Hart Family Documents

This page contains several documents of the Hart Family transcribed from copies of the originals. No attempt has been made to correct mispellings, change format, or improve grammar. Comments are made after each, if warranted. The links below can be followed to the document of your choice:

Letter written by Sarah Ann (Welborn) Hart to "Mrs. L. D. Hart," 31 March 1918
Personal Account of Loss Hart's Killing of Bill Dalton, 1921

Letter written by Sarah Ann (Welborn) Hart to "Mrs. L. D. Hart," 31 March 1918

This letter was written by Sarah Ann (Welborn) Hart in Texico, Curry County, New Mexico to Martha Elizabeth (Carlisle) Hart, wife of her step-son, Lorenzo Dow Hart. The original copy, from which this is transcribed, was in the possession of Louise Dean Miller of Albuquerque, New Mexico. She loaned it to me in a personal visit to see her on 19 April 2001. The handwriting of the original was quite good.

Note that Sarah died on 1 June 1918, two months after this letter was written. It is perhaps the last she ever wrote:

Mrs. L. D. Hart,

Dear Daughter & Family

I have neglected answering your very kind letter of some time past but it seems like I cant hardly write an intelligent letter as we have no good news to write about any more. So very dry and sand storms one after another till you cant hardly see across the streets, and no prospect for any rain tho Amarillo had a good rain a few days ago. I was in hopes you had had rain until I got a letter this morning from Myrtle stating it was dry down there. If it doesn’t rain in time to make crops I don’t see what is to hinder a famine from coming on us, although we are in better fix than lots of people the Chinese are drowning their children to keep them from starving. The folks are all tolerable well except JB has the neuralgia again he has had nearly all his teeth pulled out. The Farwell market has played out and they would do a good business here if meat was’nt so awful high, some of the Beef has to be sold at 33 ^c lb pork 80 ^c They have quit Baking Bread but order it from Clovis, get it at 9 ^cts per loaf, sell at 15 ^c a loaf or two loafs for 25 ^c. I cant hardly keep it here and have to make the war bread too, tho it is right good bread.

We work at the Courthouse rest Room for the Red Cross, when they have any material and a lady donated a Bolt of Muslin last week for Bed shirts. When I cant go I am piecing quilts for Nora, I believe I would go crazy if I did not have any employment. I guess you have your wasted quilt done, you are more than welcome to all I sent you. I guess you miss Mae so much, and Ludie & her little one too The girls are still going to school I suppose Loney wrote me some time ago he had a letter from Dow junior & he said he was going to the war in the spring and kill Germans, he stated Dow was 91 in the spring but I said he wasnt, is he! I see in the paper this morning the Germans are taking their boys down to 17. Oh it is awful to read the papers we get the dailes and lots of the Telegrams.

We get ?…? milk from a little heifer to do us but have to buy butter 30 ^c & eggs 25 ^c I have ordered me a Dress from Victor Ladies Tailoring Co. for spring wear, and bought a new hat so I will be fixed if I ever go anywhere I think of going down to see all of you after a while if I am able but will not go until warm weather maybe the last of May. There was a young man shot & killed his father yesterday for whipping his mother near Bovinia. I will close for this time, hoping to have some better news in the future. All join in sending Love.

S. A. Hart

Comments:

"J. B." is John Berry Coltharp, husband of Sarah's daughter, Nora Francis. Nora's daughter, Sara Fletcher, in a personal visit, recalled that Sarah lived with her family during the later years of her life. She particularly remembered stories of the quilts Sarah had created from scraps here and there. J. B. and Nora owned a store in Texico.
"Mae" (Lillie Mae), "Ludie" (Ludie Lee), and "Dow, junior" (Lorenzo Dow Hart, Jr.) were all children of Lorenzo Dow and Martha Elizabeth (Carlisle) Hart. Lorenzo was the surviving son of the first marriage of Timothy James Hart. When his first wife, died, Timothy married Sarah. Sarah and Lorenzo were apparently quite close most of their adult lives. We find his name, although not her child by birth, on her death certificate as the family member providing information.
"Dow was 91 ..." Lorenzo Dow Hart was born 4 September 1859, i.e. he was 58 when this letter was written. Not sure why a son would indicate he was anywhere near 91 years old.
Note the general description of the conditions around Texico at the time. A real dust bowl, apparently. Also, we can clearly see the local effect of our country at war during World War I.

