USA > Minnesota > Rice County > History of Rice and Steele counties, Minnesota, Vol. I > Part 47
USA > Minnesota > Steele County > History of Rice and Steele counties, Minnesota, Vol. I > Part 47
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These men came into the state in detachments, and studied the situation thoroughly, going as far north as St. Paul and Minneapolis, and as far west as Red Wing. Bill Stiles, one of the gang. was a former resident of Rice county, and really insti- gated the raid into this state. Mankato was finally selected. with Northfield as second choice. But on September 2, when the plans were ready for the attack on Mankato, the presence of a
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large number of citizens, armed, on the streets near the bank, de- ferred them from their purpose, and they started for Northfield. On their way to Northfield they divided, and spent the night of September 6 in neighboring villages, coming to Northfield on the afternoon of September 6. Their arms were covered with the long linen dusters which they wore for an outer garment.
Nearing Northfield, the party separated into three divisions of two trios and one couple. To one trio was assigned the com- mitting of the robbery ; the couple were to co-operate with this trio on the principal street of the city, while the other trio were to act as a rear guard. In pursuance of this plan, about two o'clock in the afternoon of September 7 the trio, consisting of Pitts, Robert Younger and one of the James Brothers, rode into Northfield, and, on reaching the principal street, dismounted in front of the First National Bank. Throwing their bridle reins over hitching posts, they proceeded to lounge upon some dry goods boxes, assuming an air of indifference. Presently two other horsemen appeared upon the street, and those proved to be Cole Younger and Clel Miller. The trio then immediately left their positions on the dry goods boxes, and entered the bank. Thereupon Miller dismounted, and going to the bank closed the front door, while Younger dismounted in the middle of the street, and pretended to tighten his saddle girth. This conduct attracted the attention of several citizens. J. S. Allen, a hardware mer- chant, whose store was located west of the building which was occupied by the bank, attempted to follow the three men into the bank, but was instantly seized by Miller and ordered to "stand back." Allen jerked away from the grasp of the robber and ran toward the store, shouting "Get your guns, boys! They are robbing the bank!" About the same time, H. M. Wheeler, then a young medical student, at home on a vacation from his studies at the University of Michigan, and who was sitting in front of his father's store on the opposite side of the street, shouted "Robbery ! Robbery !"
Upon this outery, Miller and Younger sprang into their sad- dies and began riding up and down the street at the utmost speed of their horses. They were joined by the three men who had been left as a rear guard, and who took up the same tactics. The robbers generally fired into the air, and the robbers subse- quently declared that it was not their intention to kill anybody but simply to strike terror into the hearts of the people and drive everything from the street, so as to give the men in the bank time to rob it without interference, and then to secure to them an unobstructed line of retreat. In this constant fusillade from the robbers' revolvers but one person was shot, Nicholas Gustavson,
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a Scandinavian, who did not understand English, and remained on the streets after the robbers had ordered him away.
At the same time the three robbers were meeting with diffi- culties in the bank, at the hands of Alonzo E. Bunker, teller ; Frank J. Wilcox, assistant bookkeeper, and Joseph L. Heywood, bookkeeper, who, on account of the absence of the cashier from the state, was acting cashier. When the three robbers entered the bank, the employes were busy at their regular tasks. Mr. Bunker immediately stepped to the counter, supposing they were customers, when three revolvers were pointed at him and he was ordered to throw up his hands. The three robbers then climbed over the counter and covered the other employes with their revolvers. One of them said, "We're going to rob the bank. Don't any of you holter ; we've got forty men outside." Pointing his revolver at Heywood, he then asked him, "Are you the cashier?" Heyward replied, "No." The same question was asked the other employes, each of them making the same reply. The robber then said to Heywood, "You are the cashier ; open the safe quick, or I'll blow your head off."
