William M. Doolin (1858 - 1896)

Born 1858 in Johnson County, Arkansas, United States

Ancestors

Husband of Edith (Ellsworth) Meek — married 15 Mar 1893 in Ingalls, Oklahoma, USA

Died 24 Aug 1896 at about age 38 in Quay, Pawnee, Oklahoma Territory, United States

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Biography

William "Bill" Doolin - Outlaw

""The Doolin Gang""

Birth: 1858 in Arkansas, USA. (Exact birthdate unknown)

Death: August 24, 1896 in Quay United States of America

(Cause of death: Twenty buckshot wounds in his chest)

William "Bill" Doolin was the Founder of the Wild Bunch and an Outlaw Gang who robbed banks, trains and stagecoaches in Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Kansas during the 1890s.

In year 1881, When Bill Doolin was 23 he and left for Arkansas and moved to Oklahoma (the Indian Territory). He worked on a ranch as a cowboy. He also joined "The Dalton Gang", which were known as the "most cold-blooded gang in the west." The Daltons were led by brothers Bob, Grat, Emmett, and later Bill Dalton. During the next year Doolin rode with the Daltons as they robbed banks, depots and trains in the Oklahoma - Indian Territory.

October, 1892, the Daltons decided to rob two banks at the same time in Coffeyville. Doolin did like this idea thought it was to risky . Riding toward Coffeyville, Doolin's horse had come up lame and he was going to a nearby ranch to replace it, and would catch up with the gang. The idea of robbing two banks at the same time was poorly planned, poorly executed attempt that they had a big shootout and only Emmett Dalton escaped. After that, Doolin formed his own gang which was known as "The Wild Bunch". For a while, they were considered the most powerful gang in the southwest and terrorized southern Kansas and Oklahoma - Indian Territory.

July of 1893, E. D. Nix was appointed US Marshall and put together about 100 deputies which would include Bill Tilghman, Heck Thomas, and Chris Madsem, to bring law and order to the territory.

August of 1893, Nix found out that Doolin was in Ingalls, Indian Territory and sent a deputy and 13 posse to capture him, this was considered as the biggest shoot out in southwest history. On September 1, 1893 during this shootout, three marshals and two bystanders were killed and one was wounded. Three of the gang members were wounded and Arkansas. Tom Jones was wounded and captured. Doolin was wounded but escaped with several of his men.

Bill Tilghman heard that Doolin was in Eureka Springs, Arkansas and sent men out to arrest him and suceeded. The night before his trial, Doolin and several inmates escaped from the Guthrie, Oklahoma Federal Prison. Heck Thomas heard that Doolin was hiding in the barn at his father-in-laws home near Lawson, Oklahoma. On the night of August 24/25, 1896, Thomas and his nine deputies, which included his son Albert, surrounded the place and when Doolin came out Thomas called out for him to surrender, but Doolin shot at Thomas and the posse, and they in turn shot and killed Doolin. The fatal shot was a shotgun blast. There is controversyon exactly what happened in the shooting and who actually shot and killed Doolin. There were twenty buckshot wounds in his chest. In 1898, the remaining "Wild Bunch gang" were dead, killed in various shootouts with lawmen.^[1]

Movies

The Cimarron Kid, 1952.

Stories of the Century, 1954

The Doolins of Oklahoma, 1949

Family Members

Parents and Sibling:

Mack Doolin

Artemina Bellar

Spouse and Child:

Edith Ellsworth m. March 1893, in Ingalls, Oklahoma, USA. (Edith remarried in 1897).

Jay Doolin (Jay took his stepfather's name and lived a long and blameless life in Ponca City, Oklahoma, USA, as Jay D. Meek)

Burial:

Summit View Cemetery , Guthrie, Logan County, Oklahoma, USA

The Boot Hill Section

Find A Grave: Memorial #1215

A gun once owned or used by him is in the Schwend Gun Collection^[2]

Sources

1. ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Doolin#Doolin_in_film
2. ↑ https://www.schwendguns.us/

• http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/outlaw-bill-doolin-is-killed
• http://www.theoutlaws.com/outlaws2.htm
• http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~rkinfolks/stories/cooperdoolin.html

"United States Census, 1860", Pilot Rock Township, Johnson, Arkansas, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M8W7-WHP : 18 February 2021), William Doolin in entry for Michael Doolin, 1860.