Bill Doolin Checks Out

A posse kills the outlaw chieftain.

August 24-25, 1896. Outlaw leader Bill Doolin is gunned down by Deputy US Marshal Heck Thomas’ (photo) posse at a farm near Lawson, OK. Doolin had escaped jail the month before, and officials put out a “shoot to kill” order on him. Thomas and posse tracked him down to his father-in-law’s place. Doolin was ordered to throw up his hands; he got off two shots before Thomas emptied a shotgun into his chest. Posseman Bee Dunn will claim that he fired the fatal shot–but there are doubts about his account.