USA > Minnesota > Cottonwood County > History of Cottonwood and Watonwan counties, Minnesota : their people, industries, and institutions, Volume I > Part 51
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That night it started to rain, and we wore out our horses. On Friday we moved toward Waterville, and Friday night we camped between Elysian
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COTTONWOOD AND WATONWAN COUNTIES, MINN.
and German lake. On Saturday morning we left our horses and started through on foot, hiding that day on an island in a swamp. That night we tramped all night and we spent Sunday about four miles south of Marys- burg. Meantime, our pursuers were watching for horsemen, not finding our abandoned horses, it seems, until Monday. We spent Tuesday in a deserted farm-house close to Mankato. That day a man named Dunning discovered us and we took him prisoner. Some of the boys wanted to kill him, on the theory that "dead men tell no tales," while others urged binding him and leaving him in the woods. Finally, we administered to him an oath not to betray our whereabouts until we had time to make our escape, and he agreed not to. No sooner. however, was he released than he made post haste into Mankato to announce our presence, and in a few minutes another posse was looking for us.
Suspecting, however, that he would not do so, we were soon on the move, and that night we evaded the guard at the Blue Earth river bridge, and about midnight made our way through Mankato. The whistle on the oil mill blew and we feared that it was a signal that had been agreed upon to alarm the town in case we were observed, but we were not molested.
Howard and Woods, who had favored killing Dunning, and who felt we were losing valuable time because of Bob's wound, left us that night and went west. As we afterward learned, this was an advantage to us as well as to them. for they stole two horses soon after leaving us and the posse followed the trail of these horses not knowing our party had been divided. Accordingly, we were not pursued, having kept on a course toward Madelia to a farm where I knew there were some good horses, once in possession of which we could get along faster.
RATIONS SCARCE.
We had been living on scant rations, corn, watermelon, and other vege- tables principally, but in spite of this Bob's arm was mending somewhat. He had to sleep with it pillowed on my breast, Jim also being crippled with a wound in his shoulder and we could not get much sleep. The wound in my thigh was also troubling me and I had to walk with a cane I had ent in the brush. One place we got a chicken and cooked it, only to be interrupted before we could have our feast, having to make a quick dash for cover. At every stopping place we left marks of blood from our wounds and could have been easily trailed, had not the pursuers been led in the track of our recent companions.
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COTTONWOOD AND WATONWAN COUNTIES, MINN.
It seems that from what I have read since, however, that I had myself, left with my landlord, Colonel Vought, of the Flanders House, at Madelia, a damaging suggestion which proved the ultimate undoing of our party. I had talked with him about a bridge between two lakes near there, and accordingly when it became known that the robbers had passed Mankato, Vought thought of this bridge and it was guarded by him and others for two nights. When they abandoned the guard, however, he admonished a Norwegian boy named Oscar Suborn to keep close watch there for us and on Thursday morning, September 21, just two weeks after the robbery, Oscar saw us and fled into town with the alarm. A party of forty was soon out in search for us, headed by Capt. W. W. Murphy, Colonel Vought and Sheriff Glispen. They came up with us as we were fording a small slough and unable to ford it with their horses they were delayed somewhat by having to go around it. But they soon after got close enough so that one of them broke my walking stick with a shot. We were in sight of our long-sought horses when they cut us off from the animals and our last hope was gone. We were at bay on the open prairie, surrounded by a picket line of forty men, some of whom would fight. Not prepared to stand for our last fight against such odds on an open field, we fell back into the Watonwan river bottoms and took refuge in some bushes. We were prepared to wait as long as they would, but they were not of the waiting kind, at least some of them were not, and soon we heard the captain, who we later learned was W. W. Murphy, calling for volunteers to go in with him and rout us out. Six stepped to the front. Sheriff Glispen, Col. T. L. Vought, B. M. Rice, G. A. Bradford, C. A. Pomeroy and S. J. Severson. Forming in line, four paces apart, he ordered them to advance rapidly and concentrate the fire of the whole line the instant the robbers were discovered.
AT BAY.
Meanwhile, we were planning, too. "Pitts," I said, "if you want to go out and surrender, go on." "I will not go," he replied, game to the last. "I can die as well as you can." "Make for the horses," I said. "Every man for himself. There is no use to stop to pick up a comrade here, for we can't get him through the line. Just charge them and make it if we can."
