The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1899-07-05

perior education, his excellent pen.
manship and his good character.
always thought he was some unfor-
tunate young gentleman, serving
under an assumed name. The mon
ey was all in stout mint boxes, hold
ing each 81 900 in silver, and in gold
about $25, 900 or more, there being
usually one or two boxes of gold.
The boxes were spread on the floor
of the room, and the men slept on
them.
The constitutional convention to
frame the organic law for the pro-
posed state of Minnesota had been
called to convene in St. Paul on the
18th day Of July, 1857, and the peo-
pie of Minnesota valley had done me
the honor to elect me a member OF
it. I had delayed starting for St.
Paul until day or two before the
meeting to the convention, and hav-
ing heard rumors that there would
be trouble in organizing it, l felt
very anxious to be there on the
opening day. The only mode of
transportation, except the river, in
those days was the little canvas COW
cred stages of M. O. Walker & Co.,
which would hold four inside COM
fortably and six on a pinch. When
the down-stage reached Traverse
DIES Sioux on the morning of the 18th
of July it was full-that is, there
were five inside, three on the back
seat, and two on the front and one
man on the seat with the driver. I
insisted strenuonsly on going, and
said I would ride in the boat rather
than not 60 at all, my insistence, of
course, having reference to my de-
sire to be at the opening of the con-
vention. I was admitted and took
my place in the front seat, with my
back to the driver and my knees il
terlocked with those of the pasen-
ger on the back seat who faced me.
At this time I had heard nothing of
what had happened at the fort. The
fact that the two men who had been
placed in charge of the money had
opened one of the boxes of gold and
taken out bag containing S., 600 in
quarter-eagles and sealed up again.
When the superintendent sent down
for his money and it was loaded into
a wagon the two soldiers immedi-
ately deserted which, of course, ex-
cited the suspicious of the officers.
A courier was at once dispatched to
the agency to see if the money was
all right, and the theft was soon dis
covered. The superintendent, who
was then Maj. Cullen, had handbills
struck off giving the description of
the deserters and offering 5000 for
their capture and the return of the
money. Couriers were dispatched
in all directions to effect their arrest,
and one of the handbills reached
Henderson, which was the county
seat of Sibley county, some twenty
miles down the river from the point
at which 1 took the stage. A deputy
sheriff of that county had started out
to hunt the thieves and secure the
reward, carrying one of the hand
bills with him, and had proceeded
up the river. as far as LIE Sueur,
about half way between Traverse
des Sioux and Henderson.
It is well to state here that the
stages carried the mails and always
stopped at the post towns long
enough to deliver the incoming and
receive the outgoing mails, which
afforded time for a bit of gossip, a
drink and a streath Of the legs.
There we're two postoffices in LIE
Sueur, in upper and lower town,
about a mile and half apart. AS
soon as the stage stopped at the up
per town the deputy sheriff handed
me the handful through the window
announcing the theft and describing
the thieves I read it right in the
face of my vis-a-vis and after COL
graduating myself that l had no re-
sponsibility for the lost money, I re-
marked to the sheriff: ''Of course
you don t expect to find these fellows
on the main thoroughfare; they are
probably going down the Missouri
in canoe and nothingmore trans
pired until we arrived at the lower
town poctoffioo whore wa AGAIN