In doing my research on the "Dangerous Dunn Brothers" that lived in Payne/Pawnee counties pre 1900 and all the stories they are mentioned in, something came to light that is a little strange.

I have been researching what became of all the Dunns after the 9-1-1893 Ingalls shootout. I happened to be reading up on Heck Thomas and he became police chief in Lawton, OK in 1902. Charles Dallas 'Dal' Dunn established his family in Lawton in 1902 (early enough to be in the 1903 Polks City Directory for Lawton).

Is this a coinidence or what? Does anyone know if they continued their acquaintances while livig in Lawton? Did Dal by chance work for Heck Thomas during that time. Would I need to get into the Heck Thomas papers (where) to see if there is any mentions of their acquaintances while in Lawton? Heck Thomas died in 1912 and Dal Dunn left Lawton in 1917.

I guess I'm going back to Lawton to see if I can find any arrest records for Dal during this time at the county/city level? Or perhaps see if he worked for Heck Thomas during that time frame. Thoughts/suggestions anyone.

Well after spending the afternoon in the library, I may have answered my own questions (or at least some of them). It seems Heck Thomas lived at 712 C Street & 1114 Second Street in Lawton and Dal lived at 900 Summit; the first address is about 2 1/2 miles apart; however the second address is about seven blocks apart - close enough to have renewed their acquaintances.

From the Chronicles of Comanche County I found that at least during the first term of Heck Thomas as Chief of Police, Dal Dunn did not work for him. It seems Heck did not beleive it appropriate for former "outlaws" to be working as lawmen (from Portrait of a Lawman by Bonnie Speer).

I have also located several places that have Heck Thomas papers so will be looking at them in the next few months to glean information on his prespective of the Dunn brothers.

I guess a trip to Lawton is in order to determine if Dal were ever arrested by Heck (or any of his deputies.

Sometimes posing questions on a board (what I call thinking out loud) helps the thought processes.

No idea as to Dal working for Heck, but Heck's personal papers were donated by his daughter some years ago to the Museum of the Great Plains in Lawton.

Thanks for this information. I hope to get to Lawton in the next few weeks (weather permitting) and will see if I can find anything. My appreciation.