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THBEmmett Dalton, Two TLsS
About Seller
6270 Este Ave.
Cincinnati , OH 45232
United States
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About Auction
LiveFeb 21, 2017 - Feb 22, 2017
Cowan's Auctions dawnie@cowans.com
View Full Catalog (290)
- Lot Description
Lot of 2 typed letters signed by Emmett Dalton (1871-1937), on personal stationery, dated at Hollywood, CA, June 13 and 29, 1932, both addressed to author F.F. (Frank Forrest) Latta (1892-1983) of Tulare, CA. Both include covers.
Emmett was the youngest of 11 children (some sources citing up to 15, presumably some not surviving their early years). The family moved to Indian Territory in 1882. The older brothers became guards, deputies, marshals - for the most part, "good guys." It is unknown when they decided criminal ventures were more profitable, but when brother Lewis died in 1890, they sold his property, but were accused of horse stealing. This suggests that something in their behavior raised "red flags" before the sale of Lewis' personal items. Maybe there were stolen goods among those possessions. We will never know. The brothers left town and moved to California, but were thought to have robbed a few trains along the way. Having acquired the reputation, they were likely credited with robberies they did not commit. To escape the pressure (rewards were now posted for their capture), the group headed for Oklahoma.
In 1892, in need of money, three of the brothers along with a couple friends, decided to do the James' gang one better and rob two banks at once in Coffeyville. They did, gaining about $25,000. But the angry town citizens, having been warned of the plan ahead of time, opened fire on the robbers, killing four and wounding the others, including Emmett. He received at least 23 gunshot wounds. He recovered, and was sentenced to life imprisonment. His sentence was commuted after 14 years served.
After release, Emmett opened a tailor shop in Oklahoma, but moved to California where he was involved in real estate, acting, and writing. In 1931 he published "When the Daltons Rode," the title emblazoned on his personal stationery.
Frank Latta was a native Californian. He grew up working on ranches in the San Joaquin Valley. He developed an interest in the history of the area, including its earliest lifestyles and residents. In the 1920s he focused on the surviving Yokuts and settlers who knew them. One of these would become the subject of Latta's first book, "Uncle Jeff's Story: a tale of a San Joaquin Valley pioneer and his life with the Yokuts Indians." Later, California Indian Folklore (1936) would focus on native peoples in the San Joaquin valley. Many more books and articles (magazine and newspaper) followed, by some estimates numbering in the thousands. Latta taught high school for 30 years to feed his family, but continued interviewing residents in his spare time. As he traveled throughout California, he also collected items of cultural interest. After 1945 he focused on writing. He was also running out of room for his collections, so he established museums to hold them, which also would disseminate information to others who stopped by his museums.
The first letter suggests that initially Latta wanted Dalton to come to his place, but Dalton had some unspecified health issues that prevented him from traveling that far (Hollywood to Tulare, CA). He does offer Latta some advice: Writing for big profits seems to be a pecular [sic] process. First one has to produce good material. Then it seems that one first has to have a reputation before he can have a sale and the he cannot have a sale without a reputation. But by your and I tieing [sic] in together I feel sure I can put your name on the tongues of half the population of the country, and that is what it takes to be able to demand the price.
The second letter indicates that Latta must have sent Dalton some of his stories. Dalton writes: Under seperate [sic] cover I am mailing you your stories. I have read and reread them over several times and found they contain plenty of meat for Corking good stories. Of course, I understand in their present form, they are only the skeletons of your stories,...I wish I was physically able to concentrate on them and suggest what changes I think might help them but it seems like I am not at the present time. However, I hope that before long we will be able to get together and feel like going over them together...
We suspect they did get together a number of times, because in 1976 Latta wrote The Dalton Gang Days, based at least in part on interviews with Emmett.
Provenance: Property of Another OwnerFolds as expected, very light toning. A bit of "ghosting" from Dalton's ink signature. Otherwise excellent.Condition
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