While Outlaws Ride

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Tilghman: The Legendary Lawman and the Woman Who Inspired Him

Bill Tilghman, Chris Madsen, and Heck Thomas lay on their stomachs behind a cluster of rocks, their rifles trained on a dugout three hundred yards away. The crude shelter, a rectangular hole carved into a ravine, was rumored to be the spot where the Doolin-Dalton Gang was hiding. The lawmen had sneaked into their position after midnight and were waiting until dawn to overtake the outlaws inside. The pale crescent moon above the trio shone like a silvery claw in the waning night sky. It was mid-March 1894, and it was cold.

The US deputy marshals were dressed for the frigid temperature, but the occasional icy winds left them wanting more than dusters and wool chaps to rely on for warmth. Knowing the outlaws would be in custody by daybreak kept them rooted to their setting despite the elements. Six months prior to Tilghman and the others learning the criminals’ location, a team of lawmen tried to apprehend the gang holed up in Ingalls. The outcome was disastrous for Evett Nix’s federal authorities. Three deputy marshals were killed and most of the outlaws escaped. Law enforcement’s defeat emboldened the desperados.

A month after the incident in Ingalls they attended an oyster supper in Cushing hosted by the women of the church. They were overheard planning bank and train robberies. They also threatened to come after the citizens of Ingalls who had sided with the deputy marshals who raided the area in September 1893. Frustrated with the lack of progress his officers were making to catch the gang, Nix persuaded Tilghman and Heck Thomas to leave their post in Perry and pursue a lead on the whereabouts of the Doolin-Dalton Gang. The pair would later reunite with Chris Madsen.

Madsen had sent his brother-in-law, Deputy Marshal Ed Morris, and two other officers to the Ingalls area to find out if those who championed the outlaws knew where they were hiding. Morris and his coworkers arrived in town on a chuck wagon disguised as cooks traveling to Texas to work on a cattle drive. During a visit to the local saloon, Morris learned that the gang was living in a dugout on the Dunn Ranch.

Rose Dunn’s paramour George Newcomb survived the police raid on Ingalls and was with the rest of the gang on her family’s property. Morris was informed that Rose had been seen taking provisions from the main ranch house to the dugout. Smoke emanating from the chimney of the dugout further confirmed their theory that Doolin, Dalton, and the other members of their group were indeed inside.

To learn how Marshal Tilghman apprehended Bill Doolin read

Tilghman: The Legendary Lawman and the Woman Who Inspired Him