Author recounts infamous shootout

By Christian Price, News9.com INsite Team

INGALLS, Okla. - - A gunfight between the Dalton Doolin gang and US Marshals took the lives of three Oklahoma lawmen. The September 1, 1893 gun battle is just one of the events author David Farris chronicles in his book "Oklahoma Outlaw Tales."

"I decided to abandon the fictional work and just compile these stories," Farris said. "If I've never heard of them before, maybe there's others who would enjoy them as much as me."

According to Farris, outlaws fled to the Oklahoma territory because of what was taking place across the West.

"Sometime after the civil war, just prior to statehood when Oklahoma was Indian Territory, it was a wide open place. There was a time when all the surrounding territories were becoming states," Farris said. "All the people who had questions about the law moved to this place were law was in question as far as jurisdiction."

Some towns welcomed the outlaws with open arms.

"There are criminals, and there are outlaws. Outlaw is a term of endearment," Farris said. "There were the members of the Doolin gang and the Dalton gang, and they were, for whatever reason, they were a bit admired. The Doolin gang spent time around the town of Ingalls."

The story goes that word got back to law officers of where the gang was hiding out. Once the deputies encountered the gang a shootout began and three lawmen were killed.

A monument to the three slain lawmen still stands in Ingalls.