St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-09-17


they reached, and hid in the bushes.
The citizens surrounded them, opened
a general fire, and advanced grad
ually. The surrounded men re-
turned the fire, and at last the
robbers surrendered. One of them
was found to be killed and the other
three wounded-One only on the arm.
The three wounded men proved to be
Cole Younger, James Younger, and
Robert Younger. The dead man was
Charley Pitts. The three men refused
to reveal their identity or any of the
party, but finally became known. The
| Jesse James party escaped, but the
identity of Jesse was revealed
by the. proprietress of a bagnio he
had visited in Minneapolis prior to GO
ing to NOrthfield. 1t was learned that
all OF the bandits were at the NicOllet
house in this city one afternoon late ID
August. The Younger brothers were
indicted for murder, and to save them
selves from the gallows they pleaded
guilty, and were sentenced to the pen
itentiary for life. Under the Minnesota
law at that time a person could not be
executed if a plea of guilty of murder
was entered.
THEIR APOLOGISTs.
The apOlogistS of the Younger boys
have many things to urge in excuse for
their crimes. They say the boys were
driven into guerrilla life by circum-
stances: that their father. Col. Harry
w. Younger, a strong Union man,
though a Shareholder, was murdered
by Kansas jayhaWkeTs only for
the purpose of robbery: that the
JayhawkerS prosecuted the remainder
of the Younger family until they finally
drove Cole and eventually James and
Robert into taking up arms against the
North. Their deny many of the bloody
butcherieS charged to the boys, and
some deny that thew were members of
the guer rilla Quantrell'S band. but Cole
himself admitted that in an inter
view three years ago. As to the career
of Bob and his brothers after the war,
the murders for plunder, the train. bank
and other robberieS. all are denied eX
cept 1t one instance. and there is rea-
son for believing that innocence would
then have been pleaded had Bob and
his brothers not been crught in the act
and compelled to plead guilty to save
themselves from the gallOwS. That was
the murder at Mortified, although who
fired the shot that killed Haywood Will
probably Lever be known unless Cole
Younger chooses to reveal it before he
dies.
THE OUTLAWS CAREER.
The crimes with which BOb's name
was associated are many. III 1865 James
Younger went to Kentucky with Guam
trell and was taken prisoner by the
Federals and sent to Alton. ILL.,. and was
released at the close of the war
Cole Younger then went off to
Mexico with fifteen of his men.
and later to California. But so
far as known Bob Staid at home on the
jackson county farm after the war
cloSed-at least he was there when Cole
Younger returned from California in
1866. James arrived some time after,
and the boys went to work fixing up
the farm, and but for the border trOu-
bleS that followed there are doubts
whether they would ever have pur-
sued their life Of outlawry. Cole left
home, but Bob remained on the farm
with his mother. The close of 1867
came and Cole had arrived home again
and found Bob there. He was reckless
under the threats of the jayhaWkerS.
The latter had killed several of
Quaptrel'S band. and had expressed
a desire TO take him prisoner, and
several unsuccessful attempts were
made. These facts, with the murder of
their father before them, at last aroused
the Younger boys, and they took up the
work of revenge, as they termed it. One
day in July, 1873, the whole country was
startled by the news of a daring train
robbery on the Rock Island road in
Iowa, few miles west of Casey. The
men who boarded the train wore
masks, but one of them fell
off. and it was claimed that the face of
Cole Younger was revealed, and that
Bob and James were in the party. They
each proved an alibi. In August. 1878,
a stage coach was robbed in Nevada.
Bob and Cole were charged with the
act, but they were cleared. In Janu-
ary. 1874, near Hot Springs, Ark, an
other stage robbery occurred. and
again Bob Younger and his broth
ers were accused of the crime and
were cleared. The Iron Mountain.
Mo-. train robbery i'm 1874 at last result
ed in the placing of detectives on the
trail of the YOungerS, and in a fight
with them at OSceOla, Mo-, John
Younger, one of the brothers. was
killed. and James was wounded. 1t was
in this encounter that Capt. Lull, a
prominent Chicago man. was killed. 1t
has been stated that Bob Younger was
not in the fight. Then came the Gad's
Hill train robbery in Northern Mis-
souri, and the Shreveport stage robbery,
and they were charged to the Younger
boys. The NOrthfeld bank robbery fol-
lowed close after these. and the career
of the men as robbers and murdererS
was at an end. The Northfeld robbery
was originally planned for Mankato
bank, but owing to some miSunder-
standing 1t was not attempted, and the
scene was transferred In NOrthtipId