A Grave Concern

About that pipe that marks the last resting place of the Daltons...

- MARK BOARDMAN

Visitors to the Elmwood Cemetery in Coffeyville, Kansas, are generally looking for the last resting place of members of the Dalton Gang. They'll find a nice stone bearing the names of Bob and Grat Dalton and their compatriot Bill Power (or Powers). The boys were dumped into a common grave after the botched robbery of two banks on October 5, 1892.

But visitors will also see a metal pipe jammed into the ground in front of the marker. And therein lies a story unto itself.

Coffeyville residents were angry after the raid. Four esteemed citizens had died, including City Marshal Charles Connolly. There would be no funeral or memorial niceties for the outlaws/ killers. Their bodies were quickly interred in an unmarked grave at the very back of the cemetery. The spotlight, the honors, would be on the brave defenders who were willing to give their lives to fight evil.