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Personal Account of Loss Hart's Killing of Bill Dalton, 1921

For many years, the author heard stories about Loss Hart, his role in our Roberson family history, and his fame as a U. S. Marshall in the "wild west" days of the old Indian Territory. In 1997, I made contact with a great-grandson, who helped firm up the sketchy information I'd had prior.

The following is Caleb Lawson "Loss" Hart's personal testimony, after apparently being angered by a newspaper account which he felt conflicted with the truth, of events leading to the killing of Bill Dalton. Bill Dalton was the last of the Dalton gang alive after their famous and disastrous attempt to hold up the bank at Coffeeville, Kansas.

This article appeared in THE CHRONICLES OF OKLAHOMA, Vol. XLVII-No2-Summer 1969, p. 164-166:

From a letter written by Loss Hart to the editor of The Daily Oklahoman in 1921 [punctuation and capitalization exactly as found in original]:

"Byars, Oklahoma. R. 2 Box 72 [Is this Mose Ledford's home??]
Editor. To the Daily Oklahoman, Sunday Edition.
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Gentlemen:

Will you please publish this, a reply to an article published in your paper Sunday, May 15th 1921.

"I, loss Hart of Lawful age,deposes and says in answer to the above states that S. T Lindsey is not the man that killed Bill Dalton. Mr. Linsay was present at the time that Dalton was killed and was appointed captain of the squad that was laying for Dalton. There were nine men in the squad Namely:C. L Hart, Byars, Oklahoma D. E Booker,Ardmore, Oklahoma. Melvin Runnells,Ardmore,Ed Roberts,Oklahoma City,Okla.W. M Freeman,Address unknown.Old Man Glover,Ardmore,Oklahoma. Joe Leatherman,Ardmore,Oklahoma. S. T Lindsay,Ardmore, Oklahoma. I. E Harman Elk City, Oklahoma.who was pilot.for the squad. And Loss Hart further states that the statements made in the Daily Oklahoman is practically untrue and he further says that the Statement made in the Daily Oklahoman that The Dalton Gang had robbed the Frisco Railroad on or about that date is absolutely untrue but the had robbed the Long Vied Bank of Texas. and took from said Bank about $10,000.00.after the robery of said bank Dalton's wife and one Mrs. White came to ardmore with Houston Wallace and the Officers arrested Wallace and the two women for having whiskey in their possession Wallace was placed in jail in Ardmore the two women placed under guard at the Alamo Hotel at ardmore and the officers obtained information about where Dalton was located and they went to the place and A lady milking A cow spied the Posse from the South and ran into the house and notified Dalton Dalton raised the window and came out of the house with his pistol in his hand and kept the log house between him and the men until he crossed the fence from thre yard and went into A cornfield about one hundred yards from the house and as he ran through the corn field Loss Hart fired at him and the said Loss Hart fired the only shot that was fired at Bill Dalton and that Was the fatal shot."

"The gun is now and has been in my possession ever since the shooting Bill Dalton was killed on the 8th. day of June between Seven and Eight O'clock in the Morning.in the Year 1894.three miles west Elk PostOffice Old Indian Territory.

"Before Me W. C White A notary Public personally appeared the indentical person who signed teh foregoing statement and acknowledged to me that he signed teh same as his free and voluntary act and deed.

"My commission Expires May 22,1924."

Comments:

With his participation in this posse, Loss Hart became a local hero. Like the Hart family, the Dalton family was also a big family and there is a story from a Hart family branch in Texas about going into a store where some Dalton family members were talking about the death of Bill. They threatened to kill any Hart family members, if found.
His fame led to trouble later as "young toughs" would come by to test him out. We have this short account of one such encounter:

"Loss Hart kept a simple record of the men he had killed - nine total. One of them was a 17 year old boy later in his life. This local boy got drunk and came out to the Hart home and begin shooting into the house calling Loss out. Loss wasn't home at the time and the boy left for a short while. Loss returned and his wife told him what had happened. The youth returned and Loss went out on the front porch telling him to stop. The youth shot in his direction again and Loss Hart killed him. He went to trial in Stratford and was found innocent."
Loss Hart's family was well acquainted with the Roberson family, as Loss and Fronia (Hart) Roberson were first cousins and the families lived less than 20 miles apart in the wild days of the Indian Territory, before Oklahoma became a state. Loss personally served the "peace order" on the Pugh family, issued by a local judge in 1923, after their murder of George W. Roberson; disarming them. Shortly thereafter, the Pugh family moved out of the area.

Author: Roger L. Roberson, Jr. • Last updated: 11 January 2003