Dalton Defenders Museum

The Daltons knew Coffeyville. Bob, Grat and Emmet had lived there, so they rode in disguised on the morning of October 5, 1892, with Dick Broadwell and Bill Power, to do what no gang had done and rob two banks at the same time. Eighth Street was torn up, so they tied their horses in an alley near the jail. Grat, Power and Broadwell took the Condon Bank; Bob and Emmet took the First National. At the Condon a clerk told Grat the safe would not open until 9:30. It was twenty past nine, and Grat said he would wait. The vault had no time lock.

In those minutes townsmen took guns and ammunition from Isham Hardware. The fight lasted twelve minutes. Four of the gang died, and so did four of Coffeyville's people: George Cubine, 36, and Charles Brown, 59, both shoemakers; Lucius Baldwin, a 23-year-old store clerk; and Charles T. Connelly, 46, a schoolteacher serving as marshal, who fell in what is now called Death Alley. Emmet Dalton survived 23 wounds, was sentenced to life at Lansing and was pardoned after 14 years.

The Coffeyville Historical Society opened the museum on October 5, 1963, in memory of the citizens rather than the outlaws, and has since moved it to 814 South Walnut, across from the Perkins Building that held the Condon Bank. Rooms also cover the town's industry, Native history and military service. Death Alley, with markers for the fallen and the old city jail, is close by.