A second robber, Pitts, then stepped inside of the vault. whereupon Heywood attempted to close the door. He was in- stantly dragged back and the two robbers, thrusting their re- volvers in his face, said, "Open the safe now, or you haven't a minute to live." Heywood replied, "There is a time lock on. and it cannot be opened now." The robbers then dragged Hey- wood roughly about the room, and realizing the desperate situa- tion, he shouted "Murder! Murder!" whereupon he was dealt a terrific blow on the head with a revolver, and fell to the floor. The robbers still insisted that Heywood should open the safe, and occasionally turned from him to Bunker and Wilcox, calling upon them to unlock the safe. To these demands the young men answered that they could not unlock the safe. This was true, as it was already unlocked ; the door being closed, the bolts were shot into place, but the combination dial was not closed. Finally, as a last resort to coerce Heywood, who was lying on the floor, Pitts placed his revolver close to Heywood's head and fired. This was the first shot fired in the bank, and the buffet passed into the vault, and through a tin box containing jewelry and papers left by some customer for safe keeping. The special cus- todian of Bunker and Wilcox was Bob Younger, who compelled them both to get down on their knees under the counter. From this position Bunker made several attempts to extricate himself. and finally, when Younger's face was turned, dashed through the directors' room to the rear door of the bank and, throwing him- self against the closed blinds which were fastened on the inside. succeeded in gaining an outside flight of stairs. His escape was
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noticed by Pitts, who fired at him, the ball whizzing past Bunker's ear. As he reached the rear entrance of the next build- ing Pitts fired again, and Bunker received the ball near the joint of the right shoulder, the missile coming out just below his collar bone. Pitts then gave up the chase, and, on returning to his com- panions heard one of them on the outside shout, "The game is up! Better get out boys; they are killing all our men." The three robbers in the bank, hearing this, rushed into the street. The last one, as he climbed over the counter (claimed by later members of the gang to have been Jesse James, who admitted the fact), cowardly and deliberately shot Heywood through the head, as he was on his feet and was staggering towards his desk.
The conflict in the street was at its height. Henry M. Wheeler had hastened to the Dampier Hotel when the citizens had been driven from the streets by the robbers, and securing an old army carbine had stationed himself at a second story chamber window. Meantime, Mr. Allen, who had first sounded the alarm, had proceeded to his hardware store and distributed guns and ammunition to his neighbors. A. R. Manning, the other hardware merchant, armed himself with a breech-loading rifle. The people had deserted the streets; the stores and offices were hastily closed, and the five mounted robbers were riding back and forth, up one side of the street and down the other, doing their utmost with voice and arms to intensify the state of terror. As Clel Miller was mounting his horse, Elias Stacy, who had been armed with a fowling piece by Allen, confronted him and fired at his head; the fine buckshot marked the robber's face, but inflicted no serious wound.
Manning and Wheeler were the ones who finally put the rob- bers to flight. Manning came running from his store, and, step- ping into the open street, saw over the backs of the horses the heads of the two robbers. Manning, lowering his gun, changed his aim and shot the nearest horse. He then dropped back, around the corner, and reloaded, and, on returning, seeing Cole Younger between the horses and the bank door, fired, wound- ing him badly, but not fatally. Again Manning dropped back to reload, and looking cautiously around the corner, he saw Stiles sitting on his horse, some seventy or eighty yards away. Taking deliberate aim he fired, shooting the brigand through the heart, he falling dead from his saddle.
At the same time, Wheeler, from his vantage point in the second story of the hotel, fired his first shot at James Younger, who was riding by; the gun carrying high the ball struck the ground beyond the brigand. His next shot was at Clel Miller, and the bullet passed through his body, severing the sub-clavian artery and killing him instantly. It was at this time, when Cole
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Younger rode to the door of the bank, that the band mounted their horses, but there was no horse for Bob Younger, his steed having been killed by Manning. In the meantime, Manning and Wheeler had both reloaded, and as the former showed himself ready to renew the fight, Bob came running towards him down the sidewalk. Manning raised his rifle to shoot, while Younger drew his revolver. They both dodged, placing an outside stair- way between them, and kept up a game of hide and seek. Wheeler, though he could but imperfectly see Younger's body from his position, took a shot at the brigand; the ball struck the robber's elbow, shattering the bone; he cooly changed his pistol to his left hand, and continued his efforts to shoot Manning.
