The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1915-03-26
One. Time Bandit Gives Brief
Story Of His Life
From Saturday, Daily.


The Minneapolis Journal last even.
ing published the following story
abou1 Cole Younger, the former ban
dit:
Lees Summit. No.. March 20.-Cole
Younger. last OF the group OF bandits
who made Missouri famous or rather
infamous, shortly after the civil war.
slowly Is dying at his home heres
Deep feeling over the death last
month of Frank James, a fellow
bandit of Younger I'm the reconstruc.
ton days. is believed to be fastening
the day when Cole Younger no longer
can tell of the civil war raids and the
bank robberies which he saw. and
more than one OF which he led.
Bent in years and fncing death
Cole Younger says he does not be-
lieve he could have lived his life DIFF
ferently. He believes he did what any
ether person would have done.
After serving twenty-five years in
the Minnesota state prison, he came to
Missouri twelve years ago and these
have been happy and honored years
for him. He joined the Christian
church two years ago on an anniver-
sary of the date on which he helped
massacre hundreds I'm Lawrence. Kan.
He is respected for his uprightness
and almost tenderness Of character
I'm his advanced years.
VIII Not See Worlds Fair.
II had been his hope that he mignr
attend the San Francisco worlds fair
but that has been declared impossible
because of hiS-& failing health. His
voice bit tremulous, but with pierre.
ing eyes, the FORMER bandit sat re-
Gently in his easy chair and stroked
the wavy hair of a two.year-old grand
nephew.
Heralded from ocean to ocean as
the most desperate Of men, the form
err bandit stopped occasionally 10 coo
softly a song which soon closed the
baby eyes i'm shlmbcr. Younger's chief
exploits we're the robbery OF a North.
field. MIMI. bank September q, 1876.
end the civil war raid on Lawrence.
Kansas.
There Is nothing in my life so
thrilling as my part in the raid on
Lawrence. Kan. during the Civil War.
There is nothing that ever happened
that was so misrepresented in lltera.
ture and i'm history" he said.
mureder OF Father Arouses Youngers.
ITO understand IL one must look
back into the early history of the war.
when federal syinpathizers had south.
erners I'm Missouri ut their mercy.
My father was opposed To the war
and had friends on both sides, but
gEA, In nd
bed by a gang of federal freebooters
as he was driving home from Kansas
City. That day changed my whole life.
The knowledge that my father had
been killed in cold blood filed my
heart with lust for vengeance.
II was nineteen the day we started
from Blackwater. Mo-. about 900 strong
the Quantrell band. mean. 1t was
August 90. 1863. was lieutenant II:
one company of the command.
when we reached hill I'm sight
OF Lawrence. we learned from an old
hog feeder that there were 300 regu.
lar federal troops I'm Lawrence and 900
miiitiamen.
They outnumbar ms two to one.
said Quantreli. but we can whip
them.
Gist Of the Story.
"Soon we came upon them. There
were 10 guards and we tore open the
flaps of their tents and killed them
as fast as our guns could work. We
lost only four dead and three wound
ed. Then we rode away and foughr
for twenty-four hours with pursuers
who had been organized. They fol-
lowed us until we were among friends
i'm Missouri"
That is the gist or Cole Younger's
story of one of the bloodiest episodes
OF the border warfare between Mis-
souri, southerners and Kansas north.
erners during the civil war. IL was
the start of his career rs an OUTLAW
The remaining years of the war
were busy ones for Cole Younger and
his three brothers. Mobs several
times were formed to lynch the Youn!
ger boys, but each time good marks
manship or the brothers drove away
the would-be lynchers.
In the early 'T0's the escapades ot
the James boys in robbing banks and
trains attracted nationwide attention
and the Younger brothers got credit
for being i'm many OF these, when
really they were hundreds OF miles
away.
Accused Of Many Crimes.
They kept accusing us until the.'
drove us into it, said Cole Younger.
ave became civil outlaws when four
Chicago detectives attempted TO ar
rest me and my brothers. Jim. John
and Bob. We heard the detectives
were coming and we rode out to meet
them. A little shooting and they turn
ed their horses the other way and
hurried back to Chicago as fast as a
train could carry them"
The hunt for the Younger brothers
went on and Cole Younger. to elude
the hunters, went to Florida to live
under an assumed name. While stay
ing at the st. James hotel i'm Jackson
Vile. Fla. he won. the plaudits of the
entire community for quelling negro
riot.
His friends in Missouri attempted
TO get the legislature to pass an am
nesty hill, so he could come back and
not have. to face possible arrest for
escapades during the war. but TINS
failed.
The Mortified Robbery.
One day, while sitting in n hotel, he