EMMETT DALTON - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 06/19/1931 - HFSID 285947

EMMETT DALTON
The only surviving Dalton Gang member signs this letter regarding his new book and wanting to hang a photo relating to the James Boys in his den, dated 1931
Typed letter signed: "Emmett Dalton", 1p, 8x10. No place, June 19, 1931 . To Marx Reimers, St. Paul, Minnesota. In full: "Thank you very kindly for your letter of June nineteenth, with enclosures. I am sending you an autographed photograph of myself, taken about ten years ago. The story 'West of 96' is published by Doubleday, Doran and Company, Garden City, New York, and is on sale at most all the large book stores and many department stores also. It is published under the title of 'When the Daltons Rode' and is about 80,000 words, illustrated, and much more complete than 'West of 96' which is about half that length. I would be pleased to receive a photo of the arch from which you say the James Boys started, for my private 'Den'. With Kindest regards." Emmett Dalton (1871-1937) and his three brothers led a murderous gang of train robbers, who used a network of informers and hideouts to evade a widespread manhunt. He was the only member of the Dalton Brothers' Gang to survive the 1892 attempt to rob two banks simultaneously in Coffeyville, Kansas. On October 5, Emmett, his brothers Grattan and Robert and two other outlaws were recognized by the townspeople, who stopped them with a hail of gunfire. Emmett, wounded by more than a dozen bullets, was sentenced to life in prison. Pardoned in 1907 after serving 14 years, he later moved to California where he wrote two books: Beyond the Law (1918) and When the Daltons Rode (1931) which chronicled the gang's Wild West saga of horse rustling, train robberies and bank robberies in Kansas, Oklahoma and California In the 1918 silent, Beyond the Law, based on his book, Emmett Dalton played three roles: himself and his brothers Frank and Bob. He consulted on many westerns. Three years after his death, When the Daltons Rode was released by MCA/Universal Pictures. It starred Randolph Scott, Brian Donlevy and Broderick Crawford; Frank Albertson played Emmett. The James Boys, Jesse and Frank, began their career of train and bank robbing in 1867, four years before Emmett was born. Lightly soiled and creased. Folds, vertical fold touches the second "M". Paper clip stain at upper margin. Otherwise, fine condition.