While Wheeler was reloading his gun, and Manning changing his position, Bob Younger sprang from his hiding place, mounted behind his brother Cole, and the entire band, or what was left of it, turned and fled. The battle was over. From its opening to its close, it had occupied but seven minutes. The funds of the bank were intact. Six of the robbers were in flight, and at least two of them badly wounded. In front of the bank lay the dead horse ; nearby was the body of Clel Miller, and a half block away. on the other side of the street, that of Stiles. In the bank was the dead body of Heywood.
The robbers left Northfield by the Dundas road, leading to the village of that name, three miles to the south. They rode abreast, taking the whole road, and compelling everyone they met to take the ditch. Meeting a farmer, they helped them- selves to one of his span of gray horses, and "borrowed" a saddle from another farmer for the use of Bob Younger, whose wounded arm was causing him much suffering. About 4:30 p. m. the band reached Millersburg, where some of them spent the pre- vious night. Here they were recognized, but they were still in advance of the news of their crime, and far ahead of their pur- suers.
The robbers were scarcely out of sight before the Northfield men were running for their guns and horses to join in the chase of the robbers. The state capital was telegraphed to for aid, and as soon as practicable a small army of pursuers was organized. Three times in the afternoon of the day of the robbery small ad- vance detachments of the force came nearly upon the fugitives. Just when they were seizing the farmer's horse on the Dundas road : again at Shieldsville, fifteen miles west of Northfield, a squad of Faribault men had arrived in advance of the pursued by taking a shorter road. They had, however, gone within doors, leaving their guns outside. when the robbers suddenly appeared before the door and held their unarmed pursuers in check while they watered their horses at an adjacent pump. On the de-
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parture of the robbers, the pursuers regained their guns, and being reinforced by a dozen local recruits, hastened after the rob- bers. The band was overtaken in a ravine four miles west of Shieldsville, where shots were exchanged at long range, without effect on either side, and the robbers escaped into the thick woods beyond. In the meantime, a more systematic company was inau- gurated and organized. On the night of the robbery there were 200 citizens in the field ; on the following day 500, and later the number was swelled to at least 1,000. Many of these, however. were a source of weakness to the force, their services being ten- dered solely from mercenary motives, as large rewards for the capture of the robbers were offered by the Northfield bank, the governor of the state, and the railroad companies.
There were two objects to be accomplished, viz .: The retreat of the fugitives was to be cut off, and they were to be hunted down and captured. To secure the first result, picket lines were thrown out in advance of them, covering cvery route which they could possibly take. To secure the second, scouting parties were put upon their trail, to follow them from place to place, and to explore the country in search of them. The robbers were in the vast forest and tract known as the "Big Woods." The brigands on the night of the robbery were left in a hiding place beyond Shieldsville. The following day they moved first west- ward, then southwestward, in the direction of Waterville. They forded the little Cannon river, and disappeared in the forest be- yond. They pushed on into the township of Elysian, in LeSuenr county, camping that night between the village of Elysian and German lake. On the following morning they abandoned their horses and continued their journey on foot.
They went no farther that day than to find a hiding place on an island in the middle of a swamp, where they encamped for the remainder of the day. Continuing their journey after dark, they marched slowly all night in LeSucur county, and at day- light halted near the village of Marysburg. Passing around the village, they made a camp four miles south of it. Nine miles west of this camp, and within two or three miles of Mankato, they found a deserted farmhouse in the woods, and here they remained two days and nights, having advanced less than fifty miles in five days. Even at this very moderate rate they had distanced their pursuers, who, on Tuesday morning discovered their half- starved horses and the deserted camp they had left the preceding Saturday, and this was regarded as a sign of the hopelessness of the chase. Thereupon a large proportion of the pursuers returned to their homes.
