Blue Earth Register - 1896
Blue Earth Register- 1896
SHOT BY ROBBERS
BANK ROBBERY ANDMURDER AT SHERBURN, MINN.
George Thorburn,the Assistant Cashier, and Olaf J. Oestern of Luverne, Traveling Collector of theWood Harvester Company, Are Murdered by Two Unknown Men, Who Secure From $1,000to $2,000, and Make Their Escape on Bicycles.
Sherburn, Minn.,Oct. 9.--Yesterday afternoon two strange men entered the Bank of Sherburn andwithout any warning shot down in cold blood George Thorburn, assistant cashierof the bank, and Olof J. Oestern of Luverne, Minn., traveling collector for theWalter A. Wood Harvester company. Mrs. George R. Browning and Mrs. Williammasters were eye-witnesses of the tragedy. Mrs. Browning tells the following:
I was on thesidewalk opposite the bank and saw two young men about twenty-five years of agewalk briskly across the street and enter the Bank of Sherburn, which is on thewest side of the street. I was standing where I could see through the frontwindow to the back window. I heard two shots in quick succession, and saw theflash of the revolvers, and saw one man fall at the same time. The curtain onthe bank door was suddenly drawn down. I saw a man leap through the paying windowover the counter and in an instant saw the back window raised and two men jumpout the back window. They cut the screen that was on the outside and droppedthe knife used to cut it.”
Escaped onBicycles.
Mrs. Browning atonce gave the alarm. Mrs. William Masters corroborates the story. The robbers,after securing the cash and leaving the building, mounted bicycles and wentwest, then northwest from town. O. P. Empey and Max Lacobs were the first toreach the bank, and found Oestern dead. Thorburn was still breathing but pasthelp. Thorburn was shot just back of the left ear, the ball just coming to theskin on the forehead. Oestern was shot just back of the right eye and death wasinstantaneous. Doctors Neagell and Harnden were summoned at once, but could donothing. As soon as the alarm was given the citizens armed themselves andcommenced the pursuit. At this time reports have reached here that one of themen has been traced to near the Iowa line, south of Alpha, Minn.
It cannot beascertained how much money the robbers secured, but it is estimated at between$1,000 and $2,000. Over $2,000 in gold that was in the till was not touched,together with some silver. The robbers dropped $2,000 in getting out of thewindow. Louis Kohler, who was loading grain just back of the bank, saw the menget out of the window, one with a revolver in his hand. He shook the gun atKohler and told him to keep still. He was too frightened to do anything.
Reward for theMurderers.
St. Paul, Oct.8--Information of the tragedy was received by wire in St. Paul by Gov. Cloughand Receiver Mackowan. Of the Walter A. Wood Harvester company, by whichconcern Olaf J. Oestern, one of the murdered men, was employed as a collector.Gov. Cough’s information was from C. E. Everett, mayor of Sherburn, Martincounty, where the murder occurred. The governor immediately wired back to MayorEverett for particulars and a description of the men, and at the same time hewired to the sheriff of Martin county, whose home is at Fairmount, advising himto wire to all parts of the state and send of posses in search of themurderers.
Sherburne, Minn.,Oct. 10.--Sheriff Hill and Deputies Miller and Peddle are in hot pursuit of therobbers. One of the men was traced within three miles of Esterville, Iowa, wherethe trail was lost. The other went toward Jackson, and then south toward theIowa line. A report reached here that the two men were seen by a threshing creweight miles south of Fairmont at about 5 o’clock this morning. They sent forthe Fairmont guards, who scoured the entire southeastern part of the county,but without success. All Fairmont and Sherburne and surrounding towns haveturned out in force. Sheriff Dunn of Jackson county has a posse of 200 scouringthe prairie and timber between Jackson and Esterville, Iowa. A tinner namedWalker was one of the first to give pursuit to the murderers. At the firstalarm he seized a revolver and mounted a bike and like lightning paced afterthe desperadoes. When about four miles west of Sherburne he saw about eightyrods ahead of him the two men. They had dismounted, and one was pushing thewheel, while the other seemed to be repairing one of the wheels. One perceivingwalker they at once mounted and rode on, hotly pursued by Mr. walker. Whenwithin tow miles of Alpha one of the men was sighted going west toward Jackson,and the other south toward Esterville, Iowa. At this point Walker’s bike brokedown, and he was forced to abandon the pursuit. It seems that these criminalshave been in this county for some time and laid their plans. They stopped at afarm house six miles north of Sherburne and left without paying their bill. Adispatch just received from Superior, Iowa, says that two men had been arrestedon suspicion and will be held till identified. A dispatch has just beenreceived from Lake Park, Iowa, that the robbers are working south, and that alarge posse in charge of Sheriff Dunn of Jackson is in hot pursuit.
