Old
family stories claim gang members were seen in Victoria &
Lavaca Counties... In the year
1895, reports were circulating around Victoria, Texas, that a
member, or members, of the famous Dalton Gang were in the Victoria
and Lavaca County area. The Daltons were considered notorious
bandits in Missouri and Kansas, but for any of them to be sighted
in Texas was considered unlikely. For one thing, most of the gang
met their demise while attempting to rob two banks in Coffeyville,
Kansas on October 5, 1892. The Victoria Daily Times reported on June 18, 1895, that the local sheriff had arrested a man known as Lewis Johnson, and charged him with robbery. It was also reported that he was helping two men who were members of the
Dalton Gang. What
made the local authorities think these men were part of the
Daltons is still a mystery — but one thing is known for sure,
the men were well armed. The (Victoria) Times’ article indicated
that the bandits carried “new style” Winchester rifles (40-82
caliber) and two six-shooters each, and they also had several
hundred rounds of ammunition. Evidently,
the desperadoes left Victoria County and made their way to
Hallettsville. The Gonzales Inquirer picked up a story from
the Hallettsville Herald about the killing of one of these
men and that entire article is reprinted below, just as it
appeared back then. The
Gonzales Inquirer • June 27, 1895 [Headline: “Supposed
Desperado”] The
Hallettsville Herald gives the following account of the killing of
a supposed member of the Dalton gang near that city: Tuesday
evening a suspicious character carrying a Winchester appeared at
the depot. He told several citizens he had met Martin Fisher, a
well-known fugitive from Lavaca County, in Nebraska; he told of a
brush with an officer at Waco (and a scar bore him out) but he did
not wait to see if the officer survived. When
our officers were put on his trail he fled. Officers O.T. East and
Frank Miller and Dr. Jesse Burford armed themselves with
Winchesters and rode after him. On the railroad trestle near
Rabb’s pasture, eight miles east of here, they overtook the
desperado, who was ordered to surrender, and told he would not be
hurt. To this the man replied: “I’ll be g—d—if I do,”
and throwing down his coat he cocked his Winchester and started to
raise, when Officer Miller sent a bullet through his body. When
the men reached the wounded man he said he had something to tell
them, but he changed his mind and cursed them. He gave his name as
Moore, Doore and Gore, and then said he didn’t give a d— what
his name was but that he had relatives in San Antonio. He
positively refused to say a word more, although he was told he
would die before daylight. He died at 4 o’clock yesterday
morning. He was about 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighed about 150
pounds, dark hair, florid complexion, and wore a brown, sandy
mustache, goatee and a very small chin beard. Had a 12-inch scar
on back and stab in breast. The ball that killed him entered near
the right kidney. Fey
& Braunig took a photograph of the corpse. The rifle is in
possession of the officers, who say if Miller had not shot when he
did one of them would no doubt have been killed. Marshal Criswell
came in from Yoakum but failed to identify the man. A
man named Beck was shot by a gang at Hope, Friday, and a Victoria
county merchant was robbed of $250 in broad daylight, and it is
thought the man killed here was one of the Dalton gang which the
Victoria county officers claim they chased to the Lavaca river in
this county. His features were one of a desperado. They
are said to be hiding in Devil’s Pocket, 23 miles below here,
and some kind of a raid is expected. When
the desperadoes shot Beck on the Chicolete he rushed into a Mr.
Hester’s house, where a young girl was down with typhoid fever,
and the shock killed her in an hour.
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