Rovin' 'Round by H.C. Hotaling

              ROVIN' 'ROUND
By H. C. Hotaling
Carl L. Weicht, editor of the North- field News, is giving monthly histori¬ cal talks over St. Olaf    college    radio station WCAL.    In his last address he discussed the raid of the Younger and James brothers' gang on   ^he    North- field bank in 1876.   Bank robberies to¬ day are so frequent they hardly make a stir in society outside   of   the    com¬ munity w^here their raid is made,  but in the case of the robbery of 59 years ago,    all    Southern     Minnesota     was aroused.    Mr. Weicht rightly refers to the  men   who   routed   the   bandits   as heroes.    He might also  have said  the same about hundreds of men who for days  pursued   the  robbers  until  their capture near Madeiia.    Well do I re¬ member the visit of this gang to Man¬ kato  on  the  day previous  to  the  raid on the Northfield bank and the murder of Cashier J. L. Heywood.    Following their   escape   from     Northfield,     these men made their    way    westward    but found it a  difficult task owing to the fact       the       highways       everywhere were  guarded  by  armed  men.    Their appearance in Blue Earth county was first noted by Sebastian Kopp in Lime township north  of  Mankato  and from that time until their capture they were hunted night and day.    At Northfield two of their members were killed and others wounded,    so    they    were    not anxious to encounter any more of the Minnesotans    if    they    could    possibly evade them.      From    Lime    township where they took Jeff Dunning, mana¬ ger  of  one  of  Henry  Shaubut's  large farms three and a half miles north of Mankato, a    captive,    they    proceeded south, although that evidently was not their  original    intention.      They    had abandoned their horses near    Madison Lake   and   were    proceeding   on     foot through the big woods.   They were not used  to  timber and were endeavoring to make the prairie country in Nicollet county  across  the  Minnesota.    Before releasing Dunning, they not only ex¬ acted a promise that he would not re¬ veal their presence in the community, but made inquiry as to getting across the river.    They were told    the    only way to get over was by    getting    the Young brothel's, Ed and Bill, to    row
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them over; they had a boat and some¬ times    performed    that     service     for neighbors  and  others.    It  was  cloudy and rainy weather and after obtaining this-I information,  they turned  back  to imber    and    Dunning    at    once sent  Word    into      Mankato      as      to their       presence.        Aiter      nightfall they made their way south crossing the Blue Earth river at Mankato    on    the bridge of the Omaha railway.    The old covered  wagon  bridge    just    a    short distance down stream    was    not    only closely guarded but    log    chains    had been interlaced so as  to make  it im¬ possible  for  anyone  to  drive   through at night.    They were discovered, how¬ ever, when making the trip across the railway bridge and a large    posse    of men were armed and  out looking for them  early  the next  morning,  but  no trace  of them  could  be  found.    That those who gave their time and effort to their capture were heroes was evi¬ dent by the fact that they were pursu¬ ing a desperate and notorious gang of robbers.    An incident of this was re¬ vealed   following   their     capture   six miles  west  of  Madelia.      They    were brought   to   Mankato,   and   one   might say placed on exhibition, as they were in  the  old  frame  depot  that,  in  1876, stood on Fourth street near the present Immanuel hospital,    and    while    there told of having hidden through the day under  a   brush   pile   near    Minneopa. In telling of the incident. Cole Young¬ er, I believe it was, related how nearly discovered they    were    and    described the boy and his sawed off musket who came within a few feet of their hiding place.    Said he, "Had    that    lad    dis¬ covered us, he would never have told anyone as we had him covered."    The young fellow who carried that gun was my    brother    Fred,    now    residing   in Faribault.   Asking Fred   about   it   he writes:  "I was in a bunch of 25 or 30 men  v^rho started out    from    Mankato about four o'clock    in    the    afternoon, taking to the woods near South Bend on the old Good Thunder road which, at that time, was heavily wooded.    By the time we struck the woods a lot of the fellows   disappeared,   running   to¬ ward the village of South Bend about as fast as they could go.   I went on in¬ to Rapidan township    to    the    Rogers mill, reaching there about 12 o'clock at night.    There were some    men    there from Faribault and Mankato. One man gave me a shotgun and told me to be on guard.    He was shaking from fear, i
In the morning Frank Loring, a baker, drove out from Mankato and gave us som.e summer sausage, but no bread. During the day I left and made my way back to Mankato alone, going northward and striking the Minneopa road. Did not know I was near the robbers as I did not see or hear them." On their way eastward from Man¬ kato previous to the Northfield rob¬ bery, the men who wore long linen dusters and rode fine horses stopped at the foot of Glenwood ravine where the store of Devlin & Keefe now stands and watered their horses in a dam which had been constructed across Glenwood creek by Charles and Edwin Goodwin and myself. We thought they were cattle buyers, and when they asked in a gentlemanly way if they might water their horses, were given permission to do so. A picture of the dam and us kids had just previously been taken by Mr. E. F. Everitt, the pioneer photographer, who had his gallery on Cherry street. Mr. Everitt ' made thousands of stereoscopic views and I understand his old nega¬ tives were stored away for many years in the barn of Thomas Hughes, historian of Blue Earth county. Others have said the negatives are now the property of J. R. Snow, photographer. Anyway, if they are in existence, they would reveal a lot of the beauty spots of the county as well as tell some in¬ teresting stories of sixty or more years ago.