Life and adventures of Frank and Jesse James, the noted western outlawsDacus, J. A. (Joseph A.)
History
Life and adventures of Frank and Jesse James, the noted western outlaws
Dacus, J. A. (Joseph A.)
Brigands and robbers; James, Frank, 1844-1915; James, Jesse, 1847-1882
After leaving their isolated camp in the evening, foot-sore and
worn out by reason of the anxiety and fatigue, they pushed forward
in a more southerly direction, leaving Cleveland and the forest
where they had abandoned their horses to the right. At midnight
they had reached Marysburg, a small post village in the southern
part of Le Sueur county. Finding a convenient hiding place they
kindled a fire, and had a meal of roasted potatoes and corn. The
village clock struck six. They heard the bell and judged themselves
to be about a mile from the town. They left the Marysburg camp
somewhat refreshed, and with buoyant hope of an ultimate escape
from impending peril. Thus far they had eluded their pursuers.
Their route from Marysburg lay southwestward through Blue Earth
county, to Mankato. They made good headway during the day, and late
in the evening they found a nice hiding place in a thicket in a
cornfield, and lay very quiet without making a fire. Twice during
the night they were alarmed by persons passing near them. Their
hiding place happened to be near a neighborhood path which ran
through the fields.
Six days after the affair at Northfield, when the worn robbers were
struggling along through a great forest near Shaubut's, a few miles
in a northeasterly direction from Mankato, they came suddenly upon
a man named Dunning, who was one of a posse of citizens in pursuit
of them. They at once captured this man, and a question arose as
to the course to be taken with him. At once it was suggested by
some one of the band to bind him fast to a tree and so leave him.
Dunning pleaded hard for his life, and to be spared the terrible
ordeal of such an uncertainty as that of being left bound in that
great forest. It might be days before he would be discovered,
and it might be that no human being would pass that way until
he would be starved. Finally, from motives of humanity, as they
claim, they administered to Dunning the most terrible oaths that
he would not say one word about having seen them until they had
ample time allowed to get out of the country altogether. Dunning
gladly consented to take upon himself these solemn obligations,
and they let him go. The released citizen sought the haunts of men
and made haste to communicate to others all the particulars of
his adventure with the robbers in the woods; and then the pursuit
was renewed with new ardor and zeal. At midnight, six days after
Northfield, the weary bandits trudged through Mankato in a very
different plight from that in which they had made their entry into
the place but a little more than a week before. As they approached
the town with which they had made themselves familiar as they went
to Northfield, they were alarmed by the shrill whistle of the oil
mill. They concluded that their approach had been noted, and the
steam whistle was the signal agreed upon to call the citizens
together in case the approach of the robbers was noted. They
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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