Vought specifically remembered Cole talking about the bridge near the “head of Armstrong lake.” Armstrong Lake is in western Blue Earth County. Today’s Omsrud Lake, northwest of Madelia in Brown County is identified as “L. Armstrong” in Andreas’s 1874 map of Brown County, and while it is possible that this is the lake Vought was referring to, it is more likely that Omsrud Lake was mislabeled in the atlas.
Sorbel signed an affidavit in 1929 stating that his full name was Asle O. Sorbel. Non-Norwegians clearly had difficulty with its pronunciation and spelling. Newspapers from the time of the raid gave his surname as Suborn, and the 1875 Minnesota state census spelled it Soborn. The 1880 federal census gives it as Sorbol. See the 1875 Minnesota state census, Linden, Brown County; the 1880 U. S. census, Linden, Brown County; and A. O. Sorbel affidavit, Aug. 8, 1929, box 14, folder 219, Koblas Collection.
Colonel Vought’s encounter with Oscar Sorbel is mentioned in Vought, “Capture of the Younger Brothers”; George Huntington, Robber and Hero: The Story of the Northfield Raid on the First National Bank of Northfield, Minnesota, by the James-Younger Band of Robbers, in 1876 (1895; reprint, Minneapolis: Ross & Haines, 1962), 63–64; and The Story of Cole Younger by Himself, 87–88. Huntington claims that Sorbel spent his evenings with Vought and his men, but as it was approximately a ten-mile round-trip from his home to the bridge, this seems unlikely.
The best contemporary interview with Oscar Sorbel concerning his role in the spotting of the robbers and his mad ride to Madelia is found in the Mankato Review, Sept. 26, 1876. Other accounts are found in the Pioneer Press and Tribune, Sept. 22, 1876; the Saint Paul Dispatch, Sept. 22, 1876; and the Saint Peter Tribune, Sept. 27, 1876. A 1924 account written by Sorbel was published in the Sioux Falls Argus-Leader, a photocopy of which is in the Koblas Collection, box 7, folder 87.
For my treatment of the pursuit of the Youngers and Pitts by Sheriff Glispin and his posses, as well as the gunfight and capture on the North Fork of the Watonwan, I have relied almost entirely on the accounts from contemporary newspapers: the Saint Paul Dispatch, Sept. 22, 1876; the Pioneer Press and Tribune, Sept. 22, 23, and 30, 1876; the Minneapolis Tribune, Sept. 22 and 23, 1876; the Mankato Record, Sept. 23, 1876; the Mankato Review, Sept. 26, 1876; the Saint Peter Tribune, Sept. 27, 1876; and the Mankato Union, Sept. 29, 1876. Later accounts by two of the skirmishers who went into the brush after the robbers are those by T. L. Vought, Northfield News, Sept. 18, 1897; and “Geo. A. Bradford Tells Story of Younger Gang,” news clipping, 1924, in box 2, folder 12, Koblas Collection.
Many modern writers have referred to the capture site as “Hanska Slough.” This is incorrect, as Lake Hanska and its outlet or “slough” was nearly three miles north of the capture site.
Cole Younger’s exchange with Charlie Pitts just before the shoot-out with Glispin’s posse is from The Story of Cole Younger by Himself, 88–89, and Harry Hoffman, “The Younger Boys Last Stand,” the Norborne Democrat and the Leader, Missouri, Jan. 3, 1936.
Jim Younger waving and cheering to the crowd in Madelia is from the Saint Peter Tribune, Sept. 27, 1876. The Luther Pomeroy quote on Cole Younger is from “Old-Timers Remember Younger Gang; Captured Near Here After Robber,” Jan. 12, 1939, news clipping, box 2, folder 14, Koblas Collection.
Cole stating that his feet hurt worse than all his wounds and his request for the doctors to “speak up” is from the Minneapolis Tribune, Sept. 23, 1876.
The removal of a piece of Jim Younger’s jaw is from “Dr. Wm. H. Woods,” news clipping, Younger Brothers Indictments File, Northfield Historical Society; and Sedalia Weekly Bazoo, May 7, 1878. According to the Mankato Review, Sept. 26, 1876, both Cole and Jim were given opiates, most likely morphine.
Sheriff Glispin telling the crowd he would shoot anyone who touched his prisoners is from the Minneapolis Tribune, Sept. 23, 1876; and the Saint Paul Dispatch, Sept. 22, 1876. Cole’s request for his pistols in the event of a mob attack is from The Story of Cole Younger by Himself, 89–90.
T. L. Vought described the photograph session of the robbers and the Madelia Seven at the Flanders House in “Capture of the Younger Brothers by One of the Captors.”
