MURDER & ROBBERY
MURDER & ROBBERY
October 15, 1896 -Blue Earth Post
The Bank atSherburne Looted and Two Men Shot Down without Warning
One of theDesperadoes is Hunted Down in this County
He was wounded, theCommits Suicide with his Deadly Pistol.
The other BanditCaptured at Lake Mills, Iowa, by the Village Marshall of that Place Heconfesses all and Says they were Brothers.
The Stolen MoneyRecovered from the Body of the Dead Bandit.
The Sad Death ofMarshall Gallion at the hands of the Robber when Brought to Bay.
Since 1:15 o’clockon Wednesday afternoon of last week Southern Minnesota in particular, and thewhole Northwest in general, has been wild with excitement. At that hour two men, wearing full bicyclesuits and blue overhauls, entered the Bank of Sherburne and without warningshot down the assistant cashier, George Thorburn, and Olof J. Oestern travelingcollection agent for the Walter A. Wood Harvester Co. The robbers had been seen in town for sometime before the murder and had purchased the overhauls in the village. In speaking of the tragedy The SherburneAdvance says:
Mrs. GeorgeBrowning and Mrs. William Masters were standing on the sidewalk in front of theMasters house and saw two men cross the street from between the old Globe Hotelbuilding and the old bank building and enter the bank. Two shots were heard in quick succession; theladies saw the flash of the revolver and saw Thorton fall, the one man leapedover the counter and pulled down one of the front curtains, grabbed whatcurrency there was in the money drawer and escaped through the backwindow. They cut the wire screen off thewindow and dropped the knife. LouisKahler was loading grain just back ofthe bank and saw the men come out of the bank building. Mrs. Browning at once gave the alarm and O.P. Empey, followed by Mr. Jacobs, were the first to enter the bank. A horrible sight met their gaze. George Thorburn, the assistant cashier of thebank, and O. J. Oestern were both lying behind the counter in a pool ofblood. Oestern was killed instantly;Thorburn still breathed but was past all hope. Drs. Naegeli and Harnden were called at one but could do nothing. Meanwhile the wildest excitement prevailed inthe street and pursuing parties started in all directions. The murders rode bicycles and startedwest. Every man that could get a horseand a gun started in pursuit of the desperadoes. The wires were constantly engaged in givingthe alarm to all surrounding towns, and Sheriff Hill and Deputies Miller and Peddiewere prompt in getting out men in pursuit. Coroner Sensen was summoned and arrived about 4 o’clock p.m. and took charge of the murdered men.
George Thorburn wasa steady, industrious young man and had been in the employ of Brown andSinclair, the owners of the bank, over three years and was highly respected byall. His sister, Mrs. McArthur, isstricken with grief as the result of the terrible deed.
O. J. Oestern livedin Luverne, Minnesota, and leaves a wife and several children to mourn his untimelyend.
The whole countywas at once aroused. Sheriff McDonaldand Jesse Chase started at once to join in the hunt for the murderers. The robbers went west five or six miles andthen separated, one going south and the other keeping on west. All that afternoon and evening the telephonewires were kept busy. Rumors of captureand contradictions followed fast upon each other. Our people were naturally very anxious for thelatest, and the central telephone office was constantly thronged. Shortly after noon on Thursday, came atelephonic message from Sweat City, Iowa, to the effect that one of themurderers was being sorely pressed. Thathe had last been seen about four miles west of Ledyard, about 16 or 17 miles alittle west of south from Blue Earth City, coming north. The message called for the help from Elmoreand Blue Earth City, as the pursuing parties horses were playingout. Among those who at once turned outfrom here were T. W. Donovan, Dr. Smart, H. P. Zingheim and Deputy Sheriff L. L.Wilmert. They went out west andeventually swung around into Elmore. There they met a party of our determined men with Winchester rifles fromArmstrong, Iowa. It was these men whohad tracked the robbers east and finding that their horses were playing out andseeing that the murdered was making north had sent for help. The final capture of the man is due largelyto this plucky posse. During the nightDeputy Sheriff E. E. Ward, of Fairmont, and Mito Coffey, of Sherburne, cameinto Elmore, and they were all joined later by Marshal Gallion and Lafe Fullerof Bancroft, Iowa. All horses of Elmorewere either out on the hunt or tired out, so the four stopped. Our boys started out. In the meantime Sheriff McDonald and JesseChase had returned, and at about 10:30 that evening started out again, goingsoutheast, as word had been received that the fugitive had been seen a fewmiles east of Elmore.