On Wednesday morning, however, news was conveyed to Mankato of the appearance of the robbers near that city. A
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new campaign was organized, under the direction of Gen. E. M. Pope. Again patrols and searching parties were sent out, and every possible avenue of escape was guarded, night and day. Policemen and police officers came down from Minneapolis and St. Paul and took part in the hunt. But again the fugitives escaped. Part of them crossed the railroad bridge over the Blue Earth river, near Mankato, while two, mounted on a stolen horse, passed the picket line near Lake Crystal, and were fired upon by a picket guard. These two men were the James brothers, who were both thrown from the horse when the guard fired, and the animal then cantered back to its owner's pasture. The brothers escaped in the darkness, and continuing their flight, stole a span of gray horses, which they mounted bareback. This allowed them to make rapid progress, and they assumed the role of officers in pursuit of criminals. By traveling day and night, and taking a due west course, in two days they made eighty miles. and, on Sunday, September 17, they crossed the minnesota line into Dakota. Here they made a prisoner of a Sioux Falls phy- sician, from whom they obtained medical and surgical aid for the wounds of Frank James, whose left leg had been badly injured at Northfield. Pursuing their course through southeastern Da- kota, they crossed the Missouri river at Springfield, and went as far south and west as Columbus, Neb. At this point they sold their horses, took the cars for Omaha, and made their way back to their old home in Clay county, Missouri. Rumors were cir- culated that they were en route for Texas, and officers were sent to that state to arrest them. However, after a short time at their former home, they went to Tennessee, where they lived in retire- ment a short time.
The disappointment and mortification of the pursuers was intense ; a thousand men had failed to capture six. The campaign had proved an utter failure, and the "robber hunt" was the great joke of the season. It was supposed that the entire band had escaped from the state, when, on September 21, news was re- ceived that four of them had been located in the neighborhood of Madelia. They were the three Youngers and Pitts. The band had divided on account of the wounds of Bob Younger; his injuries caused him so much pain that he could not travel, and rather than desert their brother in his misfortune, the two older brothers and Pitts had decided to stay with him, although there- by forfeiting all their chances of escape.
The news of the presence of the band in the state was brought to Madelia by Oscar Olson Suborn, a Norwegian lad. about seventeen years old, who had been accosted on the morning of September 21 by two strange men, whom he believed to be the robbers. Riding rapidly to Madelia, seven or eight miles away.
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he alarmed the citizens, seven of whom, including James Glis- pin, the sheriff of Watonwan county, lost no time in reaching the refuge of the robbers. The band of fugitives was soon descried making their way on foot through what is known as Hanska slough, connected with Lake Hanska, or Long lake. They crossed the lake and made several unsuccessful attempts to obtain horses.
The robbers were at last hemmed in a rude triangle of ground, some five acres in extent, covered with an impenetrable growth of willow box elders, wild plums and grapevines, and lying be- tween the Watonwan river and along a steep bluff. They were driven to cover in these thickets, and a strong picket line sur- rounded them. Captain W. W. Murphy then asked for volun- teers to go into the brush and rout out the bandits. Six men responded to his call, namely: Sheriff James Glispin, Col. T. L. Vought, B. M. Rice, G. A. Bradford, C. A. Pomeroy and S. J. Severson. The captain formed his men into line five paces apart, and ordered the men to advance rapidly. They advanced some fifty or sixty yards, when the robbers were discovered, and one of them firing gave the signal for a general fusillade on both sides. The two forces were not more than thirty feet apart ; the fight was sharp and brief. Bradford and Severson were grazed by bullets, while Captain Murphy was struck in the side ; the ball glanced on a briar root pipe in liis pocket and lodged in his pistol belt. The robbers suffered severely. Bob Younger was wounded in the breast ; his brother James had five wounds ; Cole had eleven, and Pitts was killed, having been hit five times. On being called upon to surrender, Bob Younger responded, "I surrender ; they are all down but me." The arms of the robbers were taken from them, and they were taken to Madelia in a wagon in the custody of the sheriff. Here they received from the citizens of perverted taste much misdirected sympathy, and a reception which amounted to an ovation. Their wounds were dressed, and they were fed and cared for.
