The herald., 1896-10-08
Emulate the Bloody Deeds Of
Jesse James
A DAYLIGHT BANK ROBBERY
Accompanied by Wanton Murder Of Two
Men
With One Thousand Dollars Booty
the Miscreants Mount Their Bicy-
cles and Make Their Escape.
Associated Press Special Wire

masked and bicycle mounted robbers
swept into the little town of Sherburne,
fourteen miles from here, today, dashed
into the bank Of Sherburne, murdered
the cashier and bystander and secured
$1,000 from the cash tray mounted their
wheels and escaped before the eyes Of
the startled villagers.
The affair was conducted with all the
bravAdo Of the border drama, and the
killing of the two men, one of whom died
instantly. was purely wanton murder,
as neither made any resistance. The
dead are:
j. A. Oerstern, travelling agent of the
Walter A. Wood Harvester company,
shot through the heart.
Cashier Thorburn of the bank of Sher-
burne, shot in the head.
The crime Is paralleled only by the
raid of Jesse James and the Younger
boys, when they swooped down upon
the little town of Northfleld, a few
miles north Of the scene of todays
crime, shot the cashier of the bank of
Northfield down, and decamped with
large amount of money. In that in
stance the robbers departed on horses
whereas the criminals today, in keep
ing with the times, used bicycles in
escaping from the enraged citizens of
Sherburne.
At about 1870 o'clock two masked men
walked through the front entrance of
the bank to the cashiers box, and with
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 the revolvers rang
out and Cashier Thorburn fell at his
desk. At another desk in the bank
stood Oerstern, a travelling man. He
was the only immediate bar to the end
the robbers sought to gain, and as Thor
burn fell to the floor they turned and
shot him dead.
AS rapidly as possible they leaped
over the railing and secured $4,000 in
cash. They then ran for the back door
of the bank, where they had taken the
precaution to leave their bicycles,
mounted them and rode away.
It all happened inside Of two minutes,
and the only witness to the deed was a
woman who stood across the street
from the front entrance of the bank,
and who was attracted by the report of
the revolvers. She saw them turn ON
Oerstern, secure the money and de-
camp. AS soon as possible she gave the
alarm, and in five minutes after the
deed had been committed the little town
Of Sherburne was in a state of excite
ment such as had never before been
seen there.
Thnrhvlrr vxyoc M
Oerstern had been shot through the
heart, and had apparently been instant
ly killed. Thorburn lived two hours,
having received bullets in several Diff
ferent parts of his body
The town of Sherburne contains
scarcely a score more than three hun
dred inhabitants, but inside Of ten min
utes several posses had been formed,
including nearly every male citizen Of
the town, and search was at once in
stituted. Every town and village which
there is the slightest possibility of the
robbers visiting in their efforts to es.
cape has been warned, and their cap
ture is expected at any moment.
TWO MORE ROBBERIES
OMAHA. Neb, Oct. IA special to
the Bee from Shelby, ~, says: The
safe in the Bank of Shelby, which was
supposed to be burglar proof, was blown
open at 2 o'clock this morning and $310O
was stolen. The job was neat and could
be done only by experts. Entrance was
made into the building by prying up a
window with crowbar A small hole
was hacked through the brick vault,
and through this opening the perpetra-
tors glided By force of the explosion
pieces Of steel were hurled through both
vault doors and the floor was strewn
with pieces of the safe, brick, notes and
checks
The Bank of Clatonia, Gage county,
was robbed last night of $500. The
safe was blown open.