TWO MORE KILLED
One of the Robbersand a Marshal Are Dead.
Elmore, Minn., Oct.11.--Sensation follows sensation in the now famous Sherburne double murder andbank robbery. The cruel killing of Cashier George B. Thorburn and CollectorOlaf J. Oestern is avenged in part, but at the sacrifice of the life of a bravecitizen of Iowa.
At 9:15 one of themen supposed to be implicated in the Sherburne affair was surprised at the homeof a farmer fourteen miles east of Elmore. He opened fire on the posse, killingWilliam Gallion, marshal of Bancroft, an Iowa town twenty-three miles south ofthis place. Carrying at least two bullets in his body, the murderer, stilltrusting to his bicycle to escape, was brought down by a bullet from a rifle inthe hands of Deputy Sheriff E. E. Ward of Martin county. Wounded unto death,but desperate to the last, the fugitive put the muzzle of athirty-eight-caliber revolver to his head and blew out his brains. The possethat accomplished the capture and death of one of the robbers found in hispossession a roll of bank notes estimated to amount to about $700. It has beenplaced securely sealed, in the private bank of C. D. Williams & Co. of thisplace. The body was brought to Elmore by the posse and an inquest is beingconducted.
The chase endedright on the border line between Iowa and Minnesota. Marshal Gallion was takento Bancroft.
The Dead Robber’sAccomplice is still at large. A telephone message was received to-day from TwinLakes, a short distance from Albert Lea, stating that he had been traced in someheavy timber near Twin lakes, and asking for assistance. Posses were sent outfrom Blue Earth City and other points, but nothing has been heard from theman-hunt indicative of success. In this vicinity it is believed that therobbers separated a short distance from Sherburne and that the remaining robberabandoned his wheel and is now hiding along the west branch of the Des Moinesriver near Jackson. The man-hunt which ended in the death of one of the men, ofwhose identity as one of the Sherburne bank robbers there seems little doubt,was conducted by four men--Deputy Sheriff E. E. Ward of Fairmont, Martincounty; Milo O. Coffey of Sherburne, Martin county; Lafe Muller of Bancroft,Kossuth county, Iowa, and Marshal William Gallion, who in the discharge of hisduty was shot dead. The history of the chase is one punctured with tireless,unremitting energy and peril. All the men named above had been on the trail ofthe dead robber since Wednesday, when the tragedy at Sherburne was committed.They began separately, following direct clues, and as the scent became warmthey came together. Deputy Sheriff Ward’s version of the case is as follows:
I began the hunt atonce, immediately following the affair at Sherburne, working alone at first. Isecured information of the direction one of the men had been seen going on hisbicycle, and followed the clue until I had the man located at 3 o’clock thismorning, somewhere in the vicinity of Elmore. I arrived in Elmore at 3 o’clock,accompanied by Lafe Fuller of Bancroft and Milo E. Coffey of Sherburne. Wearose at daylight and were about leaving Elmore when Marshal Gallion drove upwith a team of ponies. We all started together, and when a short distance outof Elmore I got in the buggy with Gallion. Thus we drove on through thecountry, Fuller and Coffey ahead and Gallion and I following.
Located Their Man.
About thirteenmiles out and due east of Elmore we were informed at a farm house that a man ona bicycle answering the description of one of the robbers had passed his placeabout 7 o’clock in the evening. We went out a mile further until we came toanother house. I got out, the others remaining in the wagon, and knocked on thedoor. A German woman answered my summons. I asked her if she had seen such aman, describing the fellow we were after. The woman seemed confused and actedin a peculiar manner. She was standing partly in the door, and as I was aboutto repeat my question, she not having answered, I glanced in past her and saw arevolver pointed at me through the crack of the door of and inner room. Ijumped to one side, pulling my revolver at the same time. The woman ran out ofthe door and I stepped to a window at the left of the door.
As I showed infront of the window the man shot through at me. I jumped back as I saw theleveled weapon, and the man immediately fired another shot and I saw MarshalGallion, who was still sitting in the wagon, drop the reins, throw both handsto his breast and pitch forward into the wagon.
