Wild West Con Men of the Early 20th Century, Part 1: Col. Robert Emmett Dalton

Fraud and confidence schemes are common to all eras. But researching the life of Brushy Bill, and the various fraudulent characters he is connected to, has given me a fondness for the folks that popped up in the early to mid-1900s, claiming to be some hero or other from the Wild West, charming and disarming unsuspecting folks across the nation.

This small series of blogs will examine a few of the characters I’ve investigated.

Part One: Robert Emmett Dalton

Between the late 1920s and early 1940s, there was a man who went by “Colonel” Robert E. Dalton. He was an oil man from Meridian, Mississippi.

Dalton’s story, according to him: Born in Chickasha, Oklahoma, he grew up with Will Rogers, and he once entertained President Harding at his home in Daytona Beach, Florida. He was the last living member of the Dalton gang, at various times claiming to be either Emmett or Bob Dalton. He killed 32 men in self-defense. He served with Pancho Villa and was the only foreign cabinet member in Mexico under President Obregon. He was in the Alaskan gold rush with Tex Rickard, and the Dalton Trail in Alaska was named after him. While serving a term in Leavenworth in 1896, he was the first man to be finger-printed in the United States. He gave William Sidney Porter the pen name “O. Henry,” and it was O. Henry that taught him to read and write. He and O. Henry met up in Mexico and drifted into Central America, where O. Henry tried his hand at growing bananas. Upon returning to America, they were both separately arrested, and landed in the Columbus, Ohio jail at the same time, and they were subsequently cell mates at Leavenworth. Dalton was set to be a consultant in Hollywood for Jesse James movies. He had been twice sentenced to hang, and twice granted reprieves, once pardoned by President Theodore Roosevelt himself. He was a deputy sheriff of three Mississippi counties. He held numerous letters from people like Franklin D. Roosevelt attesting to his character and standing. He knew Billy the Kid and claimed that Billy wasn’t killed by Garrett. He was in Deadwood and met Calamity Jane.

According to U.S. Marshal Chris Madsen, as well as J. Edgar Hoover, Robert E. Dalton’s real name was William D. Byron.

Byron was born about 1884, but possibly 1888 or 1892, in Oklahoma or possibly Texas, to parents who were both natives of Mississippi (or, conversely, Texas).

In 1900, Byron was arrested by U.S. Marshal Chris Madsen in the Indian Territory for horse-stealing. Although lodged in the United States Jail in what was then Indian Territory (now Ardmore, Oklahoma) long enough to be included there for the 1900 federal census, he was released on bond and fled the area. Shortly after, he robbed a barber shop in Louisiana belonging to John Watts, stealing razors, laundry, and other items. He was captured near Spring Ridge, Louisiana, and brought to jail. December 26 of that year he was sent to a reform school in Booneville, Missouri for five years. He escaped that reform school on December 12, 1902.

In June of 1903, Byron was pursued and cornered by a crowd of citizens in a thicket outside of Dixie, Indian Territory, after stealing a horse and saying he would not be taken alive. The posse took a few shots at him, but all missed. At this time, Byron was said to be about 21 years old, of a bad reputation, and living about five miles southwest of Ardmore, Oklahoma. Byron somehow managed to escape capture, leaving only his hat behind in the thicket where he had been trapped.

On November 25, 1903, he was sentenced to a two-year term at Leavenworth for larceny.

He was again arrested in 1906 for horse-theft, and began to serve out a four-year term at the South Dakota state penitentiary on April 10, 1906. He was released early, on May 10, 1909.

Sometime after his release in 1909, Byron began going by Robert E. Dalton.

On August 14, 1915, he was sentenced to five years for robbery under the name Bob Dalton in Huntsville, Texas, but was released in 1918.

He spent some time in Ranger, Texas, possibly as an informant of sorts, working with Texas Rangers. After crossing the chief of police in Ranger, a man named Byron Parrish, Dalton left Ranger. He may also have posed as a revenue officer on the Texas border.

In Matamoros, Mexico, on January 26, 1915, Dalton was arrested on suspicion of being connected with an armed robbery in Fort Worth. He had jumped bond and come to Brownsville, Texas, about two weeks prior, then traveled on to Matamoros, Mexico. The authorities did not buy his claims to be one of the Dalton gang, and the officers involved believed Dalton to be insane.

