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Frank Dalton The following is my attempt to put together a brief biography of Deputy US Marshal, Frank Dalton. The information contained herein has been gleaned from as many internet sites as possible, however, I have found that most contain only a couple of sentences and those have virtually the exact same wording. The most detailed information was obtained from the biography of James Ennis which can be found at "James Ennis." An additional source of information recently purchased is the book, The Taming of the West, Age of the Gunfighter: Men and Weapons of the Fontier 1840-1900, by Joseph G. Rosa
Frank Dalton was born June 8, 1859 in Jackson County, Missouri, the fourth of fifteen children of James Lewis Dalton and Adeline Lee Younger, the daughter of Charles Lee "Cole" Younger. James Lewis served during the Mexican War under General Zachary Taylor, with the Second Regiment of Kentucky Foot Volunteers, company I.
On November 27, 1887 deputy marshals Frank Dalton and James R. Cole were assigned to seek out an outlaw, Dave Smith, and bring him back to Fort Smith to answer the many charges against him, including whiskey peddling and horse theft. Locating Smith’s camp some fifty miles west of Fort Smith, the two lawmen dismounted their horses and quietly approached a large tent in which Smith and several of his outlaw associates were dining and drinking heavily. As Dalton stepped into the tent, Smith arose from the table, pulled his gun, and fired a bullet into Dalton’s chest. Deputy Cole then immediately killed Smith. Others in the tent fled rapidly but continued to fire at Cole as he ran after them. Wounded six times himself, and thinking that Frank was dead, Cole then decided to ride back towards Fort Smith to get help. Dalton's murderer was a boy eighteen years old (apparantly named Will Towerly), and he was the only one of the band left after Dalton and Jim Cole had entered the tent. Dalton, laying on the ground near where Smith fell, had continued to fire his Winchester at the fleeing outlaws until it was emptied. As he struggled to release his revolver from its holster, Towerly moved over to where he lay, placed the muzzle of his own loaded Winchester in Frank's mouth, and pulled the trigger. Still not completely dead, Towerly then fired a second time. Newspaper reports of the time indicated that Frank begged Towerly not to shoot him as he was already mortally wounded. (The only logical source for this information would have to be Towerly himself. The other outlaws had fled and Cole was riding towards Fort Smith. This only left Towerly and Dalton in the camp, and Dalton obviously did not survive.) Towerly escaped, and a $1,000 reward was posted for his capture. With every available deputy after him, Deputy Marshals Ed Stokley and Bill Moody followed him to the vicinity of Stringtown (Atoka?), Indian Territory, where he was over taken on December 3rd. Frank Dalton was buried in Elmwood Cemetary in Coffeyville, Kansas, and is remembered by the U.S. Marshal's service on their Roll Call of Honor. For more information about the duties performed by the U.S. Marshal's Service, and very probably by Deputy Marshal Dalton too, the following link will take you to the U.S. Marshal's Service web site to an article entitled A Broad Range of Authority. More info to follow as my research progresses.
NOTES: Some sources state that Will Towerly escaped unharmed and was never heard from again. Information posted on the U.S. Marshal's Service website, states Frank Dalton was killed on November 27, 1887 and E. A. "Ed" Stokley was killed on December 3rd of the same year. The only Deputy Moody listed as being killed around that time is a Z. W. Moody, killed March 15, 1889. Because of the many inconsistencies with the information previously made available, the above narrative was prepared using what I believe to be the most correct data. |
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In 1884, Frank became a Deputy U.S. Marshal under Judge Isaac Parker, the "hanging judge." Working out of Fort Smith, Arkansas, Judge Parker's court had the responsibility of maintaining law and order over the "Indian Territory", which would later become the state of Oklahoma. Records indicate that Frank Dalton performed his duties as a law officer well and may have influenced or at least helped his brothers Bob and Grat Dalton to also become law officers for a period.
Refusing to surrender, he was fired upon. He fell after the first volley and when Stokley advanced towards him, the lad raised himself up and put a ball through the officer's heart. This daring young desperado later surrendered to Moody and was taken in a wagon to Stringtown with the body of Stokley, but he died from his wounds about the time the party reached Stringtown. At some point just before he died, Towerly confessed to the murder of Frank Dalton. (Did it include the account of Frank's last words and how Towerly had killed him?) According to Rosa's book, "Moody did not live to enjoy his reward; he was killed soon afterwards by Billy Bruner, an Indian."