I got up as a signal for the charge and we fired one volley. I tried to get my man and started through, but the next I knew I was lying on the ground bleeding from my nose and mouth and Bob was standing up shout-
-
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COTTONWOOD AND WATONWAN COUNTIES, MINN.
ing: "Coward!" One of the fellows in the outer line too brave, himself. to join the volunteers who had come in to beat us out, was not disposed to believe in the surrender and had his gun leveled on Bob in spite of the hand- kerchief which was waving as a flag of truce. Sheriff Glispen, of Waton- wan county, who was taking Bob's pistol from him, was also shouting to the fellow : "Don't shoot him or I will shoot you."
All of us but Bob had gone down at the first fire. Pitts, shot through the heart, lay dead; Jim, including the wound in the shoulder, he received at Northfield, had been shot five times, the most serious being the shot which shattered his upper jaw and lay embedded beneath the brain and a shot that buried itself underneath his groin and which gave him trouble until the day of his death. Including those received in and on the way from North- field. I had eleven wounds. A bullet had pierced Bob's lung, but he was the only one left on his feet. His right arm useless and his pistol empty. he had no choice.
"I surrender," he had shouted. "They are all down but me. Come on: I will not shoot." And Sheriff Glispen's order not to shoot was the beginning of the protectorate that Minnesota people established over us.
We were taken into Madelia that day and our wounds dressed and I greeted my old landlord, Colonel Vought, who had been one of the seven to go in to get us. We were taken to his hotel and a guard posted. Then came the talk of mob vengeance we had heard so often in Missouri. It was said a mob would be out that night to lynch us. Sheriff Glispen swore we never would be mobbed as long as we were his prisoners. "I don't want any man to risk his life for us," I said to him, "but if they do come for us, give us our pistols so we can make a fight for it." "If they do come and I weaken." he said, "you can have your pistols." But the only mob that came was the mob of sightseers, reporters and detectives.
TO PRISON FOR LIFE.
On Saturday we were taken to Faribault, the county seat of Rice county, in which Northfield is, and here there was more talk of lynching, but Sheriff Ara Barton was not of that kind either, and we were guarded by militia until the excitement had subsided. At Faribault a policeman, whr thought the militia guard was a bluff, bet five dollars he could go right up to the jail without being interfered with. He did not halt when challenged, and was fired upon and was killed. The coroner's jury acquitted the
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COTTONWOOD AND WATONWAN COUNTIES, MINN.
militiaman who shot him. Some people blamed uis for his death, too. Chief of Detectives McDonough, of St. Louis, whom I had passed a few months before in the Union depot at St. Louis, was among our visitors at Faribault.
Four indictments were found against us. One charged us with being accessory to the murder of Cashier Heywood; another with assaulting Bun- ker with intent to do great bodily harm, and the third with robbing the First National Bank of Northfield. The fourth charged me as principal, and my brothers as accessories, with the murder of Gustafson. Two wit- nesses had testified before the grand jury identifying me as the man who fired the shot that hit him, although I know I did not, because I fired no shot in that part of town. Although not one of us had fired the shot that killed either Heywood or Gustafson, our attorneys, Thomas Rutledge, of Madelia, and Bacheldor and Buckham, of Faribault, asked, when we were arraigned, November 9, that we be given two days in which to plead. They advised us that as accessories were equally guilty with the principals, under the law, and as by pleading guilty we would escape capital punishment. we should plead guilty. There was little doubt, under the circumstances, of our conviction, and under the law as it stood then, an accused murderer who pleaded guilty was not subject to death penalty. The state was new, and the law had been made to offer inducement to murderers not to put the county to the expense of a trial.
The excitement that followed our sentence to state prison, which was popularly called "cheating the gallows," resulted in the change of the law in that respect. The following Saturday we pleaded guilty, and Judge Lord sentenced us to imprisonment for the remainder of our lives in the state prison at Stillwater, and a few days later we were taken there by Sheriff Barton. With Bob it was a life sentence, for he died there of consumption on September 16, 1889. He was never strong physically after being shot near Madelia.
NORTHFIELD BANK ROBBERY-BOUNTY DISTRIBUTION.
The following is an exact copy of an article that appeared in the Madelia Times in September. 1877: "Pursuant to the provisions of chap- ter one hundred and seventy-four of the laws of Minnesota, passed in the year 1877. notice is hereby given that at the court house in the village of Madelia on Tuesday, the twentieth day of September, 1877. at nine o'clock
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COTTONWOOD AND WATONWAN COUNTIES, MINN.
in the forenoon. I will hear evidence for the purpose of determining who are entitled to share in the distribution of the state bounty, awarded by the act above referred to, for the capture of the Northfield Bank robbers. Signed, D. A. Dickinson, Judge of Sixth Judicial District."
