Idaho Springs siftings., 1902-07-12

II UT u IlIile Sne eulteu weekly news
paper in a small Minnesota town.
When Miss Mueller first visited Still
water penitentiary she had no greater
interest in the Youngers than had
thousands of other visitors. But the
personality of Jim Younger interested
her, as, indeed, it has most people
with whom he has come in contact.
He was then so years old. She was
just "a. Neither had ever had love
affair Almost from the very start
these two recognized the affection
each bore the other, and it was not
long before they spoke of it. Others
suspected it because of the frequency
of her visits to the penitentiary.
Miss Mueller determined to secure
the release of her convict sweetheart,
and that, of course, meant the release
also of Cole, his older brother. She
planned a campaign worthy of an ex
perienced politician. So long as it
was possible to do so she worked
quietly, enlisting the aid of those hav
ing influence and power.
For two years Miss Mueller man
aged to keep her plans secret, and
when they were divulged the storm
broke forth. The relatives of those
who had been killed by the outlaws
in their raid on the Northfield bank
and some of those who had been in
the fight, protested bitterly against
releasing the murderers. And there
were others who were just as bitter
Since 1889 at least three efforts
were made to secure the release of the
Youngers before Miss Mueller dis
closed the results of her long plan
ming and working. The sentiment
against the brothers was still power
full, but Miss Mueller was the strong
er and she secured from the legislature
the passage of a special act which re-
suited in the release of the Younger
brothers on parole.
The lovers thought that their trou-
bles were over and their happiness
knew no bounds.
But the attorney general decided
that the Youngers were still legally
dead. They had not been restored to
citizenship. In the eyes of the law
they were as much prisoners as if
they were still in the penitentiary
Then Jim Younger realized how
great was his capacity for suffering.
He was racked and torn by emotions
so terrible that his mind became un-
balanced. To marry Miss Mueller
meant more to him than anything else
in the world. 1t was worth all the
years he had spent in prison. And she
was fighting the white death thou
sands of miles away. He could not
go to her, for the law said he could
not leave the state. He could only
hope that the ban against him would
be removed, that the board of pardons
would grant his prayer.
But it decided against him.
Years before, after the Northfeld
raid, one of the many bullets that
found a resting place in Jim Younger's
body pierced his brain and lodged
there. 1t had given him no trouble
until he was released from prison.
Then it manifested itself. The men
tai struggles, the bitter disappoint-
ment when he found that he could
not marry Miss Mueller, still further
weakened him. There is no doubt
that Jim Younger was fast becoming
insane when he shot himself.
He sent a telegram to Miss Mueller
telling her not to write on Saturday,
Oct. 1S. That night he shot himself
in his room in st. Paul. When the
door was broken open there was found
the love letters he had received from
Miss Mueller, on which was a note
that read:
"Oh, lassie, good-by. All Relatives
just stay away from me. No crocodile
tears wanted. Reporters, be my
friends. Burn me up.
Jim Younger"
They did not cremate Jim Young
er's body as he requested. Instead it
was taken to Missouri and placed be-
side that of his brother Bob in Lees
Summit cemetery, from which one can
see the grove of oaks on the banks of
the Little Blue where William Clark
Quantrell organized his band of guer-
illas in which rode Cole and Jim
Younger, Frank and Jesse James, Jim
Cummings and others who drifted
from war into brigandage and could
scarce distinguish between them. And
for years there was little difference.
A wooden board eighteen inches
high ana nine inches wide, on which a
boy has rudely carved with a jack
81 Dol l.,