The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1896-10-02
BULLETS FLY.
Landlord C. j. Klein Shot at
by Joseph Robinson Satur-
day Afternoon.
Robinson Was Attempting to
Take a Team From the Cliff
ton House Barn.
He Has Been i'm an Insane Asy-
lum, and Thought His
Team Was Being Stolen.
He Says He Did Not Intend to
Hit MIR. Klein, and Tells
His Story.

A man named Joseph Robinson fired
three revolver shots at Q. j. Klein,
proprietor of the Clifton House Satur-
day, at about $3.50 o'clock. For
tunately the bullets did not hit Mr..
Klein, who escaped by running into
the hotel, from the barn, where the
affair took place.
There was question of ownership
of a team of horses, harness and
wagon, which was in process of being
sold by Robinson to G. d. Eddy. Rob-
inson was stranger to Mr.. Klein, and
the latter would not let him have the
team this afternoon without an order
from the party who brought the team
there two or three days ago. Rob-
inSOn called at the barn this after
noon and attempted to harness up the
team, sending the stable boy to tell
Mr.. Klein that he intended to take
the team or wade in blood. Mr.. Klein
came out to the barn and remOn-
strated and took hold of the harness
and attempted to detain the horses.
The men were standing within three
feet of each other, when Robinson
said that he would take the team, and
drew a small twenty-five calibre,
seven shot, American Defender SO re-
volver. Mr.. Klein thought it bluff,
and laughed, when Robinson fired
three shots at him in quick success
sion. Mr.. Klein ducked and ran to
the hotel, and thence to the city hall.
Officer Kelley arrested Robinson a
couple of moments later, as he was
hitching up, the man making no re-
sistence. Mr.. Klein later swore out a
warrant charging him with assault in
the first degree. The stable man and
one other were witnesses to the shoot
ing.
Robinson was seen by a FREE
PRIEST reporter in his cell and said
that his home is at Rolfe, Pocca-
hontas county, Iowa, where his
wife and children live. He
has a mother in Wright county,
and a brother in Mobiles county. He
said that he had trouble with an
Irishman in Iowa three years ago and
the man had him placed in an insane
asylum at Independence, where he
remained for three or four months,
and was discharged. He said that he
was not crazy then, and that his mind
was all right today. The only liquor
he had drank today was two glasses
of beer and glass of wine, and it did
not effect him. He had shot to scare
Mr.. Klein away, firing over his head,
and not intending to hit him.
Robinson laughed when he describ-
ed how Mr.. Klein ran for
the hotel, and said that
he had to laugh at the time.
Robinson is engaged in putting on
tar roofs and came to Mankato six
weeks ago TODAY, and has boarded at
the Nicollet House. He had his team
partly sold to Mr.. Eddy. who, he said,
had paid him but little. He learned
that Mr.. Eddy, who had taken
the team to the Clifton House
barn, was talking of trading off
a horse, and of sending the team
away. Thinking that there was a
scheme to rob him of his team, he had
taken desperate means to get them
back, and said that he would do it or
die in the attempt.
Others verify Robinsons story of
the horse deal.