There were nearly one hundred applicants who asked to share in the reward, but of this number only forty-two were successful. The average amount to each man was forty-five to forty-eight dollars.
CHAPTER XIX.
SIDELIGHTS.
POPULATION OF THE COUNTY.
According to the census reports of both state and United States the following facts have been obtained concerning the population of this county : In 1865 Watonwan had a population of two hundred and forty-nine, made up of forty-six families. In 1870 it had reached 2,434; in 1875 it was 4,024; in 1885 it was 5,995; in 1890 it was 7.746; in 1900 it was 11,496; in 1910 it had decreased to 11.382.
STATE CENSUS OF 1885.
Precincts.
Families.
Males.
Females.
Total.
Adrian township
193
186
379
Antrim
91
286
148
434
Butterfield
44
123
133
256
Fieldon
71
205
181
386
Long Lake
72
234
168
402
Madelia
94
315
269
584
Madelia village
IOI
290
271
561
Nelson
93
288
258
546
Odin
92
2.18
305
553
Riverdale
73
201
188
389
Rosendale
43
137
I4I
278
St. James
57
175
150
325
St. James village
123
108
305
714
South Branch
39
99
89
188
Totals
1.055
3.202
2.791
5.995
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COTTONWOOD AND WATONWAN COUNTIES, MINN.
POPULATION BY TOWNSHIPS IN 19IO.
Adrian township
481
Nelson township
68.4
Antrim township
582
Odin township
604
Butterfield township
602 Odin village
139
Butterfield village
377
Ormsby ( village part of ) 66
Darfur village
72
Riverdale township
727
Fieldon township
6
1
535
Rosendale township
571
Lewisville village
1
I
I
218
St. James city
2,102
Long Lake township 1
583
St. James township
575
Madelia township
I 1 I
574
South Branch township
617
Madelia village
1,273
Total
11,382
According to the United States census returns in 1910 there were nationalities as follow: Total, 11,382, of which 8,850 were native born ; German. 565: Sweden, 629; Norway. 876; Great Britain and Ireland, 97; Denmark. 65: Austria, 70: Russia. 123: other countries, 107.
In 1873 there were reported to the county clerk one hundred and forty- seven births and thirty-three deaths. Of the deaths reported, eight were caused directly by the storm of January 8.
The number of marriage licenses issued during the year 1874 was twenty-four. Number taking out naturalization papers, nineteen ; citizens' papers, forty-eight. Number of births, one hundred and ninety-one; num- ber of deathis, forty-five.
ALTITUDES OF THE COUNTY.
According to the government survey made a number of years since, the altitudes above the level of the sea for this county are as follow: At Madelia it is one thousand and twenty-five feet above the sea. The Waton- wan river is nine hundred and seventy-nine feet above the sea. At St. James city the altitude is one thousand and seventy-three feet. At Butter- field it is eleven hundred and eighty-four feet. The highest point in the county is found in the southwestern corner, where it reaches thirteen hun- dred feet, and the lowest point is nine hundred and sixty feet.
Given by townships the reports show the following: Madelia town- ship, one thousand and twenty-five feet ; Fieldon township, one thousand and fifty feet; Antrim township, eleven hundred feet: Riverdale township, one
1
I
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COTTONWOOD AND WATONWAN COUNTIES, MINN.
thousand and forty feet; Rosendale township, one thousand and sixty feet ; South Branch township, eleven hundred and twenty feet: Nelson township, one thousand and seventy-five feet ; St. James township, eleven hundred and twenty feet ; Long Lake township, eleven hundred and fifty feet; Adrian township, eleven hundred and fifty feet; Butterfield township, twelve hun- dred feet ; Odin township, twelve hundred and forty feet; the mean height of the county is eleven hundred and ten feet above the sea level.
VILLAGE PLATTINGS.
Since the organization of Brown and Watonwan counties, the follow- ing village plats have been surveyed and recorded-the village of Madelia being platted before the organization of this county, hence, is found in the transcripts from Brown county :
Madelia, platted by Surveyor Daniel Buck, for the proprietors, Daniel Haire, P. Hartshorn, Leander W. Sheppard, James Hudson and Stephen P. Benjamin. It was recorded July 9, 1857, and formed parts of sections 27 and 28, township 17, range 30, west. At first it was the seat of justice for the newly formed Watonwan county.
St. James was platted by Elias F. Drake, president of the St. Paul and Sioux City Railroad Company, as being a part of section 13. township 106, range 32, west. It was recorded October 8, 1870.
Butterfield was platted in section 27. township 106, range 33, west, on September 13, 1880, by E. F. Drake, president of the St. Paul & Sioux City Railroad Company.
