Of the two men killed in town, Clel Miller and Bill Chadwell, the former had a long record in bank robberies; the latter, guide in the
ill-fated expedition to Minnesota, was a horse thief of considerable note at one time in lower Minnesota.
The prisoners were placed in jail at Faribault, the county seat of Rice county, and in a short time the Grand Jury returned true bills against them, charging them with murder and robbery. Court convened November 7th, Judge Lord being on the bench. All of the prisoners pleaded guilty, and the order of the court was that each should be confined in the state penitentiary for the period of his natural life.
The later fate of the Younger boys may be read in the succinct records of the Minnesota State Prison at Stillwater:
"Thos. Coleman Younger, sentenced Nov. 20, 1876, from Rice county under a life sentence for the crime of Murder in the first degree. Paroled July 14, 1901. Pardoned Feb. 4, 1903, on condition that he leave the State of Minnesota, and that he never exhibit himself in public in any way.
"James Younger, sentenced Nov. 20, 1876, from Rice county under a life sentence for the crime of Murder in the first degree. Paroled July 13, 1901. Shot himself with a revolver
in the city of St. Paul, Minn., and died at once from the wound inflicted on Oct. 19, 1902.
"Robt. Younger, sentenced Nov. 20, 1876, from Rice county under a life sentence for the crime of Murder in the first degree. He died Sept. 16, 1889, of phthisis."
The James boys almost miraculously escaped, traveled clear across the State of Iowa and got back to their old haunts. They did not stop, but kept on going until they got to Mexico, where they remained for some time. They did not take their warning, however, and some of their most desperate train robberies were committed long after the Younger boys were in the penitentiary.
In view of the bloody careers of all these men, it is to be said that the law has been singularly lenient with them. Yet the Northfield incident was conclusive, and was the worst setback ever received by any gang of bad men; unless, perhaps, that was the defeat of the Dalton gang at Coffeyville, Kansas, some years later, the story of which is given in the following chapter.