Edward Noonan remembered seeing the body of Charlie Pitts laid out in the Madelia jail. See his interview in the Mankato School Spotlight, Feb. 14, 1941. The Saint Peter Tribune, Sept. 27, 1876, commented that Elias F. Everitt’s image of Charlie Pitts did not resemble the living man. Dr. William Wood also noticed the changes in Pitts’s face, stating that when he saw the body shortly after Pitts’s death, the man had been “strikingly handsome.” See the Mankato Union, Sept. 29, 1876. Everitt actually made two photographs of Pitts, one with the corpse bare-chested and the other with a checkered shirt.
For Bob receiving bouquets of flowers, see the Minneapolis Tribune, Sept. 23, 1876. The quote describing the sympathetic tears of the people viewing the outlaws is from the Saint Paul Dispatch, Sept. 22, 1876.
The exchange between Bob Younger and Mrs. Sorbel is taken from the Saint Paul Dispatch, Sept. 23, 1876; and the Minneapolis Tribune, Sept. 23, 1876.
The attempt by the Saint Paul Dispatch reporter to trick Cole into admitting that the James brothers were part of the raid is from the issue of Sept. 22, 1876. The interview with Bob Younger, in which he discusses the killing of Heywood, is from the Minneapolis Tribune, Sept. 23, 1876.
The dispute concerning whether the Youngers would be taken to St. Paul or Rice County is from the Saint Paul Dispatch, Sept. 22 and 23, 1876; and the Mankato Review, Sept. 26, 1876.
The Youngers’ trip from Madelia to the county jail in Faribault was reported in the Mankato Union, Sept. 29, 1876; the Mankato Review, Sept. 26, 1876; the Faribault Democrat, Sept. 29, 1876; and the Minneapolis Tribune, Sept. 23, 1876. The Faribault Democrat is the source for the number of people who visited the jail on Sunday, Sept. 24.
Chief of Police McDonough’s letter of Sept. 22, 1876, to Governor Hardin is in Records of Charles Henry Hardin, 1875–1877 (RG 3.22), Missouri State Archives, Jefferson City, MO. His telegram requesting that the dead robbers not be buried immediately was published in the Pioneer Press and Tribune, Sept. 23, 1876.
The visit of Chief McDonough, Officer Palmer, and Calvin Hunn to the capitol and, later, Faribault on Sunday, Sept. 24, was reported in the Pioneer Press and Tribune, Sept. 26 and 29, 1876; the Saint Paul Dispatch, Sept. 25, 1876; the Minneapolis Tribune, Sept. 25, 1876; the St. Louis Republican, Sept. 25 and 30, 1876; the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, Sept. 25 and 30, 1876; the Faribault Democrat, Sept. 29, 1876; and the State Journal, Jefferson City, MO, Oct. 6, 1876.
Chief McDonough refers to Cal Carter as the “eighth man of the gang” in his letter to Governor Hardin of Sept. 22, 1876, cited above. Little information is available on Carter (possibly an alias), although the Youngers were acquainted with the outlaw. Jim Younger described Carter as six feet two, very slender, straight, and having red hair. Texas authorities named Carter as a participant in several Texas stagecoach robberies beginning in 1874, when he robbed a San Antonio & Austin mail coach with Jim Reed, a former member of Quantrill’s guerrillas, and a John Boswell. Cole stated that Carter had died in 1875. A photograph of Carter, copied from a tintype, was sent to the St. Paul chief of police to aid in the identification of the Northfield robbers. See the Pioneer Press and Tribune, Sept. 26, 1876; the St. Louis Republican, Sept. 25, 1876; the Galveston Daily News, Aug. 9, 1874; the Palo Alto Pilot, Emmetsburg, Iowa, Oct. 28, 1876; and the Minneapolis Tribune, Oct. 5, 1876.
Cole’s suggestion of a $1,000 bet that Jim was his brother is from the Pioneer Press and Tribune, Sept. 26, 1876; and the Minneapolis Tribune, Sept. 25, 1876.
The quote from the Saint Paul Dispatch reporter on McDonough’s theory regarding Jim Younger’s movements is from the issue of Sept. 27, 1876.
The vote by the train passengers on what should be done with the Youngers was reported in the Saint Paul Dispatch, Sept. 25, 1876.
Eight: The Pursuit of the James Boys
The Th
omas Hughes letter to his family of Sept. 22, 1876, is in the Carleton Archives, Carleton College, Northfield, MN. Adelbert Ames’s letter to his wife of Sept. 22, 1876, is quoted from Blanche Butler Ames, ed., Chronicles from the Nineteenth Century: Family Letters of Blanche Butler and Adelbert Ames (Clinton, MA: Privately printed, 1957), 2: 425.