Grogan was platted by B. R. Grogan and Moses K. Armstrong, in section 3. township 106, range 31. west, on September 6. 1891.
LaSalle was platted on October 12, 1899, by Harry L. and Anna L. Jenkins, as a part of section 17, township 107, range 31.
Echols was platted by Harry L. and Anna L. Jenkins, in section 3, township 105, range 32, west, October 12, 1899.
Ormsby was platted in section 32, township 105, range 32, west, by Harry L. and Anna L. Jenkins, October 14, 1899.
Odin was platted by the Western Town Lot Company, March 29, 1899, in section 25, township 105, range 33, west.
Darfur was platted by the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad Company, through its president, Marvin Hughett, April 20, 1899, in section 20, town- ship 107, range 33, west.
Lewisville was platted by the Interstate Land Company, May 3, 1899,
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COTTONWOOD AND WATONWAN COUNTIES, MINN.
in section 44, township 105. range 30, west. through the company's presi- dent. F. H. Peavey.
SPELLING SCHOOL.
The following is an account of a spelling school held in Flanders Hall, April. 1875, by some of the early settlers and their friends :
After considerable debate, E. H. Hill and W. R. Estes were prevailed to act as captains of the hosts: A. Frizzell was chosen enunciator. The first one having a very bad spell was W. R. Estes who showed that he did not know how to spell "rinse." producing it with w-r-i-n-t-z. The next was O. H. Davis, who proved that he was a rogue by giving that word, w-r-o-g-e, and presently Miss Elliot chimed with s-c-o-u-r-s-e, for source. B. G. Yates (a temperance advocate) took champaign instead of the sparkling champagne, and retired. W. Woods labored on lava with a-v-o-u-r.
G. W. Yates slipped on three trials and spelled cortege, but with a stern look and a gesture from Alonzo he left the ranks. E. H. Bill thinking a ยท recreation very nice, desired to prolong it. but was forced to retreat by doubling the t in pastime; C. M. Delling and G. W. Tanner followed suit by doubling the s. Misses Dunn and Peck went down by misunderstanding equivalents, spelling it l-e-n-c-e. Mrs. Dunn added e to fresco and had to retire. G. P. Johnston, a dry-goods clerk, took salvage for selvedge; Mr. Dunn tried it with s-e-l-v-e-g-e and sat down.
E. II. Bill believes Miss Youngman more of Bible reader than her spell- ing "sheckle" would indicate. It is indelibly impressed upon the mind of MIrs. Clark that that word is spelled with one 1. Miss Flora Cheney and F. D. Joy were still standing, but it being a very late hour it was thought best to adjourn.
OLD SETTLERS REUNION IN MAADELIA, 1875.
Although this meeting had unfortunately been appointed upon "blizzard day" (Tuesday, February 26, 1875), yet old settlers who have had the enter- prise to push out into this new country in an early day were not to be daunted, so despite this storm an assembly of pioneers to the number of sixty gath- ered in Mr. Flanders' hall and had a very enjoyable time. Of those present. the one who had first set foot on Minnesota soil was Joseph Flanders, who came to the state in 1851. went away and returned in 1857. The next earliest was M. Delling and then B. C. Sandborn, who came May 5, 1853.
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COTTONWOOD AND WATONWAN COUNTIES, MINN.
The oldest settler in this vicinity present was Mrs. Isaac Slocum, who came in 1855. Dr. Tibil and family came soon after. A Mr. Law claims to be the oldest settler in the county, but was not at the meeting. There were many present who came in 1855 and still a greater number of those who came in 1857.
The partaking of a sumptuous supper prepared by the ladies of olden times, yet in the best style of modern days, was perhaps the most important event on the program. On one table was a monument of "johnnie cake," capped with the date 1855 and made by Mrs. I. Slocum from meal ground in a coffee mill, in rememberance of the best that day afforded as to material and manner of preparing it.
Dr. Tibil called the assembly to order and made some very sensible and spicy remarks as to his leaving home and the many conveniences in the East and coming out here in "God's pasture," as he termed it, where the only inhabitants were wild Indians. Mr. C. D. Ash also gave his reasons for leaving the rocky fields of New Hampshire, he being fully convinced that he could not make a mistake in seeking another location, and step by step reached the land of good health and good prospects.
