On May 23, 1894, Bill Dalton's gang fired more than 200 rounds in downtown Longview during what became the Dalton outfit's final major raid, killing two men and wounding several others.
200 N Fredonia St, Longview, TX 75601
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
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Free
Free; Texas State Historical Marker on public sidewalk
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Wheelchair OK
Downtown sidewalk; fully paved
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1894 Dalton Gang Final Major Raid · Downtown Longview Gunfight — Multiple Casualties · Texas State Historical Marker 1967 · Bill Dalton — Killed June 8 1894 Near Ardmore Oklahoma
The robbery of the First National Bank of Longview on May 23, 1894 was planned with the kind of precision that had made Bill Dalton's outfit one of the more feared gangs operating in the Southwest. Four men participated: two entered the bank while two covered the alley. A note handed to bank president Joe Clemmons was signed 'B and F' — shorthand, investigators later concluded, for Bill Dalton and Friends.
The gang escaped the bank with roughly $2,000. What followed was not a clean getaway. As the robbers rode out of downtown Longview, citizens and lawmen responded with gunfire. More than 200 rounds were exchanged in what became one of the bloodiest street fights in East Texas history. George Buckingham, a local citizen, was killed. J.W. McQueen, a saloon keeper, was fatally wounded. Charles S. Learned lost a leg to amputation. City Marshal Matthew Muckelroy was shot in the abdomen; he survived because silver dollars in his breast pocket deflected the bullet. Bank president Clemmons himself was wounded in the hand when he grabbed for a weapon.
Outlaw Jim Wallace — who rode under the alias George Bennett — was shot dead at the scene. Bill Dalton escaped, along with Jim Nite and Judd Nite. The escape proved short-lived: Bill Dalton was killed by a posse near Ardmore, Oklahoma, on June 8, 1894. Jim Nite was captured in 1899 and sentenced to life in prison, eventually paroled after fourteen years. Judd Nite evaded capture until 1897, when he was killed.
A Texas State Historical Marker, erected in 1967, stands at the site. The VeraBank tower now occupies 200 N Fredonia Street, and the Gregg County Historical Museum — one block away — runs an annual Dalton Days reenactment that has kept the event's memory alive in Longview.
Sources
The 1894 robbery is not a paranormal site in the conventional sense — no haunting claims have been documented for this address. Its place in the dark tourism landscape comes from the event's scale, documented historical specificity, and the geographic density of the site: the VeraBank tower at 200 N Fredonia stands within a block of the Gregg County Historical Museum, itself a documented paranormal investigation venue.
The Gregg County Historical Museum runs its annual Dalton Days event as a civic remembrance, including historical reenactments of the robbery and gunfight. The robbers' names, the victims' names, the weapon counts, and the immediate aftermath are all documented in period newspaper accounts and the 1967 Texas State Historical Marker.
For visitors to Longview's downtown dark tourism cluster, the Dalton site anchors the factual historical gravity of the area while the nearby Gregg County Historical Museum provides the paranormal layer. The two are walkable from one another.
Notable Entities
A 1967 Texas State Historical Marker at 200 N Fredonia St marks the site of the First National Bank of Longview, where Bill Dalton's gang carried out one of the final robberies in the Dalton outfit's run. The VeraBank tower now occupies the address. The Gregg County Historical Museum, one block away, provides additional historical context and runs an annual Dalton Days reenactment each summer.
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