Then I jumped intothe door and opened fire on the man with my revolver. He returned the fire, andnot being used to a revolver I ran to the wagon and got my Winchester rifle,with which I fired several shots at the robber at a distance of about two rods.He returned my fire twice and then made a break for the rear of the house, Iran around on the west side of the house, arriving there just in time to seethe man mounting his bicycle. He shot at me again just before leaping into thesaddle and I fired two more bullets at him as he made a detour to get into theroad. He was riding very fast and I ceased firing and jumped into the wagonwith Fuller and Coffey. We licked the horses into a gallop and started inpursuit. He gained on us, however, and never seemed to mind half a dozen moreshots that I pumped out of the rifle after him.
He was leading usand we felt that we were about to lose our quarry, when he began to slacken hisspeed and jumped from the wheel. He ran for a fence at the side of the road,climbed it and started on a run across a potato patch. We were abouttwenty-five rods behind him. I stopped the team, jumped out, and, running tothe fence, laid my rifle over the top rail, and taking careful aim, feelingthat it was our chance, pulled the trigger. The man stopped and nearly fell.Then he straightened up and, pulling a revolver from his pocket he pointed itto his head and fired it and Fell Like a Log, and when we got to him he wasdead. We carried the body to the road and put it in the wagon along with thebicycle.
We went back to thehouse and found Marshal Gallion dead, shot through the heart. I questioned thewoman, who could not speak English very well, but was able to make usunderstand. She says that the man rode up the her place about 9 o’clock andasked for a night’s lodging. She had not heard of the murder at Sherburne andgave the man supper and lodging without for a moment imagining that she was,sheltering a criminal with the brand of Cain upon his brow. He had just hadbreakfast when we arrived and was preparing to depart. He saw us drive up tothe door, and surmising our errand stuck a revolver to the woman’s head andtold her to tell us that no one had stopped at her house and that she had notseen a man of his description. He then hid behind the door of an adjoiningroom, still threatening the woman, even as I was knocking at the door. She wasterribly frightened, and instead of obeying the robber’s command seemed to berendered speechless and said nothing. I asked her name, but do not remember itnow. That is about all the part I had in the affair.”
In Elmore thescenes almost baffled description. The news spread rapidly and the streets werecrowded by a motley crowd gathered from miles around. The people stood on thestreet corners and discussed the fresh tragedy in low tones, except when thethought of the murdered marshal of Bancroft caused their anger to break forthin fresh invective against the piece of clay that occupied a rough bench in another portion of the town.
There seems littledoubt that the men who committed the crime at Sherburne are strangers to thispart of the state. No one knows or professes to know the name of the deadmurderer. There are many conjectures as to their identity. A stranger in thecity said that he thought he had seen the dead man as a bicycle racer lastsummer at Strawberry Point, Iowa. The general opinion here is that they werethe men who boarded with the farmer near Heron Lake several days precious tothe Sherburne affair and who gave their names as Sair and Pratt. The dead manis supposed to be Pratt, answering closely his description.
ROBBER IS CAUGHT.
The Other SherburneBandit is Now in Custody.
Lake Mills, Iowa,Oct. 18.--The second Sherburne robber and murderer is under arrest here andwill be taken to Minnesota to-morrow. He has made a complete confession andsays that the dead robber was his brother.
He was captured byMarshal Ruby. About 3 o’clock the man came up to the depot, which is about halfa mile from the business center, and asked where the town was. Upon being told,he started in that direction, but at the first street corner turned and passedup a side street, going east to the Methodist church, when he again turnednorth and started out of town.
In the meantime hepassed the residence of Marshal ruby, who spotted his man. Arming himself well,the marshal skipped around a block and came up to his man face to face. Themarshal shoved his revolver almost into the fellow’s mouth and told him tothrow up his hands. Cool and deliberately the man looked into the gun and said:“Well, I guess you have got the drop on me,” and complied with the command. Themarshal relieved him of three revolvers, one a 38-caliber, one a 32-caliber.,and the other an old-fashioned Smith & Wesson four-barreled 22-caliber. Hewas taken to the mayor’s office, where a search was made. His pockets were wellfilled with cartridges and a small amount of money found. The man toldcontradicting stories in the afternoon and last evening, but to-day he made acomplete confession.
Denies the Shooting.