In March of 1924, Dalton was staying at the Avis Hotel in Pomona, California. One day, Dalton sat down in the hotel dining room, and ordered some pancakes. The pancakes came out cold.

Later in the evening, a very intoxicated Dalton, still fuming over cold pancakes, stormed to the hotel manager’s room with a revolver in his hand, kicked open the door and fired a shot at the manager. Officer Bass arrived to arrest Dalton, and Dalton pulled his gun and threatened to shoot him, as well.

Dalton was arrested and brought before Judge U.E. White. Dalton advised the court that he was an oil promoter from Florida. Dalton posted a $1,000 cash bail and left town.

Dalton showed up in Guymon, Texas in April of 1924, claiming to be on his way from California to Baltimore for his wife’s health, following a visit to Old Mexico where he had “extensive interests.”

In May of 1924, it was reported that the Pomona, California authorities could not locate Dalton concerning the court date for the incident at the Avis hotel two months’ prior. In September, Dalton was arrested in Douglas, Arizona as he was boarding a train, at the request of El Paso authorities, who wanted him on charges of swindling. At the time of his arrest, Dalton had over $15,000 worth of cashier’s checks on him. At this time, Dalton told folks he was the bandit Bob Dalton’s son.

Dalton was arrested in Detroit, Michigan and held for Amarillo authorities in August of 1926. Upon gaining knowledge that Dalton was in Detroit, Texas authorities had sent a telegram to Detroit police requesting Dalton and his vehicle be held. Dalton was wanted in Amarillo for purchasing a car from a dealer and taking it out of state without paying the mortgage for it.

When the Detroit police arrested him, he was carrying a .45 revolver with sixteen notches along the grip. “You needn’t point your guns at me,” Dalton reportedly said. “I haven’t killed a man in ten years. I’m not in any racket. I’ve done nothing I know of to be arrested.” He told the police he came to Detroit to propose to a girl.

At the time of his arrest in Detroit, Dalton’s attorney was Amarillo lawyer Lee J. Marks, formerly of Drumright, Oklahoma, and Ranger, Texas, specializing in oil and gas law, litigation, and land titles. Marks was also associated with the Panhandle Leasing Company, which was selling 10 acre blocks of land in “oil country” in July of 1926. Dalton’s claim to be the “Bob Dalton” of the Dalton gang was challenged in many newspapers at this time, but Marks defended Dalton, claiming to have known the Dalton gang, and advising that he had been Dalton’s attorney for the last ten or fifteen years. About six months after Dalton’s arrest in Detroit, Lee J. Marks was arrested in Amarillo for embezzlement. (Marks died in 1932 in Ranger, Texas; the cause of death on record is “chronic alcoholism.”)

On September 1, 1926, Dalton bought two new tires from Otto Anderson at the Anderson Vulcanizing Company in Wisconsin. The cost of the tires was $138.10. Standing at the manager’s desk, in the company office, Dalton reached into his pants pockets and pulled two big six-shooters out and slammed them on the desk, then pulled out his check book. The check he wrote to pay for the tires was from a Fort Myers, Florida bank. Long after Dalton left, his check bounced.

Dalton had moved on to Cherokee, Texas by 1927, however, where on April 11 he married 19-year-old Texas native Aileen Lucille Renfro-Ibach, whose husband Harold had just recently died in a plane crash.

While working as an “oil well promoter” in Biloxi, Louisiana, in August of 1929, Dalton was driving through Slidell, Louisiana with a passenger he claimed to have picked up along the way, and crashed his vehicle into another car, demolishing the other automobile. As the dust settled, Dalton grabbed a shotgun from his back seat, got out of the car, and threatened the two occupants of the other car. Dalton’s passenger grabbed the shotgun from him, and used the shotgun to break numerous liquor bottles that were in the floorboard of Dalton’s car. Dalton was arrested and lodged in jail.

After this, Dalton was arrested in Shreveport, Louisiana. He was at a bar, “drinking and creating a disturbance.” The establishment called the police, and when Lieutenant Luther Miller arrived, Dalton was armed with a sawed-off shotgun, and attempted to shoot the officer. Lieutenant Miller grappled with Dalton, during which time the shotgun went off. Dalton was arrested, and the case was brought to the federal court. Dalton was charged with possessing an unregistered sawed-off shotgun, and fined $50.