The James brothers’ appearance at the farm northwest of Madelia, which belonged to a man named Jackson, was reported in the St. Paul and Minneapolis Pioneer Press and Tribune, Sept. 16, 1876; and the Faribault Democrat, Sept. 22, 1876.
Frank and Jesse’s overnight stay with the German farmer near Lamberton is from the Pioneer Press and Tribune, Sept. 19, 1876; the Saint Paul Dispatch, Sept. 18, 1876; the Minneapolis Tribune, Sept. 18, 1876; and the Faribault Democrat, Sept. 22, 1876. Because of the German farmer’s information that both outlaws had wounds in their right legs, some newspapers speculated that both wounds came from the single shot of the guard at Lake Crystal. And because of Cole Younger’s claim that neither Frank nor Jesse had wounds when the gang split, there has been a willingness to accept this theory. However, as will be seen in this chapter, Frank would tell Dr. Mosher that he received his wound in Northfield. And we have the account of farmer Jackson near Madelia, cited above, who observed one of the outlaws, whom I believe to have been Frank, dressing an “old” wound—Frank’s wound was more than a week old at that time. Years later, the Lake Crystal guard, Richard Roberts, would claim there was a bullet hole in the hat lost by one of the robbers (he believed the hat belonged to Jesse). Roberts assumed that the bullet hole had come from his gun, but it could just as easily have come from one of the Northfield citizens, and likely did. I believe, then, that Jesse’s wound in the right leg came from Roberts. Roberts’s reminiscence is in the Mankato Free Press, Feb. 16, 1931.
The events and route of Jesse and Frank’s flight from near Lamberton to near Sioux City, IA, are at times most difficult to decipher. Various newspapers sometimes published contradictory or variant versions of the same incident, leading later writers to make one episode into two or three. There were also numerous false sightings and reports (like the one out of Yankton, Dakota Territory, claiming that 150 Indians were chasing Jesse and Frank). Reminiscences and local folklore usually add nothing but more confusion. I have drawn my narrative from the following sources: the Pioneer Press and Tribune, Sept. 19, 1876; the Faribault Democrat, Sept. 22, 1876; the Sioux City Daily Journal, Sept. 19, 21, and 24, 1876; the Sioux Valley News, Sept. 23, 1876; and the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, Sept. 25, 1876. An account supposedly written by a posse member who trailed the James brothers from Mankato to Dakota Territory appeared in the St. Louis Globe-Democrat of Dec. 5, 1876, under the title “A Ride for Life.” Purporting to correct many errors reported about the manhunt, this article commits a number of its own. I have also made extensive use of U.S. and state censuses to verify names and ages of some of the people Jesse and Frank encountered, as well as to confirm the locations of their residences.
An incident that caused much confusion at the time—and still does today—was the sighting of three suspicious men on foot on Sunday afternoon, Sept. 17, at Ocheda Lake, four miles southwest of Worthington, MN. The individual who spotted the men said one wore a rubber coat with a cape. One of the men appeared to be sick or wounded, for as the three fled, the wounded man fell several times and had to be helped up. When a posse traveled to the scene the next morning, they found tracks made by “the notorious square-toed boot with small heel.” But that’s all they found; the three suspicious men were not seen again. Many naturally suspected that these men were part of the James-Younger gang. They were not. The James brothers were at least forty miles away at the time, mounted on the noted iron-gray mares. The Youngers and Charlie Pitts were somewhere between Mankato and Linden Lake. The three mysterious men—if they were not the figment of someone’s imagination—may very well have been nefarious characters with their own reasons for avoiding contact with strangers. See the Saint Paul Dispatch, Sept. 18, 1876; the Mankato Review, Sept. 19, 1876; and the Worthington Advance, Sept. 21, 1876.
Perhaps the most ludicrous tale connected with the James boys’ flight is the story that Jesse, a posse close on his heels, jumped a chasm twenty feet wide called Devil’s Gulch (today within Devil’s Gulch Park, near Garretson, SD). Jesse is supposed to have performed the feat on horseback, of course, but the tale does not explain what happened to Frank. Nor does it explain how Jesse could have jumped the gulch when he and Frank actually passed several miles to the south. Another problem with the story—conveniently overlooked by writers—is that the iron-gray mares were completely used up by this time. Jesse would have been lucky to coax his exhausted mount over a small ditch, let alone a chasm of twenty feet. See Ried Holien, “Did Jesse James Jump?” True West (Jan.–Feb., 2009); and Charles A. Smith, “The James Brothers in Dakota,” typescript, folder 1, Homer Croy Papers, Western Historical Manuscript Collection, Columbia, MO.
