The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1897-07-16
The Hold Up.

L was oO CfCuluR3
said Mr.. Gunders, "taking care of my
little girl while the rest of the family
were at the opera house. At 1890 1
left the house and went to Mr.. Pol
elbows barber shop, under D. L.
Clements & Sons grocery store. As 1
was on my way 1 passed three men
who were standing in front of T. H.
Williams residence. They were
standing near a tree, facing the walk,
and my attention was attracted to
them by their tough appearance, and
the idea passed through my mind that
they might be laying for someone
with the intention of holding him up
1 passed Geo. Slade near that point
and looked back to see whether the
fellows made any move towards him,
but they remained where they were.
l was at the barber shop about half
an hour, and then started directly for
home the way l had come, along
Cherry street to Second, and thence
south, my house being block and a
half from Cherry street on the west
side of South Second street.
when l came to point about two
hundred feet from where had seen
the men standing. 1 noticed an OBJ
ject cross the walk to the other side
from that on which the men mad been
standing. 1t was quite dark there, as
the trees are small and the foliage
comes down low, so that it would be
hard to recognize person. When 1
reached the point, 1 saw that one of
the men had crossed the walk, and
4hat l had to pass between them,
which started to do. When 1 was
directly between two of the men, they
each seized one of my shoulders; and
the third man stepped in front of me
and stuck revolver in my face, say
ing: Hold up your hands and give
over your money and valuables.'
81 said nothing, but put one hand
to my hip pocket as though to draw a
revolver, thinking to brighten them
away. AS did this, the man at my
right took hold of my hand and held
it at the pocket so that 1 could not
move it. One of the parties, can
not remember which one, put his
hand over my mouth, evidently to
prevent me from giving an alarm. All
three of my assailants then tried to
get their hands into my pockets, but
l struggled to prevent them, as 1 had
500 in bills in a bill book in my inside
coat pocket, and between So and 81 in
my pocket book in my left hip
pocket. We wrestled for some little
space of time, and the man who held
his hand over my mouth dropped his
hand, at which 1 gave two loud
screams, which l afterwards learned
were heard by several people.
GAS gave the second scream, one
of the parties hit me a heavy blow
over my right ear, using some instru-
ment which 1 did not see. l was
stunned for the moment and fell back
wards into the gutter, but did not
lose consciousness. AS l screamed the
second time, T. 81. Williams opened
a window of his house and asked what
was wrong. At this, my three assail-
ants ran away and l got up. l noticed
that the fellows took to the middle
of the street and ran up Second street
to Liberty, where they turned up. l
told Mr.. Williams what was the mat
ter, and he asked me who l was.
When l told him, he came out i'm
mediately.
"The robbers did not get anything
During the struggle l dropped bunch
of keys, but found them later in the
evening. My family were among the
first out of the opera house, and came
along within few moments after the
occurrence. After | had told them Of