Bill Raidler

Who was Bill Raidler?

Bill Raidler, known as "Little Bill" Raidler was an outlaw of the Old West, and member of the Doolin-Dalton gang.

Raidler was born William F. Raidler in Pennsylvania, and raised to be an educated man. However he had an adventurous side, and drifted down to Texas where he became a cowboy, then eventually ventured up to Oklahoma Territory, where he met Bill Doolin. He joined Doolin's gang around 1892. He was involved in numerous bank robberies and train robberies, as well as a number of shootouts with lawmen. On September 6, 1895, Raidler was trailed to a hideout in Oklahoma by Deputy US Marshal Bill Tilghman. Raidler engaged Tilghman and his two deputies in a gunbattle, and was shot in the wrist by Tilghman. As he attempted to flee, Tilghman shot him two more times, once in the back and once in the neck. Raidler survived, and was sentenced to ten years in prison. He was released in ill health in 1903, suffering greatly from his gunshot wounds that never completely healed. He died a year later.