The following isDeputy Sheriff Ward’s story of the closing events of the chase:
I arrived in Elmoreat 3 o’clock this morning, accompanied by Lafe Fuller, of Bancroft, and Mito E.Coffey, of Sherburne. We arose atdaylight and were about leaving Elmore when Marshal Gallion drove up. We all started together, and went a shortdistance out of Elmore and then I got in the Buggy with Gallion. This we drove on through the country, Fullerand Coffey ahead and Gallion and I following. About thirteen miles out and due East of Elmore we were informed at afarmhouse that a man on a bicycle, answering the description of one of therobbers, had passed the place about 7 o’clock Thursday evening. We went on a mile farther, when we came toanother house. We all stopped, Marshal Gallion’s team being right in front ofthe house. I got out, the othersremaining in the wagon, and knocked on the door. A German woman answered my summons. I asked her if she had seen such a man,describing the fellow we were after. Thewoman was confused and acted in a peculiar manner. She was standing partly in the door, and as Iwas about to repeat my question, she not having answered, I glanced in past herand saw a revolver pointed at me through the crack of the door of an innerroom. I jumped to one side, pulling myrevolver at the same time. The woman ranout of the door and I stepped to the window at the left of the door. As I stood in front of the window the manshot through at me. I jumped back as Isaw the leveled weapon and the man immediately fired another shot. I saw Marshal Gallion, who was still sittingin the wagon, drop the reins, throw both hands to his breast and pitch forwardinto the wagon. Then I jumped into thedoor and opened fire on the man with my revolver. He returned the fire, and not being used to arevolver, I ran to the wagon and got my Winchester rifle, with which I firedseveral shots at the robber at a distance of about two rods. He returned my fire twice and then made abreak for the rear of the house. I ran around the west side of the house,arriving there just in time to see the man mounting his bicycle. He shot at me again just before leaping tothe saddle, and I fired two more bullets at him as he made a detour to get intothe road. He was riding very fast and Iceased firing, and jumping onto the wagon with Fuller and Coffey, we whippedthe horses into a gallop and started in pursuit. He gained on us, however, and never seemed tomind a half dozen or more shots that I pumped out of the rifle after him. He was leading us and we felt that we wereabout to lose him, when he began to slacken his speed and jumped from for thewheel. He ran for a fence at the side ofthe road, climbed it and started on a run across a potato patch. We were then about twenty-five rods behindhim. I stopped the team, jumpedout. And running to the fence laid myrifle over the top rail and taking careful aim, feeling that it was our lastchance, pulled the trigger. The manstopped and nearly fell, then he straightened up, and pulling a revolver fromhis pocket he pointed it at his head and fired it and fell like a log, and whenwe got to him he was dead. We carriedthe body to the road and put it in the wagon along with the bicycle. We went back to the house and found thatMarshal Gallion was dead - shot through the heart. The robber was found at the home of OleMonson, in Iowa, about a half mile from the line. His flight was northeast and he was killed onthe farm of Louis Bielland, in Seely, 21 miles from this city. As soon as it was known here that he had beencaught and his body brought to Elmore, a great many of our people-the writeramong them-started for that place by team, and it seemed as if the 3:40 trainbrought the rest. He was a young man,from 22 to 25 years of age; no beard to speak of; quite tall and muscular; notraces of the murderer that he was were to be seen in his intelligent lookingface. Deputy Coroner Franklin, of this place, arrived on the train andtook charge of the dead man and his effects. He had a huge knife, two 38-calibre revolvers and $1, 023.03 on hisperson. The body was photographed. Later in the afternoon County Attorney Quinnarrived, and at 8 o’clock an autopsy was performed. It was revealed that thedead man had been hit with three bullets; one from the rifle of Deputy Wardshattered the bones of the left wrist, passing through that member in aslanting direction. Another rifle ballhad struck him in the back under the left shoulder blade, and had passed clearthrough the body, emerging from the right on the line just below the shoulder. It passed through both lungs and would havebeen fatal in a few hours at most. Theother wound was the one that the robber inflicted upon himself and which causedinstantaneous death. The bullet enteredjust over the right ear and passed through the brain, lodging just under thescalp at the base of the brain and on the right side.
