Part 4

and bound them up in socks improvised from their underclothing. But they dared not rest here too long as the corn fields and potato-patches on which they depended for subsistance were at an inconvenient distance, and their hunters might flush their camp at any moment. Saturday night they again took up their tedious march, and about daylight went into camp a mile from the German Catholic church in Marysburgh, the bell of which was plainly heard by the robbers when it rung for early mass. They concluded not to attend church that day, contrary to the usual custom of Cole Younger at least, and a luxurious breakfast of roasted corn and baked potatoes was prepared. This camp was within a few rods of the edge of a clearing, showing the remarkable boldness of the gang. Here two small boys saw three of them walking just outside the woods, and reported it, but little faith was placed on their story, as the general impression was that the bandits were still in the woods behind Elysian or had made a break on their horses to the Minnesota river, and hence to parts unknown. Their camp of Friday night had not then been discovered; and it was supposed that they were still in possession of their horses.

In all the time intervening between Thursday afternoon and Monday morning, the robbers had made but about thirty miles, and although surrounded at times by

AT LEAST FIVE HUNDRED MEN,

they would not have suffered at all except for the cold and rain. In the Sunday camp a portion of a bloody shirt gave evidence that Bob Younger had been compelled to again dress his wounded arm.

Slowly the robbers proceeded, and their next camp was some four miles directly south of Marysburgh on the banks of Lake Madison in Blue Earth county. From here a bold strike was made directly west nearly nine miles, to a point but about 2½ miles back of the city of Mankato, where, finding an empty house in the woods on the Kron farm they slept comfortably Monday and Tuesday nights. During the most of this time they had lived on fodder corn uncooked, hazel nuts, grapes and wild plums, but Tuesday morning they made a requisition on a German farmer and procured a good breakfast. At the table they sat with their overcoats on, and their

BOWIE KNIVES BY THEIR PLATES.

They were uncommunicative, inoffensive and polite, and paid liberally for the hospitality shown them.

The hunt had continued while the bandits were escaping as above related, a reward of $1,000 offered by Governor Pillsbury, $700 by the Northfield bank, and $500 by the Winona and St. Peter railroad inciting many to action. The state reward was afterwards increased to $1,000 for each man dead or alive. However all were off the scent, the objective point of the pursuers being the woods back of Elysian from which the pursued had quietly passed. The headquarters of the robber hunters were made

AT JANESVILLE.

On Saturday, Sept. 9th, a party consisting of A. A. Keller, Russell M. Church, F. Martin and W. Rhine started across the country from Northfieid to Faribault, and catching there the train, proceeded to Owatonna, where they were joined by a party of some thirty well armed citizens.

Telegrams were sent to Waseca for a special train to carry them to Janesville. Finding a case of needle guns at Owatonna for Brisette, they took them on with them, arriving at Janesville at one o’clock. They found Brisette and his men there. They had been on the track of the gang from the first, often getting sight of them, and never for an hour losing their trail till Saturday, when they failed to see them during the whole day.

Early in the morning the party was divided into companies and took to the woods, determined to hunt the villains up. Besides the parties sent out in squads to the woods, other parties were out in each direction up the Winona and St. Peter R. R. on hand cars.

The whole country around Janesville was alive, and hundreds of volunteers were rushing about in search of arms to join the pursuers. By noon on Sunday there were at least three hundred men on the war-path, seeking for the fugitives and anxious to secure some portion of the reward offered for their capture.

The telegraph was kept in lively operation, and every rumor was sent from point to point, and mounted messengers carried the news along the lines of outposts, keeping the men well informed on the events of the day.

At about 3 o’clock a messenger came riding up to headquarters, his horse reeking and foaming, and the man’s manner portending news of the utmost weight and importance. Hurrying in to the depot he handed the telegraph operator a paper containing the information that the fugitives broke cover near Elysian and were making for Waterville. To inquiries he answered that three of the robbers were seen and one was riding a cream-colored horse, and that the police were hard on their track.

Telegrams were at once sent to Eagle Lake, Owatonna, and other points, repeating the exciting tale and asking that the posts along the line between Waseca and Janesville be made especially strong—the supposition being that the thieves would try to cross somewhere between those two points. In prompt reply to these telegrams a special train was dispatched containing over one hundred men, well-armed, from Northfield, Winona, Rochester, Owatonna and Medford, and these were left in squads often between Waseca and Janesville, twenty-two of them coming up for instructions and news.

These twenty-two were under the command of C. Runnels. Many were

VETERANS OF THE WAR,

and they seemed to be under good discipline, all obeying their leader’s orders with alacrity. This party it was thought better to use as a company of patrol, who were to visit the outposts between this section and Waseca.

