All these things had been discussed, and the plans of the gang were well matured before the departure from Clay county. It was a long expedition, and the principal members of the company were unfamiliar with the country into which they journeyed. They based their hopes of success on the conditions which at that time existed in Minnesota. It was at that season of the year when the grain growers were disposing of their crops; when it was supposed grain buyers and shippers would have their heaviest deposits in bank, and when the farmers were "in funds," which the robbers doubted not would be placed in the country banks for safe-keeping. Moreover, they reasoned that inasmuch as the people of Minnesota were unacquainted with their bold methods, that, as usual, when they made an onset, the customary panic would ensue, and the risk taken would be small. Thus the preliminaries of the celebrated raid into Northfield were settled. Never before had this gang of desperadoes failed in accomplishing their object, and when the last council was held, and it was settled that Northfield should be the objective point of their great raid into Minnesota, "the signs" were propitious, and the superstitious element in the character of the outlaws rested satisfied. The remainder of the band divided into couples. Jesse and Frank James, as usual, travelled the road in company. Bob Younger and Charlie Pitts went together, and James Younger and Clell Miller bore each other company by the way. These separate detachments travelled different roads, and kept a good lookout for favorable places for concealment in case of necessity, and they also noted the characteristics of the surface of the country over which they passed. Previous to leaving Missouri, Jesse James wrote, or caused to be written, two letters for publication in the Kansas City _Times_, denying the charge of complicity in the Otterville robbery, and denouncing the statement of Hobbs Kerry as "a villainous pack of lies." These letters were printed, and lead to the belief that the Jameses were still in Missouri. The latest one of these letters was dated "Safe Retreat, August 18th, 1876," and appeared in the Kansas City _Times_ August 23d, 1876.