Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1905-10-11
LANDS A BAD QUARTETTE.
Wild Rose Robbers Believed to
Be Confirmed Crooks.
ONE DEAD; ONE DYING
Other Two and Four Suspects Held Safe
ly Despite High Excitement Over
Robbery and Capture.

~ ~ =. ~. +
WAUTOMA, Wis, Oct. 9.-[Spe-
ial.l-Four of the worst crooks who
have ever operated in this part of the
United States, it is believed by Pinker-
ton detectives, were landed Saturday
night when a posse of fifty farmers and
officers took one dead. two wounded and
a third who fought to the last ditch in
the marshes near Wild Rose, on a
charge of attempting to rob the State
bank OF that village, after the pOstoffice
there had been entered and $500 taken
Hearing Is Adjourned.
The three men taken alive by the
posse were taken before Justice L. w.
Hubbell this morning for hearing, and
an adjournment OF ten days was taken.
-Four suspects not with the gang dur
ing the shooting have been arrested also.
The attempt to rob the bank took
place Saturday morning. Awakened by
the noise of the explosion Of the post
office safe, citizens scared away the
bandits, who escaped into the marshes
near Wild Rose leaving a charge of
nitroglycerine in the safe door.
Wanted One for Ten Years
Pinkerton detectives sent up from Chi
cago by Milwaukee officials of the Mary
land Casualty company, which had in
sured the bank safe, arrived Sunday
night and identified one of the badly
wounded prisoners as q man named
Rambler, who has been wanted for ten
years by the United States authorities.
The prisoners were brought here last
night. Rambler is so badly wounded
that he probably cannot live.
The trio, captured after the fierce bat
tie Of Saturday night, refuses to tell
who the dead companion is.
Prepared for Lynching.
While the community is violently
aroused over the affair, officers believe
they have the situation so we'll in hand
that a lynching attempt could easily be-
handled.
Every precaution has been taken.
Undersherif Digman led the posse on
the chase and capture of the four men.
He first tracked the men by the i'm
prints of their shoes in the soft soil
distance of five miles north, toward
Waupaca, where he found they had en-
tered a swamp of about sixty acres.
Posse Goes Into Swamp.
Having located his men, the under
sheriff secured his posse and returned
to the swamp. His posse was armed
with rifles and shotguns and beat about
the swamp until about 3 o'clock when
the robbers broke cover and skirmish
ensued.
The robbers, seeing that they were
outnumbered, took to their heels and
ran into "a valley. Here they were or
dered to surrender, but refused to do so
and fired upon the officers, who, in turn
ordered the posse to return the fire.
During the fight one of the robbers
shouted: Come and get u.s."
At the same time a revolver shot from
the direction of the brush showed that
the bandits were ready to fight.
Firing Lasts Over an Hour.
Almost instantly the firing began. On
account of the large number of men in
the pursuing party, great caution had to
be used by its members to prevent
shooting the wrong men. For an hour
and a half the thieves and farmers kept
up a continued firing, and one by one the
bandits were brought down, in spite of
their efforts to hide behind fallen log.
When they took shelter on one side the
farmers from the rear did the firing, and
as fast as they changed positions the
posse changed it's tactics.
Finally one of the bandits tried ia
make a run for it, and he was brought
down with a volley and fell dead in his
tracks. The other three remained in
the brush and continued to fight, but
when two had been wounded, probably
fatally, the fourth decided to surrender.
With his hands up over his head, he
shouted to the farmers to stop firing and
he would give himself up He then
stepped out OF the underbrush.
Surrenders to Posse.
Its all off, he said. ''Two of nv
pals in there are badly shot up. They
need looking after"
The surrendered bandit then led the
posse into the brush, where two wound
ed men were found. One had been shot
through the lungs and cannot live. The
other had wounds in his head and leg
None of the members of the posse was
injured.
Hauled Away in Wagon
The dead, wounded and living were
placed in a wagon, and under heavy es-
cort, armed to the teeth were brought
to the village. The dead man is about
35 years of age. The money and stamps
were recovered.