THE ST. PAUL POLICE

and the five Northfield scouts came in about 9:30 o’clock Saturday night, and to the surprise of numbers of people waiting for news, reported that they had no news to tell. They knew nothing of the dispatch which had awakened such lively interest.

The party had been out all day, having left Janesville at 8 o’clock with four wagons and some on horseback. They proceeded first to Elysian and passing round the lake then proceeded on to Marysburg, within four miles of which they fell in with Hoy and

THE MINNEAPOLIS POLICE,

when all started by different routes to Eagle Lake, from thence they came to Janesville after spending twelve long hours on the road, but throughout their whole course they saw and heard nothing of the robbers.

Subsequent developments proved that the news brought in by the mounted messenger was a canard founded on the fact that some of the robber hunters had been amusing themselves by “playing robbers.” The false alarm, however, did no harm, and only stirred men to double diligence, and the writer who spent the whole night of Sunday in visiting the outposts and guards along the Winona & St. Peter railroad found them all on the _qui vive,_ and he is confident if the bandits had shown themselves that night, they would have fared badly.

The alarm telegraphed to St. Paul brought out again Chief King and another body of police and citizens among whom was Hazen, of Cincinnati, who thought he recognized in photographs of the two dead bandits, Bill Chadwell and Charles Pitts.

FINDING THE HORSES.

Monday night, a party, headed by Sheriff Dill and Brissette, and including the St. Paul police, and several determined men from Northfield, after a tedious hunt arrived at the house of John Dehn about a mile from the place where Brisette had lost the trail on Friday night.

The detective was in a quandary not understanding how the horses at least could have got through the line of pickets that had been maintained. One of these animals was of a dun color, or as the country people called it “a yaller hoss,” and would have been noticed among a cavalry regiment.

The mystery was soon to be solved however. A portion of the squad took refuge in Dehn’s hay loft for the night, and at daylight Tuesday morning as Mr. Mills Church, of Northfield, an old war veteran, was peeping from his roost, he saw two hard looking horses, peering over the farm gate, evidently envying the inviting stack of oats within.

Church immediately went to them, and found they were two of the robbers’ horses without doubt. One was a bright bay with white face and three white feet, and the other was a handsome brown mare. Both were very thin and showed marks of exposure, and deep rowelling on their sides. The brown had large galls each side of her back bone made by the saddle, and these were covered by thick scabs that had been forming at least three days. Both wore halters, that of the bay being without a strap, while a piece about a foot long hung to the halter of the brown, it having been chewed off by the wearer.

The nags were well cared for, and their trail was immediately taken up while their tracks were fresh, but the horses had stopped to graze so often thus doubling and changing their course, that it was almost a fruitless task. Feeling that Dehn’s house at which they were found was probably the first one the horses saw, a

LONG LINE OF SKIRMISHERS

was formed, and a thorough search of the woods made. At about 7 o’clock the left of the line came upon the last camp where the robbers were in possession of their horses. Dr. Hurd of Faribault was in advance, and as he came to the spot, the noted buckskin horse whinned and stamped showing most unmistakable signs of delight at again seeing a human form. The camp was located so near the road that it is a wonder that it had not been discovered. At each of three saplings a horse had been tied, the yellow one in the middle. They had been given as long range as possible, but there was no feed for them except the bark and wood of the trees to which they were tied. These were eaten as high as the horses could reach and deep into the roots. The ground around was stamped hard, and there were evidences that the poor animals had made desperate efforts to escape. At a short distance away pronged stakes were found which showed that the fleeing men had found shelter in a most uncomfortable manner. They had probably thrown blankets over the frame and stopped to dress the wounded man. There was no trace of eating or sleeping. Behind a log near by, all the saddles of the five laid in a pile, an old russet-leather saddle, much defaced, at the bottom of the pile, very wet. This showed two shot marks, from one of which a medium-sized pistol bullet was taken. Two others on the pile were black, solid-seat saddles, one new, open, black McClellan, one new russet McClellan. The black McClellan was marked underneath, at the front, $8.50, with the cost mark above: two old blankets and three old gunny bags were found. The robbers carried away all the bridles and good blankets.

The horses at Rosseneau’s and Laney’s were then procured and the entire five were delivered to Commissioner Scott of Rice county, it being the feeling that that community should have the benefit of what was recovered.

EXCITING NEWS.