On the twenty-third of September the prisoners were deliv- ered to Sheriff Ara Barton, of Rice county, and by him taken to the jail of that county, at Faribault, to await indictment and arraignment for their erimes. Here, too, they received every attention, as if they had played the role of heroes in the North- field tragedy, and not that of villains. They were strongly guarded by a force of picked men, armed with state muskets, to prevent a possible lynching. On the night of October 2 an ex- cited guard shot and killed a town policeman, who was approach- ing the jail, but who announced plainly who he was. The unfor- tunate officer's name was Henry Kapaniek, and he was indirectly the third victim of the raid of the Missouri bandits-thus for the three rogues killed three honest citizens gave up their lives.
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At last, on November 16, four indictments were returned by the Rice county grand jury against the trio of murderous brothers. Two of the indictments were for murder in the first degree for the killing of Cashier Heywood and Nicholas Gustavson, one for robbery, and the other for assault with deadly weapons on Clerk Bunker. The same afternoon they were arraigned before the district court, Judge Samuel Lord, presiding. George N. Baxter. county attorney. represented the state and the prosecution. George W. Batchelder and Thomas S. Buckham, of Faribault, and Thomas Rutledge, of Medelia, were the attorneys for the Youngers. The prisoners, through their counsel, had their time to plead extended, first to Saturday, and again until Monday. November 20. On the last named date they pleaded guilty, as accessories, which, under the law, made them principals to the murder of Heywood.
At this period the death penalty for any crime was not in force in Minnesota, save for the punishment of murder in the first degree, and then only when the jury that convicted the criminal should prescribe in their verdiet that his punishment should be death. So that the death penalty could be inflicted by a judge in his sentence only after it had been prescribed by a jury. In such a case, the condemned was to undergo solitary confinement for from one to six months, and at the expiration of such time was to be executed on the warrant of the governor. In all cases where the jury did not impose the death penalty, punishment for murder in the first degree was to be by imprison- ment at hard labor in the penitentiary for life.
When the two Youngers had pleaded guilty to the murder of Heywood the prosecuting attorney (Baxter) rose and moved that a jury be empaneled to decide upon the character of the sentence. The attorneys for the defense promptly and vigorously objected, arguing that, under the law, the prisoners had ren- dered a jury unnecessary, by pleading guilty, and that there was nothing left but for the judge to sentence them to the penitentiary for life. Mr. Baxter made an argument to the effect that even if the accused had pleaded guilty, a jury was necessary to say what their punishment should be, but Judge Lord summarily put the learned prosecutor's arguments aside, with the statement that criminal statutes must be construed strictly, and if possible, in favor of the prisoner, and that the evident intention of the legis- lature of 1868 was to save a murderer's life if he pleaded guilty. He then overruled the prosecutor's motion for a jury and sen- tenced the three brothers to life imprisonment at hard labor.
After their incarceration in the penitentiary, the Youngers made the best of the situation and were regarded as model prison- ers. In a few years they were favored with casy positions in the
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prison. Then began a series of annual efforts to have them par- doned by the governor. The morbid, the sympathizers with villainy, and they who were not wise, united with the prominent, and even eminent, men of the state in praying the chief executive to set the prisoners free. Even Heywood's widow and daughter signed the petitions for the pardon of the accessories to the mur- der of their husband and father. But every governor refused. Bob Younger died in the penitentiary from tuberculosis, Sep- tember 16, 1889. The efforts to have the surviving brothers re- leased were renewed. Finally the legislature of 1901 enacted, practically for their sole benefit, a law providing that life con- victs might be released from imprisonment when they had served thirty-five years, less the time allowed by law for good conduct. In the case of the Youngers, they were entitled to about eleven years' credit for their correct deportment. The deduction left twenty-four years as the period during which they should serve before becoming eligible to parole, and they had served twenty- five years. The passage of the law was stoutly resisted by Representative A. B. Kelly, of Northfield, and others, but was ardently advocated by other legislators, and public sentiment seemed to approve it.
July 14, 1901, the Youngers were released from prison on parole, with certain conditions. They could not leave the state ; they were not allowed to appear in any part or feature of a public show or exhibition of any character. They went to the Twin Cities, and for some time were in regular employment as sales- men.
James Younger, during his parole, committed suicide in the Reardon Hotel, St. Paul, because the Board of Pardons would not allow him to marry a respectable and accomplished young Min- nesota lady.
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