Alila Train Robbery
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This Article Headline Would Be Just One Of Many To Come About Grat And The Alila Train Robbery In California. Read full article.
The Alila train robbery, for me personally, was a turning point in the way that I looked at the Dalton's and their actions afterwards all together. It has been called, the trial for Grat, a real "tragedy of justice". The story of the Alila incident is fairly long and I will be going over it here on this web page rather briefly but is an important part of the Dalton time line. Even though I will cover the topic of this situation rather lightly I am including newspaper articles that will shed light on this subject and give more of a “real” feel to the situation that took place. The Southern Pacific Railroad, which is often called in many publications “SP”, was headed by a Leland Stanford. Leland Stanford and the SP had a monopoly on the train travel system. They could charge as much as they wanted forcing many into paying the high prices to travel. From what is understood the SP also had people in the San Joaquin Valley upset by promising them land for a set low price if they could get good titles for them only to come back, after so many came and worked so hard to make land better than it was before, and kind of repossess it back again in the year 1877. The SP was hated and knowing that someone was going around robbing their trains was enjoyment for many that had been scammed by them. The whole Alila affair started by a series of train robberies that were taking place, between the dates of February 1889 and August 1892, in California and causing the Southern Pacific Railroad embarrassment and money. There was a robbery on one of the trains that was stopped in the town of Alila, CA by two masked men. On this night the two men that where robbing the train conflicted with men who were on board the train to protect it and there was a shoot out. In protecting the train from these masked men one of the train crew a George W. Radliff was shot and killed in the process. It was assumed that the robbers were the ones that killed Radliff and this was the final straw; the hunt was on to get someone/anyone for these train robberies! The SP wanted make the public feel that they could ride their trains and ride them safely and continue to make a profit. There was a detective that was hired by the name of William Smith. He did an investigation of the area and found out that there were some guys by the name of Dalton in the area. He also found out that the Dalton’s being from Oklahoma had some scrapes with the law there. Even though these “scrapes” that the Dalton boys had didn’t involve trains it did involve theft, the Baxter Springs incident, and made them high profile for William Smith. Also, on investigation he found out that they had family ties to the Younger family of the James/Younger gang which didn’t help them in the least bit. To have family ties to this famous gang meant that the Dalton’s here doomed and the first on the list of suspects in the area. Grat, Bob and Emmett had a brother by the name of Bill Dalton that was a prominent farmer in the area at the time and was strongly against the railroad and Leland Stanford. This was a hard to resist mix for detective William Smith who was probably getting pressure from the SP to find someone and find them fast. When Bob and Emmett heard that they were under investigation they quickly left the area and headed back to Oklahoma they probably knew that the SP was a hard organization to kick once they were on you. Grat being fed up with Oklahoma seeing his involvement of being put into the U.S. jail in Fort Smith for the Baxter Springs charges and it was under the jurisdiction of the Hanging Judge Isaac Parker was not his cup of tea to go back to understandably. Also, I would think that California with its mild climate, fruit trees, and fresh new people that didn’t know about his family roots tying him to the Younger family was a refreshing experience that he didn’t want to leave. For Grat it was truly was a fresh new start to his life and he probably thought that he could finally live his life the way he wanted to without being under the strain of family ties/expectations and legal problems like in Oklahoma. It is often said that Grat and Bill thought that it was a joke that these charges was beginning to swell against them so neither one of them made the “move” to get out of the area. This was something that they should have done and they probably wish they had done after things started to break out legal wise around them. I really believe that the Dalton brothers did go to California for a fresh new start to their lives. Bob and Emmett were supposedly working at some type of honest work when this whole incident broke out. Some interesting things about this trial here, from what is understood Grat was arrested three times before he was finally held for the charges on the third arrest. After this trial started it ended up costing Visalia, California thousands and thousands of dollars to put it on. The judge in the case was a Judge Wheaton Andrew Gray. Grat was held on a $30,000 bond and so was his brother, Bill, but Bill’s bond was reduced down later to $5,000 which he made. Another interesting item here as well, the presence of the liquor clerk/pimp at Grat’s trail, saloon owners and saloon/gamblers did more harm than good on his character as person and made the jury probably swing more for convicting him than letting him off. There were twelve witnesses at this trial in the defense for Gratton and all made the statement that he was seen on the night of the train robbery and that he wasn’t there which didn’t do any good for getting him off the charges. Grat was cool about the whole matter at large before the trial and told his brother Littleton, “You’re just contrary. There’s nothing to this. They can’t prove a thing.” As Littleton stated later they did “prove a thing.” With the SP in those days when they want a “thing proven” it didn’t matter if it was right or wrong as long as it was done their way. Also, it should be told that even after Bob and Emmett left California and Gratton and Bill were locked up in jail I have read that robberies continued throughout this area. This just backs up that the convictions were bogus. The robberies were later thought to be by the hands of the John Sontag/Evans gang which had been plaguing the area for some time. In the end Grat was convicted and Bill was released of the charges against him. On September 18th, 1891 three days before his sentencing Grat escaped with a Riley Dean to the wild hills of Fresno County where ranchers there hated the Southern Pacific Railroad. It was here that they stayed until a Sheriff Eugene Kay and his posse was tipped off that a Joe Middleton was coming into town to make large purchases for supplies of food and ammunition in Hanford and was preparing for a trip back on horseback. By the time Kay was notified about his visit Middleton disappeared. Within another month Middleton returned for another large supply of groceries this time a Frank Griffith, one of Kay’s deputies, followed him toward the hills. It was both Kay and Griffith that paid Middleton a visit and told him that he was harboring a fugitive of the law and was threatened to either tell where Dalton was or land in Visalia jail. After about four hours of interrogation Middleton finally broke down and told where they were hiding out. There was a promise of Middleton getting a horse and riding rig if he lead them to Grat and Riley. On December 23, 1891 Sheriff Kay, County Sheriff John Hensley and a nine-man posse rode to the mountains where they were held up with the guide of Middleton. In the end Dalton and Dean were spotted and a shoot out occurred. Before the posse could react Grat swung his rifle forward and fired and in one motion, dropped to the ground, rolled into a gulch, and fled down the mountain hide out. Grat reached the bottom of the mountain and took a horse that was part of a rancher’s plow team. It is after this that the rail roads would pay for their wrong justice that was laid down in Visalia but this time it would be in more familiar territory were the Daltons will have more of an upper hand, Oklahoma! Read articles on the trial.
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