A good contemporary account of Dr. Mosher’s encounter with the James brothers appeared in the Sioux City Daily Journal, Sept. 22, 1876. However, the best and most detailed account, and one previously unknown, is the story Mosher gave to a Pioneer Press reporter in 1878. The Sedalia Weekly Bazoo reprinted the story in its issue of May 28, 1878, and it is this Bazoo version that I have consulted. See also “Sioux City Family Treasures Bullet Pierced Trousers Worn by One of James Brothers,” newspaper clipping, Northfield Public Library, Northfield, MN.
Richard S. Hall, a brother-in-law of the Youngers, met Dr. Mosher while on a trip to visit the Youngers in jail at Faribault. Mosher told Hall that Frank had a severe wound above his knee and that Jesse was wounded just above the heel. See the Kansas City Times, Oct. 10, 1876.
Several newspapers ran the story that Jesse and Frank paid a farmer, J. C. Thompson, to take them a distance away with his buggy and team, leaving their gray and bay horses in Thompson’s barn. According to the story, nightfall had arrived and Thompson was still missing. I could find no follow-up reports to this incident, however, an incident that I do not believe to be true. At the same time the story placed Jesse and Frank with Thompson, the brothers were spotted miles away, still riding the gray and bay horses. See the Sioux City Daily Journal, Sept. 23, 1876; and the Minneapolis Tribune, Sept. 23, 1876.
For the James brothers’ route from the West Fork of the Little Sioux to Ida Grove, see the Sioux City Daily Journal, Sept. 26, 1876. The quote from the posse member about letting “someone else” head off the Jameses is from the same issue.
The Iowa newspaper quote lamenting that more had not been done to capture the James brothers is from the Iowa Liberal, Le Mars, IA, Sept. 27, 1876.
Chief McDonough’s boast to Governor Hardin about being able to capture the James boys is from his letter of Sept. 29, as quoted in Nancy B. Samuelson, “How the James Boys Fled the Disaster at Northfield and the Capture of ‘Frank James,’” Western Outlaw-Lawman History Association Journal 3 (Spring-Summer 1993): 4–9. Zerelda Samuel’s experience with the detectives/lighting rod salesmen is quoted from the Kansas City Times, Oct. 17, 1876.
The capture of John N. Goodin (also Goodwin) and the subsequent controversy over his identity were covered extensively in the press. See the Kansas City Times, Oct. 15, 17, and 18, 1876; the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, Oct. 15, 16, 17, 18, and 19, 1876, and Sept. 8, 1880; and the State Journal, Jefferson City, MO, Oct. 20, 1876. Chief McDonough’s letter of Oct. 19 informing the Missouri governor that Goodin was innocent is in Records of Charles Henry Hardin, 1875–1877 (RG 3.22), Missouri State Archives, Jefferson City, MO.
John N. Goodin’s lawsuit against Chief McDonough appears to have been unsuccessful. Goodin was reported to have sued Sergeant Boland, also unsuccessfully. See the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, Mar. 19, 1879, and Sept. 8, 1880.
The information on the James brothers’ escape route provided by the unnamed Independence man appeared in the Kansas City Times, Oct. 15, 1876. This informant also stated that “Both were wounded, on
e in the leg and the other in the foot.”
The Bob and Charley Ford interview appeared in the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, Apr. 8, 1882. Dick Liddil’s comments on the James brothers’ escape are from George Miller Jr., The Trial of Frank James for Murder (1898; reprint, New York: Jingle Bob/Crown Publishers, 1977), 329–330; and William H. Wallace, Speeches and Writings of Wm. H. Wallace, with Autobiography (Kansas City: The Western Baptist Publishing Co., 1914), 291–292.
The claim by the Sioux City newspaper editor that he helped the James brothers escape is from the Sioux City Journal, July 25, 1954. The reminiscence claiming the Jameses escaped through Wisconson is in L. B. Keene to Homer Croy, Seattle, WA, July 16, 1949, folder 746, Homer Croy Papers.
Jim Cummins is quoted from the Interior Journal, Stanford, KY, May 5, 1916. The story originally appeared in the Kansas City Star. The book he said he was writing on the James gang was never published and likely was never completed. Cummins died at Missouri’s Confederate Soldiers Home in Higginsville in 1929.
In Dick Liddil’s signed confession, he stated that “Ed Miller [Clell’s brother] told me that Jesse and Frank a short time after the Northfield robbery went to Mrs. Samuels’. They were both wounded. Jesse told me that he was also at Gen. Jo. Shelby’s in Lafayette county before he got well of his wounds.” Liddil is quoted from the Sedalia Weekly Bazoo, Sept. 18, 1883. Clay County sheriff John S. Groom believed that Jesse and Frank had “been in Clay and Caldwell counties ever since the raid into Minnesota, and that they had been harbored by citizens of those counties.” As quoted in the Liberty Tribune, Jan. 19, 1877.
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