What’s In a Name?

Not much is known about the Oklahoma outlaw named Dan Clifton. Where and when
was he born? How did he become an outlaw? And where did he get the nickname
“Dynamite Dick”?

There were a couple of stories told about his alias. The first: he was playing with
dynamite as a kid when it went off; he lost three fingers in the accident. The second: he
was trying to crack a safe on a train when the explosives went off, maiming his hand and
blowing him out the side of the rail car.

Mark Boardman is the features editor at True West and editor of The Tombstone Epitaph.