In October, a man named Fred Randall was arrested at Dalton’s “beach mansion” east of Gulfport, Mississippi. Authorities believed that Randall’s real name was Connie Ritter, a notorious gunman from southern Illinois who was charged with holding up a gambling house to collect a horse-race debt.

This same month, Dalton’s car was found, abandoned and on fire, by Louisiana police. The officers extinguished the blaze and tracked down Dalton using the vehicle’s license number. Several pieces of pine wood were found placed on the motor, but the fire had not reached them yet. Fortunately, Dalton had purchased fire insurance on his vehicle. He later sued the Union Indemnity Company and the Lasalle Fire Insurance Company of New Orleans, stating he was not receiving the proper payout from the fire.

In January of 1930, Dalton opened an office in Biloxi as “The R.E. Dalton Oil Company,” and was also president of the Joan Development Company. By February, he had been indicted by a grand jury in Harrison county on charges of embezzlement, obtaining money under false pretenses, and operating a confidence game.

Dalton stepped down as president of the Joan Development Company, and published a letter in the Biloxi Daily Herald denying any wrongdoing. His oil well undertakings led to hundreds of stockholders losing their money.

“Colonel Dalton” was described by one paper at this time as having a “suave personality.”

Dalton was arrested and appeared in court in February of 1930, accused of appropriating $3,000 in company funds for his own use.

Dalton’s whereabouts were unknown to the Hammond, Louisiana authorities by May of 1930, and he was arrested in November for jumping bond. Dalton denied jumping bond, stating he went to Texas drilling an oil well and had returned. After his arrest, he was once again released on bond.

In November of 1930, Dalton was again arrested for jumping bond. State Highway Patrolman D.D. Sharp approached Dalton in a restaurant where he was having breakfast with two women.

Dalton visited Atlanta, Georgia in April of 1931, supposedly bearing letters of recommendation from Louisiana governor Long, and several hundred other Louisiana citizens. He told newspaper staff that he believed there was a natural oil and gas field somewhere within 50 miles of Atlanta.

In October of 1931, Dalton admitted to a Nashville, Tennessee newspaper that he was not a member of the Dalton gang, but rather was a respected citizen of Newton, Mississippi, married, and is the president of the Dalton Development company. Dalton refused to elaborate further on any connection he had to the famous Daltons, but just admitted he was not the famous leader of the gang, and said he was a nephew of the Younger brothers, and had run with Jesse James. He also claimed to have known Billy the Kid, and stated that Billy was not killed by “Bud” Garrett.

By 1932, Dalton and his wife were living in San Antonio. Dalton stopped at a store where Ella Craig was working, and bought two dresses for his wife. He told Ella Craig that he wanted her to handle his wife’s account, as he may have to leave town on a moment’s notice, due to his being a past member of the notorious Dalton gang.

Shortly after, Dalton made the move to Asheville, North Carolina, with his “niece,” Deeta Bassett (Deeta shows up on census records as Dalton’s wife), presumably to improve his asthmatic condition. A newspaper account states that Dalton expects his wife and small son to join him in Asheville soon.

Later that year, Dalton had made his way to Columbia, South Carolina, where he was claiming to be a member of a “prominent Western family,” and searching out areas for oil and gas fields.

In June of 1933, Dalton and wife (possibly by this this time Dee Etta Bassett, as it appears he moved on from Aleene Ibach some time before this) were in Charlotte, North Carolina, “reluctantly” giving interviews to the press about his past outlaw days. Dalton then visited Boston in January of 1934, and called on U.S. Marshal John J. Murphy.

In January of 1935, Dalton was in Chicago, Illinois, telling reporters that after such an eventful life, he was now touring around the country, preaching against crime. “Anyone who says he can’t go straight just doesn’t want to go straight,” he said.

Dalton was arraigned in federal court in Shreveport, Louisiana, in October of 1936, on the charge of carrying a sawed-off shotgun. Newspapers reported that up to that time, the most serious offense on his record was horse-stealing. At this time Dalton was living in Meridian, Mississippi with a wife and child.

In December of 1938, Dalton rode into Springfield, Missouri, telling folks that he was one of the outlaw gang. He had on display letters addressed to himself from John Nance Garner and others, as well as a picture of himself with Theodore Roosevelt. The purpose of his visit was to convince people to invest in his oil wells.