Immediatelyfollowing the autopsy a coroner’s jury was impaneled, consisting of thefollowing citizens: W.D. Dustin, B.J.Maland, M.N. Woolery, L. Schancke, all of Elmore; John Clark of Blue EarthCity, and E.D. Townsend of Wells. Thejury viewed the body and adjourned until Saturday. The mayor of Sherburne telegraphed thegovernor that a witness was sick and requested that the inquest be adjournedfrom Elmore to Sherburne. The governorso ordered, and the coroner and the jury with the body and the effects wentthither. After examining the witnesses the inquest was adjourned to meet atBlue Earth City sometime this week. Nopaper was found upon the dead man by which he could be identified. Upon a stocking and also under the collar ofhis shirt was the word Pete. On the inside of his leather belt wasthe word Lake and upon the collar of his bicycle coat was the trademark J.J. Himmelrich the name of a prominent clothier of MasonCity, Iowa. Sheriff McDonald and JesseChase say they had been told by a boy herding cattle that the robber hadstopped at Monsoon’s, and they were trying to get to the house across-lots whenthey heard the firing. They were stopped by a strong barbed wire fence and wereobliged to go nearly a mile around. Ex-Sheriff Donovan and Dr. Smart must has passed him. They went east into Freeborn county and gotonto the track of another man, who as subsequent events have proven was hispartner. They turned the chase over toDeputy Sheriff Turner, marshal of Lake Mills, and came home. Turner camped on his trail. On Saturday they arrested the man at LakeMills. The fellow carried threerevolvers and wore overalls over his bicycle suit. He told different stories as to hishome. Deputy Sheriff Ward and somewitnesses from Fairmont went to Lake Mills Sunday, and the witnesses readilyand positively identified the prisoner as one of the robbers. He was taken to Martin county Monday, andSheriff McDonald, who went into Fairmont with the prisoner, telephoned to thisplace that the prisoner that confessed all. He said that he had been led into the scrape by his pal; that the otherfellow did the shooting and got all the money; that since the robbery he hadbeen to Estherville, Emmetsburg and Algona, and was working toward Albert Lea,where they had agree to meet in the 15th of this month. At first he said the dead man was hisbrother, but refused to give their names or their home. Later, at Fairmont, he denied that he hadsaid at Lake Mills that the other robber was his brother, but Tuesday afternoonsaid that they were brothers; that his name was Lew and his brother HansKollihan; that their home was at Rock Rapids, and that their father kept abilliard hall there. He is an innocentlooking youth of 21 years of age, five feet nine inches tall and weighs 155pounds. Everything is quiet at Fairmontand we’re glad to say, no talk of lynching is indulged in. He appears cool and unconcerned. The dead bandit was buried at Sherburne onSunday. No services except a shortprayer at he grave. The funeral of poor,murdered Thorburn was held there the same day. On Monday his body, accompanied by his sister, Mrs. McArthur ofSherburne, and D. Thorburn of Erie, Pennsylvania, was taken to Gore Bay, Ontario,his childhoodhome, for interment.