Book excerpt: Called "King of the Oklahoma Outlaws" by Marshal Bill Tilghman, Bill Doolin first served an apprenticeship as a member of the Dalton gang. Wisely avoiding the gang's fiasco at Coffeyville, Doolin formed his own gang in 1892, and for the next four years these wild characters robbed trains, looted banks, and otherwise thumbed their noses at harassed U.S. marshals. By the time Doolin was ambushed and killed by a heavy shotgun blast, his escapades were providing rich material for the legends that flourish today about the man and his activities.