Mr. D. Buck, of Mankato, was called on and responded by saying that he came to this place in 1857 and made the claim now in the farm of W. W. Murphy. He was in Madelia when the original townsite was laid out and did the surveying and platting of it. The proprietors of the site were Hart- shorn, Shepard and Haire, and there was quite a controversy, which was detrimental to the place, as to what name should be given the village. Ac- cording to Mr. Buck's version there was a little coincidence in this, inas- much as Mr. Hartshorn had a daughter and Mr. Haire had a sister, cach named Madelia, so it was resolved that the town should receive that name. Mr. Buck told of his experiences, one of which was that while boarding with a Mr. Benjamin, he slept on a pole bed and on the night that the comet of that year had been predicted to strike the earth, he went to turn over in bed when down came the bedstead and his first impression upon being so suddenly awakened was that the comet had struck Benjamin's house.
Mr. Flanders told of his early experiences, many of which were very amusing. He also said that one object he had in coming to this country was to "make circumstances." lle related incidents concerning the poverty of the people of the carly times: that frequently they did not have a meal in the house and that he had made a dinner of little fishes, caught by his children, cooked without salt and eaten with a little bread ; yet all were happy.
Mr. Charles Kempfer related some amusing incidents of the carly days
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COTTONWOOD AND WATONWAN COUNTIES, MINN.
of yore and said that his object in coming was to get where land was cheap. He was followed by B. O. Kempfer, who, as he said, had imagined himself the star of the Empire state and had made his way westward. He had also seen jolly days in the early times and the only affront he remembered was in being called a young Irishman by Mr. Buck while driving survey stakes for him, when in reality he was a Pennsylvania-Dutchinan.
SONG FOR THE OLD SETTLERS. By Chas. A. Kempfer.
There's Sloeum and Pomeroy and Gilbert and Chase, Ilow well I remember cach glad welcome face: There's Barney and Bends. Tom Rutledge and Pat, They're all of them hearty and some of them fat. Hurrah for the band, the brae little band. The bold pioneers that settled the land.
There's Mollen and Shannon and old Mrs. Okls, Nels Larsen and Jens and Helger so bokl ;
They've braved many stormus and they've done very much,
And so has Doc Tibil and Theodore Dutch. Hurrah for the band, the foo-daring band, That faced the wild savage and settled the land.
There's Buek. the surveyor, the lawyer I mean, When Madelia was grass and all of it green : lle "run" the townsite with compass so (r'ne. And his legs were all wet with primitive dew. Hurrah for the band, the gay-daring band, The jolly good fellows that settled the land.
That night, while enjoying pure primitive dreams. We awoke at the sound of Buck's terrible sereams, He "bust" out a-laffin', "he was quite dead." That "comet" justed "busted his primitive bed." Hurrah for the band, the gay-daring band. The jolly good fellows that settled the land.
There's Hudson and Travis and Sprague and "Old Joe". From old '57 their faces I know, And all whom I've named I knew them well then, Your poet is happy to meet them again. Hurrah for the band, the musical band, The pride of the gay boys that settled the land.
The "New Yankee Sled." first fruits of my muse, We sang on that sled to keep of the blues. The sled is now rotten, and we'll see it no more, But the song and your faces are bright as of yore. Hurrah for the band. John Ouren's Brass Band. That played for the heroes that settled the land.
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COTTONWOOD AND WATONWAN COUNTIES, MINN.
GREAT STORMS.
In January, 1873. the thermometer made a sudden drop about two o'clock in the afternoon and the wind began blowing a hurricane from the northwest, followed by snow. It seems that for some reason that a great many of the country people had gone into the towns on this day and naturally were caught away from home in the storm. Some thought they were com- pelled to return home and therefore made the attempt. Among the number was Mrs. Charles Decker and Mrs. Chris Ash, both of whom lived near Madelia. When four miles from town they tied their team to a fence within thirty rods of a house, started to go with the wind and perished. A man and his team were found frozen to death near the Trowbridge farm, three miles southwest of St. James. A man living four or five miles west of Madelia succeeded in getting within twenty rods of a house when he was forced to unhitch his oxen, afterward found dead, and make his way with the wind the best he could. He finally reached the home of Mr. Duncan. just alive.
A gang of snow shovelers working for the railroad just out of St. James, saw the storm coming and started for the nearest house, but were overtaken. When they arrived they found one of their number missing. but weather conditions were such that they could not retrace their course. They remained in this house for two days and nights and then went in search of the poor lost victim, expecting to find him frozen stiff, if they were successful at all. In their diligent search they found signs of his existence and digging into a snow drift he sprang out all right and said he would like to have some breakfast.
In the Nelson settlement north of St. James four people met death from exposure. A child and her aunt, Mrs. P. Olt, lay in a barn for two days and nights without food before they were rescued. The child's feet were badly frozen and for some time her recovery was very doubtful.
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