In 1939, Dalton was in New York, calling himself the head of the “Hobo Fellowship,” and announced his intention to run for city council. He claimed to have traveled all over the country as a hobo, and stated that a hobo was better suited to represent the public.

Dalton was still making the rounds in February of 1940, when he was featured on a radio program in New York called “We, The People.” It was also around this time that Dalton appears on the 1940 census as living in Meridian, Mississippi, with spouse Dee Etta, and presumably a step-daughter, Mary D. Lloyd.

While listening to one of Dalton’s appearances on the radio program, Hubert McCann, credit manager for the Hotel Sinton in Cincinnati, Ohio, recognized Dalton and his boasting of a connection to the Dalton gang, and requested that the authorities track Dalton down for writing a bad check for $175 in September of 1939. At this time, Dalton was also wanted in Mississippi for armed robbery, forgery, and false pretense.

Things threatened to take another serious turn on April 18, 1940, when Dalton, who was (according to him) on his way to Hollywood to appear in a movie about the Dalton gang, got into an altercation with Lee Meyer in a hotel lobby on Canal street in New Orleans.

“I stabbed this man because he kept picking on me,” Dalton told newspapers, “and I’m too old to fight with my fists. If he doesn’t get well it will be just another dead man.”

Meyer was a 52-year-old salesman from New York City, where he was employed by a publishing company. Initially, Meyer had told police he was from Tulsa, Oklahoma. Dalton claimed he stabbed Meyer because Meyer was “kidding him.” Police escorted Dalton to Meyer’s hospital bedside, where Meyer told authorities he had been too intoxicated at the time of the stabbing to recall any altercation, and asked that they let Dalton go free.

Mention of Dalton’s New Orleans attack in the nation’s newspapers brought a slew of other charges against Dalton to light, and authorities from various states began reaching out to New Orleans authorities. It turned out that Dalton was wanted in Yazoo City, Mississippi for carrying concealed weapons. He was wanted in Birmingham, Alabama, and Cincinnati, Ohio for passing bad checks.

Meyer soon died from his wounds, and Dalton was arrested for the slaying in May of 1940, and in August of that year he was freed on $7,500 bond, paid for by E.A. Cole, treasurer and secretary of the Cole Manufacturing Company, who was a victim of Dalton’s confidence schemes. All told, Cole would eventually hand over approximately $25,000 to Dalton under the auspices of oil well investments and other “varied promotions.”

Dalton paid a visit to Des Moines, Iowa in February of 1942, resuming his oil investing schemes, selling his wild tales of old west adventures along with them.

In July of 1942, Dalton went back to New Orleans to stand trial for the murder of Lee Meyer. Dalton’s defense maintained that while Dalton was speaking with the hotel bell-boys about his desperado days, Meyer approached Dalton and began calling Dalton “a bum,” and assaulting Dalton. During the trial, Dalton maintained he was defending himself against Meyer. After the jury deliberated for 25 minutes, Dalton was acquitted of all charges.

After the trial, in August of that year, an elderly man – in all probability J. Frank Dalton - in St. Louis, Missouri, fell on the street and broke his hip. He was taken to City Hospital, where told attendants and onlookers that he was Jesse James, regaled the doctors and nurses with tales of his outlaw days. Robert E. Dalton is quoted in a local newspaper as having “scoffed at the aged man’s claim to being Jesse James.”

In 1946, Dalton was traveling with the 101 Ranch Wild West Show as “Bob Dalton, last of the famous outlaws.” This same year, in August, Dalton also claimed to a wife and 10-year-old daughter living at home in Meridian, Mississippi, and was passing through Cincinnati, Ohio with a “more suave character equipped with a cane and a soft voice” who went by the name “New York Jimmy.” Dalton and his companion were planning on going to Las Vegas, Nevada.

On May 27, 1947, in Elko, Nevada, Robert E. Dalton checked into the Stockmen’s Hotel. He was on his way to Reno, Nevada, but had stopped in Elko after becoming ill. On May 31, he was found dead in his room. The cause of death was listed as a pulmonary abscess, possibly due to cancer of the stomach. Everything else on the death certificate is listed as “Unknown,” as Dalton was presumably traveling at this time. He was believed to be about 73 years of age.