Excitement had again subsided, and after the capture of the robbers’ horses in a state indicating that they had been abandoned for several days, the opinion gained ground rapidly that the robbers had made tracks on foot and were many miles away. The hunt had virtually come to an end, was the thought of many, and a general movement was made by the pursuers toward those homes to which of late, they had become strangers. The St. Paul police had started for home, and the Minneapolis force was already there. The indefatigable and energetic sheriff of Winona, was even contemplating an abandonment of the chase when news was brought into Mankato, which at once aroused excitement to its highest pitch. A farmer had been captured by the bandits, and with arms tightly bound behind him, compelled at the muzzle of a revolver to accompany them on the road to pilot the way beyond Mankato. Hearing that this unfortunate was the man in charge of Mr. Shaubut’s farm, the writer sought out the man

DUNNING,

who told him that about six o’clock on Wednesday morning the 13th, he started from his house in search of the cows. He had scarcely passed the barn going towards the woods when six men came upon him. They were for the most part powerfully built men, well dressed, with linen dusters and blankets strapped up in bridles. The men came up to him and said they were

LOOKING FOR ROBBERS,

and guessed he was one of them. He protested that he was not, when one said they would take him with them anyhow, and proceeded to bind his hands behind him with a bridle rein. They then insisted, upon his showing them the way past Mankato, so that they might strike the Minnesota above, asking him questions as to whether they would be likely to find any boats upon the river, and if it was possible to ford or swim across. Dunning begged them to let him go, when they told him they were

THE NORTHFIELD ROBBERS,

but if he would show them the way and keep a silent tongue in his head they would send him a handsome present. He still begged to be released, stating that he had a delicate wife and young children, and if he should be away from the farm he would lose his situation, and then what would his family do during the winter? The robbers thought he seemed a good sort of a fellow, and if they could only trust him, perhaps they might let him return, but could they trust him? Dunning protested by all that was sacred that they might, and promised if they would only let him return home, he would not breathe to a living soul that he had seen there and he expressed a hope that they would get through safe and sound without being captured. The robbers held a short consultation among themselves, in which Dunning thought he heard proposals of shooting him on the spot. It was to him

A MOMENT OF DREADFUL SUSPENSE,

and he shook with very fear, but to his inexpressible relief one of the men said that they had agreed to let him return home—they did not want his family to suffer for them. They then asked him his name and postal address, which they carefully noted down, repeating their former promise of a handsome present if they got safely off, and if he kept his faith with them.

One of the men asked if they could not get to the river from where they were by leaving the timber and crossing the level open flat, and if they could not swim the river easily. To which Dunning replied that they would be discovered almost immediately if they attempted to leave the woods, advising them to keep under cover as much as they could. With this they released his arms and set him free, they the while seating themselves upon the ground and watching him till he got out of sight. He at once ran home, and after getting his breakfast, he crossed over from his house to the residence of Mr. Shaubut, and told him the whole story.

MR. SHAUBUT,

who is a banker in Mankato, brought the news to town, which set the whole city into commotion. Men of all classes hurried about for arms. The telegraph wires called up from Janesville the few men who still lingered there reluctant to give up the chase. The same lightning messenger brought men from Winona, Waseca, Owatonna, and Faribault. St. Peter, and Le Sueur sent in their quota of armed citizens. The message found the redoubtable Hoy at the Nicollet hotel, where he was narrating to an admiring throng his exploits at Elysian, and brought him back to the regained trail; the same message arrested the St. Paul police on their homeward journey at Blakely, and, in an incredibly short time

A THOUSAND EAGER HUNTERS

crowded into the streets of Mankato seeking information and anxious for orders. The ubiquitous Dill was there with his disciplined men. Baxter was there and Sheriffs Finch, Davis, Barton, Long and Harrison, Mayor Wiswell and Captains Holmes and Owens. Thus were the counties of Winona, Blue Earth, Rice, Waseca, Faribault and Ramsey represented by their sheriffs and men. The five Northfield boys, who had never for an hour given up the hunt, were there and ready again to guard, mount and scour the woods.

Davis, of Winnebago, whose story of the robbers’ appearance the evening before at Indian Lake, was so little heeded, was now almost lionized, and it was surprising how many were all at once found who believed in the famous horse thief catcher from the first.

It was necessary that some system be pursued; accordingly General Pope, of Mankato, was appointed generalissimo of the forces, and that gentleman at once set about a plan of organization. Bridges must be guarded, cross-roads and by-paths watched, patrols sent out, and skirmish lines established. One would think by the measured tramp of armed men, the bustle, the eager excitement, the groups of mysterious gossips, that Mankato expected a seige from the combined forces of all the hostile savages paying allegiance to Sitting Bull, rather than that the men were called out to capture six fugitive robbers.

