The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1897-07-15

pane Of glass out above his head, where
upon he stepped back out Of sight, This
man was, I think, DR.. Wheeler. / then
fired into the corner Of the building on
Bridge square to frighten the peopl.
away from our horses, and they ran
around the corner out of sight Bob
went on down the sidewalk to the stair
way, intending to get his horse at that
point I noticed that Bob was the only
one who had answered my call, so L
again turned and ran back to the, bank
and shouted to those inside:
For Gods sake, come out. Z"
Just then Miller called to me, saying
he was shot, and looking at him, saw
blood running down his face. The FIR
ing by this time had become general,
and as the two in the bank had not come;
out, was forced for the third time t.
ride to the bank and call to them to
come out, and this time they did so. In
the meantime Miller had been shot again
and had fallen from his horse. jumped
from my horse, ran to Miller to see how
badly he was hurt, and while turning
him over was shot in the left hip.
took Miller's pistols, remounted my
horse and rode toward Bob, who was
standing near the stairway, Jim being
with me. sS
At this moment Bob was shot. saw
him change his pistol from his right
hand to the left, and from the way his
right arm hung limp at his side I knew
it was broken. l called to him to come
from there, and, turning to Jim, I told
him to catch Miller's horse for Bob.
This was done. Bob ran up the street,
and Jim helped him to mount. / then
called to Pitts to help me get Miller up
on my horse, it being my intention to
carry him before me. On lifting him up
we saw he was dead, So I told Pitts to
lay him down again, and to run up the
street out of range, and would take him
| up behind me. then cried to the rest
| of the party to move on ahead, and they
started, Jim leading the horse that Bob
rode. Pitts ran up the street about a
| hundred yards, where he mounted be-
hind me, and we rode out of town on the
Dundas road. g.
Up to this time I did not know that
citizen had been shot, nor did know
| that any of our party had shot with the
intention of hitting anyone. l knew that
/ never fired shot at anyone intending
| to hit, nor did Jim. The fact is that all
! the trouble was caused by quart Ol
| whisky which, as I learned afterwards,
| one of the three men that went into the
bank had concealed, and between where
| they left US in the woods and town they
had drunk the most of it and were
drunk. That accounts for them not
shutting the door of the bank, and not
coming out according to agreement
when I called to them that the alarm
was given, and the peaple were arming
themselves. Had it not been for the
whisky there would not, in all probabil-
ity, have been man killed, and / can
| truthfully say, had I known they had
whisky never would have gone into
the town, for with all my faults, and I
| am sorry to say they were many, whisky
| drinking was not one of them, and
never had confidence in man that he
would do the right thing or what was
expected of him when he was under the
influence of whisky.
When we got out of town the last man
to leave the bank told me that as he
jumped on the counter and was leaving
the bank he saw Miller lying in the
street, and at the same moment enc Of
the clerks sprang up and ran toward d
desk. Thinking he was going for pis-
tol, he ordered him to stop and sit down,
but he kept on, and as my informant
jumped from the counter he leveled his
pistol and fired. The man fell. but how
badly he had hurt him he could not say.
We learned after we were captured that
it was J. L. Haywood. / can truthfully
say that throughout my entire retreat it
was my most sincere wish and hope that
he was not seriously wounded. Not that
7 ~ no
of personal safety, but because did not
! the death of man who had never
wronged me or mine. The death of Mr..
| Haywood was never considered in our
plans, and neither my brothers nor my
self were connected with the deed either
| in thought or act; we were of the party
| and to that extent responsible. After we
had got out on the road learned that
! Jim had been shot through the shoulder,
and, as it was large bullet, I presume
it came from the gun of DR.. Wheeler or
| Mr.. Manning. / was shot in the LETT
hip. 1t was pistol ball and was prob
ably fired at me from the upstairs north
of the bank. Bob's arm was broken
| through the elbow joint by large ball,
presumably fired by DR.. Wheeler, and
two of our party had been killed:
Now, saw good deal in the news
| papers at the time that our friends or
ourselves wished to retaliate upon those
| who did the shooting. Statements OF
that nature we're not true. We never
had, nor have we now, any i'll will
towards those who shot u.s. Had I been
in the position OF those citizens, should
have acted as they did, that is, if could
| I will not give description of our
long, weary flight to Mankato, during
which we suffered death almost, wading
through mud and water under contin-
uous downpour of rain. In the vicinity
of Mankato, between daylight and sun
rise, we met man, whose name l have
forgotten, in woodland pasture. We
compelled him to go with US for about a
| mile, and then, realizing the risk we
took, but not knowing what else to do
with him, we turned him loose. We
learned from this man, for the first time,
that there had been one man killed and
two wounded at Mortified, and we were
at loss to make out who the third one
could be, but we learned after our cap
ture that man had been shot some
where in the south part of the city; the
mans name have forgotten. DR..
| Wood, of .Faribault, examined the
wound, and said it was caused by bull
let which had struck and glanced from
a brick house near by. OF this I knew
nothing only on hearsay, but know that
neither Jim nor myself fired a shot in
that part OF the city. We were in front
of the bank, and our stray bullets went
north over Bridge square. believe
that the bullet that wounded him was
! fired by citizen at us, the ball passing