU.S. Marshals were under no illusions with the Dunnupon the information, the devious Dunns, apparently Parker and his chief Marshall and talent spotter Evittbrothers as they knew them to be a shiftless, cold- blackmailed by Heck Thomas over additional charges Dumas Nix out of Pawnee, Oklahoma. blooded band of bad hombres, but they also knew thataccumulated (Hanes, Bailey C., Bill Doolin Outlaw O.T.,with no other way out, the Dunns would keep their partP. 173, 1968) chose to reveal Doolin\'s hidden location Parker was desperate to suppress the Doolin-Daltonof the bargain - in the beginning. to Thomas.Accordingly, on the evening of August 25, gang, which less than 9 months earlier had bested 1896, as Bill Doolin went out to load his wagon he was the U.S. Marshals in the famed gun battle at Ingalls,First to go were the unfortunate duo of Bitter Creekconfronted by Heck Thomas with Bill and Bee Dunn in Oklahoma. Not only had the Doolin-Dalton gang shotNewcomb and Charley Pierce. Bitter Creek was, as relatedtow. Shouting "Halt, Bill!" Thomas urged Doolin to throw up and killed a number of U.S. Marshals, they had alsoin a previous issue of Arizona Real Country the Magazine,down his guns only to be met with one shot fired by made their bold escape with the loss of only one of thethe paramour of the Dunn\'s little sister, Rose also knownthe trapped outlaw. However, that shot, which careened gang, Arkansas Tom Daugherty, caught in a hotel andas the "Rose of Cimarron." Desperate from evading theirwildly, was the only shot Bill Doolin was able to get off, for captured. But this was the beginning of the end of thepursuers, Newcomb and Pierce rode into the Dunn farmhe was instantly blasted to bits by the shotguns of Thomas Doolin-Daltons, for every resource of the U.S. Marshalon the evening of May 1, 1895, hoping for a good night\'sand the Dunns.Service was brought to bear upon them, not to mentionmeal and a sound sleep. They got the meal but the sleeparguably the finest set of lawmen ever to wear a U.S.would be a permanent one, for some time during the earlyCanton by now was thoroughly disgusted with the Dunns. Marshals badge. Among them, besides Canton were Bigmorning hours of May 2nd the Dunn brothers Bill andNot only did he not like the fact that they murdered Bill Tilghman, Heck Thomas, Chris Madsen, and BudJohn opened fire on the sleeping outlaws riddling themBitter Creek Newcomb and Charley Pierce in their Ledbetter, all of them determined to run to ground all ofwith bullets and killing them instantly (Rose Dunn whobeds (Canton, Frontier Trails, p. 138, 1930), he was also the Doolin-Dalton gang that had terrorized the territorymight have prevented their killings was somewhere elsedeeply resentful of how they went back on their word to for so long, first under the original Dalton Gang, thenthat evening). Triumphant, the Dunns brought the bodieshim about Bill Doolin, choosing to go along with Heck the Doolin-Daltons after Coffeyville. of Bitter Creek and Charley Pierce into town, presentingThomas who had effectively blackmailed them intothe corpses to Deputy U.S. Marshal Heck Thomas. Arevealing Doolin\'s whereabouts. Canton learned that Bill Canton got to know all of the Oklahoma Guardsmendisgusting Canton (according to his memoirs) was eagerDunn, knowing Canton now had it in for him, had been well, but perhaps even more so, Deputy Heck Thomas.to no longer have anything to do with the conniving,going around swearing to kill the Marshal, but it was Theirs was at first a friendly relationship but one thattreacherous Dunns (Canton, Frontier Trails, P. 121, 1930).Canton, on the afternoon of November 6, 1896, who got would, at the end, less than 3 years later be one of mutual the drop on Bill Dunn on the streets of Pawnee. Dunn, suspicion and coldness. Admittedly both wanted creditThe Dunns, however, had thrown their hats in the ring ofaccording to Canton, shouted "Bill Canton, God damn for the capture (and killing) of Bill Doolin and beingHeck Thomas and this would lead not only to the demiseyou, I\'ve got it in for you" (Canton, Frontier Trails, p. 137, good lawmen both looked for the weakest link in theof Bill Doolin, but also to a rift between Canton and his1930) (while according to another source, Dunn merely Doolin gang\'s chain.That weak link appeared in thefellow Deputy Thomas, and the demise of Bill Dunn too. swore, "Canton, I understand you have got it for me, by five sordid, unkempt, opportunistic brothers of Bitter God" (Hanes, Bill Doolin Outlaw O.T., p.195, 1968). No Creek Newcomb\'s girlfriend, Rose Dunn. They wereFor the following year, Canton, Ledbetter, Thomas,matter what version, Dunn pulled at his gun but it was Bill, Dal, Bee, George and John Dunn. Both Bill and DalTilghman, and Madsen all pursued the ever decreasingCanton, who drew first and fired, hitting Bill Dunn in were associated with the gang and they were also wantednumbers of the Doolin-Dalton gang, shooting orthe head and killing him instantly. The other Dunns had by the Marshals for various crimes including rustling.capturing them one-by-one. Canton himself capturedsworn to kill Canton but upon learning of their brother\'s Both Canton and his immediate supervisor, Pawnee"Dynamite Dick" aka Dan Clifton, a noted member ofdemise hurried out of town.Sheriff Frank Lake went out to see the Dunns and toldthe outlaw bunch, while Big Bill Tilghman daringlythem bluntly to either cooperate or face jail time. Bothcaptured Doolin himself in a hotel bath house in JanuaryIn the sequel to the gunning down of Doolin and Canton and Sheriff Lake offered a reprieve from prison1896. However less than six months later, on July 5, 1896,the subsequent shooting of Bill Dunn, Frank Canton plus reward money for the capture of any of the Doolin- Doolin, taking advantage of the carelessness of his jailer,wanted to apprehend the rest of the Dunn brothers. Dalton gang members caught dead or alive. overpowered him and together with Dynamite DickBut apparently, they had been promised sanctuary escaped into the Oklahoma summer night. continued on page 44ArizonaRealCountry.com April 2019 43'