The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1909-08-06

saIe could not be reached, so tney
asked Bunker about sthe money. that
was outside. Bunker pointed to a lit
tie tray full of small coins, and while
Bob was putting them away in a sack
Bunker made a dash through a rear
window. Pitts fired at him twice, his
second bullet going through his right
shoulder"
Meantime we who had escaped
slaughter in the terrible bombardment
we had faced were trying to make our
way to some safe place. Not far from
Mortified we met farmer. who. lent
US horse for Pitts to ride, and we
got past Dundas ahead of the news
of the raid on the bank. We were
also beating it at Millersburg, but at
Shieldsville we ran into a squad of
men who knew what had happened
and were after us. These men had,
foolishly for themselves, left their guns
outside a house, and we didn't let
them get hold of them until we had
good start, but they overlook us about
four miles away and shots were ex.
changed without any trouble resulting
"Soon there were a thousand men on
out trail and about $1,000 in rewards
for our capture. We tramped and
camped and rode and watched in
strange country and among the lakes
We didn't know the trails and were
afraid to try the fords and bridges,
l,no fbo& l.
sure to keep their eyes on these places.
Saturday morning we abandoned our
horses and decided to keep up the fight
afoot. We tramped all night and put
in Sunday near Marysburg. Bob's ell
bow by this time was in pretty bad
shape and we had to go slow. Finally,
on Monday night and Tuesday we
couldn't 60 anywhere, so we passed the
time in a deserted house near Man
kato. A man named Dunning found us
there and we took him prisoner. On
the theory that the dead are silent,
some of the men wanted to kill him,
but l wouldn't stand for that, so we
made him swear by all that was holy
that he wouldn't tell that he had
seen us until we got away Then we
turned him loose. He lost no time
in getting into Mankato and giving the
posse was after us.
That night Howard and Wood de-
cided that they wouldn't hold back
any longer and that we were losing
valuable time because of Bobs wound
so they left us and went on west.
They stole two horses very soon, and
| this helped us as we'll as them, for
the posse followed the trail of the
| stolen horses, not knowing that we
| had divided"
"On Thursday morning, September
| 81, just two weeks after the raid. the
end came. party of forty men soon
surrounded us and opened fire. We
were cut off from our horses and our
case was hopeless We. were on the
open prairie and not ready for our
last fight against such odds, we fell
back into the Watonwan river bottoms
and hid in some bushes.
'When the iron doors shut behind
us at the Saltwater prison we all sub
mitted to the prison discipline with
the same unquestioning obedience that
| had exacted during my military serv-
ice. The result was that we gained
friends both in prison and outside.
We had been in prison little over
seven years when on January 25, 1884.
the main building was destroyed by
fire at night, George F. Dodds was then
connected with the prison, while his
wife was matron. There was danger
of a panic and terrible disaster.
DOdd released Jim and Bob and nv
self. To me he gave a revolver. Jim
had an axe handle and Bob a small
iron bar. We stood guard over the
woman prisoners, marched them from
the danger of the fire, and the prison
authorities were kind enough to say
that had it not been for us there must
have been a tremendous loss of life.
81 can say without fear of contradic-
tion that had it been in our minds to
do so we could have escaped from the
prison that night, but we had deter
mined to pay the penalty that had
been exacted, and if we were ever to
return to liberty it would be with the
consent and approval of the authori-
ties and the public. A little later Jim
was put in charge of the mail and
library of the prison, while | was made
head nurse in the hospital, where
remained until the day we were pa
rolled.
Gas the years went by the popular
feeling against us not only subsidized.
but our absolute obedience to the
minutest detail of the prison discipline
won us the consideration, and L might
even say, the esteem of the prison
officials. In the meantime it had been
a life sentence for Bob, he having
died of consumption September Is,
1889.
Jim and l went out into the world
July Ia, 1901, after serving few
months less than twenty five years.
Each of us Immediately found work,
and life again took on its normal hues.
Poor Jim, however, was subjected to
periodical spells of deem denrass;on