The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1897-07-09

Quit" Just then Miller called to me.
saying he was shot, and looking at
him, l saw blood running down his
face. The firing by this time had
become general, and as the two in the
bank had not yet come out l was
forced for the third time to 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
l 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. l took Miller's pis-
tolls, remounted my horse and rode
towards Bob, who was standing near
the stairway, jim being with me. At
this moment Bob was shot. l saw
him change his pistol from his right
hand to his left, and from the way
his right arm hung limp at his side l
knew it was broken. called to hi
to come from there, and, turning to
Jim, l told him to catch Miller's
horse for Bob. This was done, Bob
ran up the the street, and Jim helped
him to mount. l 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 that he was dead, so | told Pitts
to lay him down again, and to run up
the street out OF range, and l would
take him up behind me.
l then cried out to the rest OF the
party to move on ahead and they
started, Jim leading che horse that
Bob rode. Pitts ran up the street
about a hundred yards where he
mounted behind me, and we lode out
of town on che Dundas road. Up to
this time 1 did not know that citi-
zen haze been shot, nor did l know that
any of our party had shot with the in
tentlOn of hitting any one. l knew
that never fired shot at any one
intending to hit. nor did Jim. The
fact is that all of the trouble was
caused by quart of whisky which,
as l learned afterwards one of the
three men that went into the bank
had concealed, land between where they
left us in the woods and town they
had drank the most of it and were
drunk. That accounts for them no t
shutting the door of the bank and
not coming out according to agree
tlCllU w uOh l. CollCo w UhoU UhS
alarm was given and the people were
arming themselves. Had it not
been for the whisky there would not
in all probability, have been a man
killed, and can truthfully say had
known they had whisky l never
would have gone into the town; for
with all my faults, and l am sorry to
say they were many, whisky drinking
was not one of them, and L 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.
The death of MI. Haywood was new
er considered in our plans, and neith-
er my brothers nor myself were con-
nected with the deed, either in thought
or act; we were of the party, and to
that extent responsible.
Now, as to the man we took prison
er near Mankato. The story he told
in the presence of Capt. A. Barton, at
Faribault, was true. He said that my
brothers and myself had saved his life
The question of how to dispose of this
man was discussed, and in view Of our
desperate situation, it was proposed by
one of our party that we shoot him, to
which l said: mo, we will not kill
him. 1t will be easier to run away
from all the men he Can put on our
track, than it would to get rid of the
memory of having killed an innocent
man, who had never wronged us, and
who says he has wife and children
depending on him for their support"
The one who made the proposition
compromised by leaving the mans
fate to the decision of Bob Younger.
He walked up to where Bob and Jim
Younger were sitting with the man,
and the following statement Of the
situation was made to Bob: eff we
turn this man loose, he will have the
whole county after us in twelve hOu1S,
and with your broken arm, we cannot
possibly get away" To this Bob re-
plied: 81 would rather be shot dead
than to have that man killed, for fear
his telling might put few hundred
men after US. There will be time
enough for shooting, if he should join
in the pursuit." In the meantime the
man was swearing by all the gods
that he would never speak OF having
seen any one. | cut the cord from his
wrists and told him that l knew no
UdUu UlldU VIC LulSuO duHlulSCCl w
him, would have the least weight, so
that to swear him would be but a
waste of time; but of course, we would
be glad and thankful if he would say
nothing of having seen us. However,
whether he would or would not, he
was free to return to his home, and we
saw no more of the man until he came
as witness before the grand jury at
Faribault. That night. we all tOgeth-
er crossed the Blue Earth river on the
rail- DAD bridge and the next night we
separated. Pitts remaining with my
self and brothers.
We were captured by about fifty citi-
zens of Watonwan county, led by Sher-
Tiff Gillispie and Capt. w. w. Murphy,
of the same county; Capt. B. G. Yates,
now of St. Paul, was also one of the
party At the time of our capture Pitts
was killed and my brothers and my
self were bailey wounded. Bob has
since died and Jim and myself for more
than twenty years, have been prisoners.
will leave it to Sheriff Barton and the
wardens of this institution TO speak of
us during the past twenty years. I
have often met Capt. Yates, and also
most of the men several times that were
directly concerned in our capture. They
have been most kind in word and feel
ing toward us, and since our capture
we have never felt towards them any
other feeling but that of friendship.