DOOLIN, BILL

born 1863 died 1896, Oklahoma, U.S. byname of William Doolin Western outlaw who led a gang through robberies in Oklahoma and east Texas, 189295. A member of the Dalton brothers (q.v.) gang, he alone missed the bloody ambush of the Coffeyville, Kan., bank robbery (Oct. 5, 1892); his horse had pulled lame long before reaching town. Thereafter, he built his own gang, robbing stagecoaches, banks, and trains. One by one, lawmen tracked the members down. Doolin, escaping arrest in 1895, tried to retire to a small Oklahoma farm; the next year he was discovered by Marshal Heck Thompson and shotgunned to death.