His body was taken to Meridian, Mississippi for burial on June 3, 1947, under the supervision of the Burns Funeral Home.

Sources:

- Kansas, U.S., U.S. Penitentiary Leavenworth, Name Index to Inmate Case Files, 1895-1936.

- Nevada Department of Health; Carson City, Nevada; Nevada Death Records. Nevada, U.S., Death Certificates, 1911-1965

- Texas, U.S., Select County Marriage Index, 1837-1965

- Texas, U.S., Death Certificates, 1903-1982 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA.

- United States Federal Census. Year: 1900; Census Place: Ardmore, Chickasaw Nation, Indian Territory; Roll: 1848; Page: 3; Enumeration District: 0143; FHL microfilm: 1241848

- United States Federal Census. Year: 1930; Census Place: Biloxi, Harrison, Mississippi; Page: 4A; Enumeration District: 0007; FHL microfilm: 2340881

- United States Federal Census. Year: 1940; Census Place: Meridian, Lauderdale, Mississippi; Roll: m-t0627-02039; Page: 4A; Enumeration District: 38-1

- “Dalton Caught,” The Times, February 25, 1900, p.5.

- “Bad Man Near Dixie,” The Daily Ardmoreite, June 4, 1903, p.5.

- “Dixie,” The Daily Ardmoreite, June 7, 1903, p.4.

- “After Horsethief,” The Woods County News, June 19, 1903, p.2.

- “Alleged Member of Famous Dalton Gang Taken At Rownsville,” Victoria Daily Advocate, January 27, 1915, p.4.

- “Tarrant County Officer Takes Dalton North,” Brownsville Herald, January 28, 1915, p.14.

- “Cash Bond of $1000 Releases Man Charged With Deadly Assault,” The Bulletin, March 9, 1924, p.6.

- “Dalton’s Hearing Set For April 8,” Pomona Progress Bulletin, March 10, 1924, p.10.

- “Here And There And Everywhere,” Amarillo Globe, April 27, 1924, p.16.

- “Case of Robert E. Dalton,” The Bulletin, May 6, 1924, p.6.

- “Son of Ex-Bandit Dalton Is Arrested,” Bakersfield Californian, September 24, 1924, p.1.

- Lee J. Marks advertisement, Amarillo Sunday News Globe, April 30, 1926, p.12.

- Panhandle Leasing advertisement, Amarillo Daily News, July 31, 1926, p.8.

- “Noted Bandit Lands In Jail,” Port Arthur News, August 15, 1926, p.1.

- “Man Held In Detroit Wanted In Amarillo Reported Monday,” Corsicana Daily Sun, August 16, 1926, p.1

- “Calls Dalton Imposter,” Amarillo Globe, August 17, 1926, pp.1,10.

- “Ex-US Marshal Sends Evidence In Dalton Case,” Amarillo Globe, August 18, 1926, p.1

- “15 Indictments Are Returned by Grand Jury, Attorney and Policeman Included in Arrests Already Made,” Amarillo Globe, February 17, 1927, p.8.

- “R.E. Dalton Arrested Following Auto Accident,” Biloxi Daily Herald, August 28, 1929, p.16.

- “Cadillac Burns Near Beauvoir,” Biloxi Daily Herald, October 11, 1929, p.1.

- “Flatly Denies He Is Ritter, Writ of Release Asked,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, October 19, 1929, p.8.

- “Col. Dalton Sues For Insurance On Auto,” Biloxi Daily Herald, December 20, 1929, p.1.

- Biloxi Daily Herald, January 14, 1930, p.7.

- “Indict Dalton For Misuse of $3000 Oil Fund,” Biloxi Daily Herald, February 27, 1930, pp.1,7.

- “Dalton Makes Statement,” Biloxi Daily Herald, March 1, 1930, p.1.

- “Dalton Held On Three Charges,” Biloxi Daily Herald, May 29, 1930, pp. 1,7.

- “Arrest Colonel Bob Dalton In Louisiana Town,” Sun Herald, November 21, 1930, p.1.

- “Col. Bob Dalton Is Released On Bond,” Biloxi Daily Herald, November 24, 1930, p.1.

- “Bob Dalton, Once Famous Bandit, Comes To Atlanta – On Business,” Atlanta Constitution, April 18, 1931, p.14.