But the people seemed determined. Their looks seemed to say that they were tired of playing this game of hide and seek, and were for once in downright earnest and bent upon bringing this thing to a quick and decisive close.

It was a miserably wet morning, the rain descending in a continuous shower, and the air was filled with a damp chilliness, which rendered out-door vocations particularly disagreeable. The streets and roads were filled with slimy mud—griming and sticking, to the intense misery of pedestrians. But the rain and the mud and the cold could not deter the excited populace, and even women caught the infectious fever of excitement and dared the elements in search of news. All the city was on the tip-toe of expectancy, but the hours glided slowly along and no news was brought in from the skirmish lines or outposts. Reports, it is true, were rife, and many a thrilling tale of manly courage and sanguinary encounter was whispered by mani-tongued rumor. At one time the robbers were all slaughtered, at another, a brave citizen was sacrificed, but enquiry proved them to owe their existence to fertile imaginations. Evening at last closed in upon a miserable day, and the tired, wet and hungry hunters began to return. The Clifton house was filled with them, the congenial host doing his best to appease their ravenous appetites, after which the weary men stretched themselves at length upon the floors of the parlors, offices and halls to snatch a few minutes’ refreshing slumber. Meantime a strong guard was placed at every point around the city, and mounted men patrolled the streets all night.

At about midnight some of the men on guard heard peculiar whistles at different points, which seemed to be replied to, the call resembling the low note of the quail, and the answer, the high note of the same bird. Report was made of the circumstance at “Headquarters,” and while a discussion was progressing as to whether the men were not mistaken, and their ability to distinguish between the veritable bird call and its its imitation, a mounted messenger came dashing in with the news that three of the robbers had

CROSSED THE BRIDGE,

over the Blue Earth river and had escaped toward South Bend. The news spread like a prairie fire, and in an incredibly short time the streets were alive with armed men hastening down toward the point at which the fugitives had broken the line of outposts. Sheriff Dill, who, had retired but a few minutes to the well-deserved comfortable bed put at his disposal at the Clifton, was soon up and away with a posse of men. Other leaders were equally alert, but all mentally, and some physically, too, cursed the blundering guard, which had permitted itself to be caught napping. Enquiry soon ascertained the fact that

SOME ONE HAD BLUNDERED.

It appears that General Pope in arranging for the night guard had provided for a strong body of men being placed upon each of the bridges over the Blue Earth, this being considered the vulnerable point in the line, but a telegram coming to him stating that the railroad bridge would be specially guarded by the railroad officials, he removed his guard from that structure, and, as it proved, opened a direct way for the brigands’ escape. The railroad authorities had placed two men and a boy on the bridge to guard it, and about two o’clock they saw three men approaching in single file. The guard stood on one side and the men advanced and walked deliberately on to the trestle work and passed over, the heroic guard being too much frightened to even breathe. As soon as the fugitives had got fairly past, the boy rushed down to the covered bridge and alarmed the guard there, who at once sent a mounted messenger into the city to tell the miserable tale. Nothing during the whole hunt had such a humiliating effect upon the people as this fiasco, but they were doomed ere long to receive as great a disappointment.

The night was one of almost Egyptian darkness, and men could do little good tramping through muddy lanes and through dripping woods without a trail to guide them. The resolve, therefore, was to await the break of day, when at the earliest hour of dawn a close hunt and hot pursuit would commence. Accordingly with the gloaming, Hoy, of Minneapolis, with a number of Mankato men and others, started out and they were soon shown

A TRAIL

which led across the railroad bridge along the Sioux City line into a melon patch, back to the road and on across the Garden City road. The engineer of an incoming train motioned the pursuers toward the thick woods covering the slopes of Pigeon Hill, some two hundred yards from the State road. But on went the chattering, noisy trail-hunters, chasing each other up the line. Quickly they came to a halt and found they had overrun the trail. Doubling upon their tracks they came back several yards and found the foot-prints turned off into the woods. Their attention was now attracted by a strong smell of burning feathers, and looking up toward the beautifully wooded acclivity, they saw a thin, pale column of smoke issuing from the luxurious foliage and spreading itself out like a hazy film.

At this point there seems to be conflicting statements as to what was done, some asserting that Hoy at once made a dash toward the campfire; others say that he spent several minutes consulting and ordering his own men back to Garden City road to surround the camp. One man, Mr. Hansen, of Mankato, says that he actually saw one of the robbers and wanted to fire, but Hoy would not let him, stating that he might hit some of the pursuers instead of the pursued. Both Cole and Bob Younger afterward stated that Hoy did not charge into the camp at all. Be this as it may, the camp when entered was found to be deserted. When the writer entered the

ROBBER’S CAMP,