When Lawmen Got It Wrong

A gunfight outside Blackwell, Oklahoma just proved that lawmen didn’t always get the right man.

Outlaws Ben Craven and Dick Ainsley had been casing a bank there in December 1896. The law got suspicious and tracked them to a shack outside of town, where a gunfight broke out.  Ainsley died during the fight and Cravens was severely wounded.  Officers were disappointed at what they found, for they had believed Ainsley was really ex-Doolin Gang member Dynamite Dick Clifton.  The mistake cost them $3500 in reward money.