- “Older Bandits But Boy Scouts,” Huntsville Times, April 27, 1931, p.5.

- “Col. Bob Dalton, Not ‘The’ Bob, Is Man of Mystery,” The Tennessean, October 30, 1931, p.1.

- “Col Dalton, Once With Noted Gang, Comes Here For Health,” Asheville Citizen-Times, July 10, 1932, p.4

- “Search for Gas Fields in S.C.” The Herald, July 26, 1932, p.1.

- “Colonel Robert Dalton, Once Feared In Wild, Wooly West Visits In City,” The Charlotte Observer, June 7, 1933, p.14.

- “Ex-Outlaw Says ‘Any Man Can Go Straight,’” The Boston Globe, January 26, 1934, p.8.

- “Bob Dalton Says He Could Make Chicago Resemble Tabernacle,” The Iola Register, January 4, 1935, p.1.

- “Dalton Says It’s Possible,” San Antonio Light, January 6, 1935, p.25.

- “Last of the Dalton Gang,” Plattsmouth Journal, January 10, 1935, p.5.

- “Local Business Firm Asks Surviving Member of Dalton Gang to ‘Make Good’ Worthless Check,” La Crosse Tribune And Leader Press, January 20, 1935, p.10.

- “Bob Dalton Arraigned in US Court,” The Shreveport Times, October 29, 1936, p.7.

- “Bob Dalton, Member of Once Notorious Gang, Is Believed To Be Living Today,” Corpus Christi Times, July 14, 1937, p.1.

- “Springfield Slants,” Springfield Leader and Press, December 7, 1938, p.4.

- “Hobo Leader to File for New York Office,” Idaho Statesman, September 3, 1939, p.15.

- “Daily Radio Programs,” Sandusky Register, February 13, 1940, p.4.

- “Last of the Daltons Held,” Lawrence Daily Journal World, April 20, 1940, p.1.

- “Self-Styled Dalton Boy Faces Stabbing Charge,” The Courier-Journal, April 20, 1940, p.18.

- “Man Arrested in New Orleans Figured in U.S. Court Case Here,” Shreveport Journal, April 20, 1940, p. 7.

- “Bad Man Dalton is Little Worried For Knife Victim,” Springfield Leader and Press, April 21, 1940, p.30.

- “Charges Pile Up After New Orleans Stabbing,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, April 21, 1940, p.6.

- “Just Another Dead Man, Says Last of Dalton Gang,” Miami News, April 22, 1940, p.12.

- “Vanity Traps ‘Bad Man’ Wanted Here for Check,” Cincinnati Post, April 22, 1940, p.1.

- “Trailed By Radio!” The Cincinnati Enquirer, April 23, 1940, p.12.

- “Dalton Faces Yazoo Charge,” Clarion-Ledger, April 28, 1940, p.3.

- “Tulsan Dies of Knife Wounds,” Ardmore Daily Ardmoreite, May 1, 1940, p.10.

- “Tulsan Dies; Oil Man Charged With Murder,” Miami Daily News Record, May 1, 1940, p.5.

- “Dalton Freed on Bond in Orleans,” Biloxi Daily Herald, August 13, 1940, p.6.

- “One of Dalton Boys: Self-Styled Last of Gang Colonel Bob Is In Des Moines,” Des Moines Tribune, February 28, 1941, p.11.

- “Man Charged With Mulcting Manufacturer,” Charlotte Observer, June 22, 1942, p.11.

- “To Release Col. Dalton,” The Charlotte News, June 27, 1942, p. 19.

- “Last of Dalton Boys Faces Manslaughter,” Jefferson City Daily Capital News, July 24, 1942, p.9.

- “Man Says He’s Jesse James, Another is ‘Last of Daltons,’” St. Louis Star and Times, August 12, 1942, p.3.

- “Wild West Circus Opens Thursday,” The Bakersfield Californian, April 3, 1946, p.9.

- “Look Who’s A Visitor!” The Cincinnati Enquirer, August 25, 1946, p.30.

- “Elko Residents Wonder If Aged Man Who Died There Was In Dalton Gang,” Nevada State Journal, June 3, 1947, p.12.

- “Dalton Gang Member Dies In Elko Hospital,” Reno Gazette-Journal, June 7, 1947, p.11.