The confession wassecured by his captor, Marshal Ruby, this morning. In it he denies the killingof either of the men in the Sherburne bank, and says that his brother planned therobbery. The confession was not made until the young man had learned that hisbrother was dead. Marshal Ruby guarded the prisoner in his own home lastevening. He was very kind to the young man, treating him more as a friend thatthe desperate robber he was supposed to be. After breakfast marshal Ruby andthe prisoner had a long conversation in which the marshal gradually turned thesubject to the Sherburne affair. The prisoner remarked in a seemingly carelessway that he understood one of the men had been caught. Marshal Ruby said yes,and in capturing him he was shot and killed, but shot to death another manbefore going himself. The marshal’s statement half-stunned the prisoner. Hebowed his head between his hands and sat thus for several minutes. Finally helooked up and said in low tones:
The Robber’sConfession.
I suppose I mightas well make a clean breast of it all. The fellow that was killed was mybrother. We robbed the bank at Sherburne, but I am not guilty of killing one ofthe men. It was agreed that we were not to shoot. My brother came to our home,where I was staying with my parents, and asked me to help him rob the bank. Hehad scheme and planned. I consented finally and we went there several days ago,remaining in the neighborhood. We fixed upon Wednesday as the day and rode intotown on our wheels about 9 o’clock in the forenoon. We remained on the outsidestreets some time and when the coast was clear went to the bank. There were twomen behind the counter. We thought they were both connected with the bank. Ifirst accosted the banker to draw his attention when the other fellow drew tworevolvers and aiming at the men told them to throw up their hands. Just at thatmoment he fired, and I said: “Come. let’s get out of this,” and jumped out of awindow. He said ‘attend to your business,’ and so I went to the money drawerand took out the money. I thought there was about $700 in the bunch I had. Iput it in a sack that we had for that purpose, and then we cut the screen of aback window and left the town on our bicycles. Just as we got on the bicycles Ihanded the other fellow the money and he put it in his bicycle bag. Weseparated about two and a half miles out of Sherburne. My brother being thebest rider, made south for the state line and I took a southwesterly directionuntil I got south of Jackson, and then I struck out south along the Des Moinesriver to Algona. Then I crossed the country around by Britt and Forest City toLake Mills. I had a pretty hard time getting through.”
Refuses to Tell HisName.
It will be noticedthat the prisoner makes use of the term “the other fellow” when alluding to theman he said was his brother. Marshal Ruby said that he used that expressionjust as it occurs above and that he also used the words “my brother” where theyoccur. To a reporter the prisoner refused to make any statement concerninghimself or his identity. He also refuses to talk to any one else, and he andthe marshal have not alluded again to the Sherburne affair. The prisonerabsolutely refuses to tell any one his right name. After making the confessionto Marshal Ruby the latter asked the prisoner to tell his right name, but heshook his head and said: “I do not wish my folks to know anything about this. I‘spose I shall plead guilty under an assumed name.” the name he first gave uponbeing taken into custody was Jim McMullen. He now says that it is a fictitiousname, but will give no other, so that is the name under which he will probablybe arraigned. He will be taken to the Blue Earth county jail, located in BlueEarth City, for safe keeping, as it is considered dangerous to lodge him in thecounty jail at Fairmount, the county seat of Martin county , in which theSherburn affair occurred.
The PrisonerPhotographed.
Immediately afterthe prisoner had been identified he was taken to J. C. Olson’s gallery where hewas photographed. He made no objection to having his picture taken and askedfor a mirror so that he could comb his hair, which he did. The pictures werethen taken. All day he was under Marshal Ruby’s care, without being handcuffedor in any manner restrained of his liberty, save by the presence of themarshal. Upon going to bed, however , he was handcuffed and chains were placedabout his ankles. Marshal Ruby occupied the same room with the prisoner, and,in fact, has kept a personal watch over him ever since his capture. He has beenwell behaved, has a good education and talks well on almost any subject. Thisforenoon he spent reading and playing on an organ in Marshal Ruby’s parlor, onwhich instrument he is a good performer. While reading he asked Mrs. Ruby forsome books on scientific subjects.
A hundred or morepeople in the immediate vicinity drove into town and occupied a portion of thewalk in front of Marshal Ruby's residence to the hope of getting a glimpse ofthe prisoner. In this way they were tolled as long as the prisoner was in thehouse, as the blinds were kept closed. They accomplished their object later,however, when the prisoner was removed to Justice Denison's office, and againwhen he was photographed. There was someidle talk of lynch law being exercised in his case, but it soon proved meregossip.