Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1896-10-17
BOLD ROBBERY AND MURDEB
A Crime That Is Worthy of tn,
James Brothers.
Two Masked Men Dash Into Sher
burne, MINI, Kill a Cashier
and Bystander and Es.
cspe on Wheels.

Fairmoht, Mimi, Oct. s.-There is tn,
greatest excitement imaginable in thii
part OF the country over one OF the bold.
est robberies and murders In the Grim.
inal annals of this state. Two masked
and bicycle mounted robbers swept into
the little town OF Sherburne, fourteen
miles from here, yesterday, dashed int
the Bank of Sherburne, murdered the
cashier and a ~bystander, secured $l,oO
from the cash tray, mounted theii
wheels n escaped before the eyes oil
the startled villagers. The affair was
due with all the bravado of the
border drama. and the killing of the
TWO men. one of whom died instantly,
was purely wanton, as neither mad'
n resistance. The dead men are j. A
oestern. travelling agent of the Walter
A. Wood Harvester company, shc
through the heart, and Cashier Thor.
burn OF the Bank Of Sherburne, shot In
the head.
The crime Is paralleled only by the
raid of Jesse James and the Younger
boys, when they swooped down on tn,
little town OF Mortified, a few miles
north of the scene of yesterdays crime.
shot the cashier of the Bank of North.
neid down and decamped with a large
amoun OF money. In that instance the
robbers departed on horses, whereas
yesterday the criminals. in keepins
with the times, used bicycles in escap
ing from the enraged citizens of Sher
burne.
About 100 o'clock two masked mer
walked through the front entrance o.
the hnnE 20 NkA Aaal.A.tz -. uA IA
out a word whipped out their revolvers
and leveled them at Cashier Thorburn
The latter did not move, but the next
minute the report of two revolvers rang
out and Cashier Thorburn fell at his
desk. At another desk in the bank stoo5
Oestern, a travelling man. He was the
only immediate bar TO the ends which
the robbers sought to gain, and as
fell TO the hoo they turned
him and shot him dead. As
rapidly as possible they leaped ovei
the railing which separated them from
the cashiers desk, and secured 81 600 In
cash. They then ran for the back door OF
the bank, where they had left the.i
wheels, MOUNTED them and rode away. II
all happened inside OF two minutes and
only witness to the deed was a woman
who stood across the street from the
entrance of the ban n h was
attracted by the report OF the revolvers
as the robbers shot Thorburn. She also
saw them turn on Oestern, secure the
money and decamp. AS soon as possible
she ave the alarm and IN five minutes af.
the deed had been committed the vi.
lage was in a state of excitement such a,
has never before been seen there.
Thorburn, 1t was found. was not dead
however, had been shot through
the heart and had apparently been IN.
stantly killed. Thorburn lived two hours,
received bullets In several differ.
ent parts of his body.
The town of Sherburne contains scarcely
4 score more han 800 Inhabitants, but in.
SIDE of ten minutes sevearl posses had
been formed, including nearly every male
OF the town, and a search was al
once instituted. Every town and villag.
where there IS the slightest possibility OF
the robbers visiting in their efforts to es.
cape has been warned and their capture is
expected at any moment.