Dan Clifton (1865–1896?), known as Dynamite Dan or Dynamite Dick, was an American

Old West The American frontier, also known as the Old West, and popularly known as the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that bega ...

outlaw An outlaw, in its original and legal meaning, is a person declared as outside the protection of the law. In pre-modern societies, all legal protection was withdrawn from the criminal, so anyone was legally empowered to persecute or kill them. ...

and member of the Doolin Gang. Clifton was a minor criminal wanted in the

Oklahoma Territory The Territory of Oklahoma was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 2, 1890, until November 16, 1907, when it was joined with the Indian Territory under a new constitution and admitted to the Union as ...

for

robbery Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take anything of value by force, threat of force, or use of fear. According to common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person o ...

, safecracking, and cattle rustling before joining the Doolin Gang in 1892. Upon joining the gang, Clifton took part in the remainder of the Doolin Gang's bank robberies, including the 1893 gunfight with law enforcement at Ingalls, Oklahoma, where three of his fingers were shot off. Following the gang's escape, and eventual disbandment, a bounty of $3,500 was placed on Clifton, who was becoming popularly known as the "most killed outlaw in America", as people would repeatedly turn in a corpse claiming the body as Clifton's, despite the fact the bodies had all 10 fingers, while others, who would randomly cut off three fingers, would often cut the wrong ones. Clifton was reportedly killed near

Blackwell, Oklahoma Blackwell is a city in Kay County, Oklahoma, United States, located at the intersection of U.S. Highway 177 and State Highway 11 along Interstate 35. The population was 6,085 as of the 2020 census. Blackwell was established following the Sep ...

, by Deputy US Marshal Chris Madsen in 1896. While the man in question was missing the correct fingers, the outlaw killed was suspected to have actually been Buck McGregg. That is unlikely, though, as Clifton never surfaced again, and Madsen was said to have known Clifton. Actor Buck Taylor was cast as Clifton under the nickname "Dynamite Dick", instead of "Dynamite Dan", in the 1981 film, '' Cattle Annie and Little Britches'', a fictional portrayal of teenaged Oklahoma bandits. A character named after Clifton appears in the 1997 Western-themed first-person shooter '' Outlaws'' by

LucasArts Lucasfilm Games (known as LucasArts between 1990 and 2021) is an American video game brand licensing, licensor, former video game developer and video game publisher, publisher, and a subsidiary of Lucasfilm. It was founded in May 1982 by George ...

. In the game, Richard "Dynamite Dick" Clifton is an English immigrant and wanted outlaw who favors dynamite as his preferred weapon and is one of five bounty targets pursued by protagonist U.S. Marshal James Anderson in the game's "Marshal Training" bonus missions. In the game's manual, he is described as a gunfighter and safecracker who once ran with the Purcell Gang. The historical Clifton was also a known safecracker as well as a thief and cattle rustler who ran with Bill Doolin's gang.

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