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

wrecking the telegraph office if neces-
sary to prevent any alarm being sent
out by wire.
whisky spoiled the whole plan. Be-
tween the time they left camp and
reached the bridge the men who went
ahead got away with a quart of whis-
ky-the first time l had ever known
| Bob to drink, and as a matter OF fact,
| didn't know he had done so then
until the day and it's terrible events
| were over. The blunder was that
when these three men saw us coming,
instead of waiting for us to get up
with them they slammed right on into
the bank regardless, leaving the door
open in their excitement
81 was out in the street, pretending
1 was having trouble with my saddle.
Meantime l had told Miller to close
up the bank door. A man named AL
len, who kept store near by, was
then trying to get into the bank, but
Miller foolishly shouted at him and
told him to get away. Allen at once
| became excited and saw that something
was wrong, and ran off up the street
shouting to every one to get his gun,
as the bank was being robbed.
"a DIR. Wheeler, who saw that
something was happening out of the
ordinary, began to yell Robbery Then
l saw We were in for it, and would
need all the help we could get. / first
called to Miller to come inside and
get out of harms way and then I
fired a signal to the three men at the
| bridge for them to come up and help
us, as we had been trapped.
"Chadwell, Woods and Jim came gal
Looping up, and at the same moment
that they arrived I heard a shot fired
inside of the bank. The three boys
were firing their guns as they rode
! along, shouting to everybody they saw
I to get out of the way and get indoors,
but l am quite sure they never killed
anybody. My theory always has been
that the man Gustafson, who was shot
down in the street, was struck by a
glancing shot from some of the cit
izen's rifles, as they were out blazing
away at this time.
"Miller then was shot by a man
named Stacy and his face filled full
of bird shot. A man named Manning
killed Pitts horse, and, as a matter of
fact, the street was full of flying lead,
coming from every direction. 1t wasn't
long before l was wounded in the
thigh by Manning, and the next in.
slant he shot caldwell through the
| heart"
"Dr. Wheeler, from an upper floor of
hotel, got bead on Miller and
brought him down, so that he soon lay
| dying in the middle of the street.
Every time 1 saw man pointing a
gun at me 1 dropped off my horse and
tried to drive the shooter under cover,
but there were so many of them, and
l couldn't see in every direction, so I
soon found out that, wounded as !
was, [ was helpless. Meanwhile there
was a tragedy going on inside the
bank"
Bob came out in hurry and start
ed down the street toward Manning,
who ran into store, hoping he would
get a shot at Bob from under cover
Bob ran on, but didn't notice DIR.
Wheeler, who was upstairs in the no.
tel, behind him, and Wheeler's third
shot smashed Bob's right arm. Bob
switches his gun to his left and got
on N1iller's horse, thinking that Miller
was dead. By this time Howard and
Pitts had got out of the bank and /
told them that Miller was still alive
and we'd have to save him. I told
Pitts to put Miller on my horse, but
when we lifted him 1 saw ne was dead,
so | told Pitts that l would hold off
the crowd while he got away, as his
horse had been killed. While Pitts
ran, less than ten yards, stool with
my pistol pointed at any one who
showed his head, and then 1 galloped
off and overlook him and took him up
behind me.
"Pitts then confessed to me about
the drinking, and said they had made
an awful mess of it inside the bank.
1t had been arranged that they should
hold up Joseph L. Haywood, the act
ing cashier, at his window, and after
roping him get to the safe without any
trouble. Instead of that these three
drink-crazed lunatics leaped over the
rail and scared Haywood so bad that
he Immediately got on the defensive,
and in a minute the alarm was out
and it was all over.
! at seemed that one of the robbers
had waved his revolver at Haywood
the minute he entered the bank and
asked him if he was the cashier. Hey-
wood had said he wasn't, and then the
same question was put to the other
two men who were in the bank Each
of the three said he was not the cash
Ter, but the robber turned to Haywood,
who was sitting at the cashiers desk,
and said:
you're the cashier; open that safe
d-n quick or I'll blow your head of.
Haywood jumped back and Pitts
ran to the vault and got inside. Hey
wood then tried to shut him in. and
was seized by the robbers. who told