Beneath his clothing he wore a money belt of leather, but it was empty. About a dollar and fifty cents had been taken from the two [pg 14] men, but Chief King, in researching this fellow, found four dollars more. The wound was an ugly, jagged bullet hole, very large, and with the edges much torn, toward the center of the chest and about four inches below the heart. There were also several small shot wounds on the body of this one and three on the forehead; his hat was also riddled with shot, and it was evident that he had been hit twice from a shot gun, for several of the shot wounds were in the back. From photographs sent to the St. Louis police, the man was at once recognized as Clell Miller.
SCENE OF THE BLOODY ENCOUNTER
The empty store in which the two corpses lay, is on Mill Square, which is immediately over on the south side of the handsome iron bridge which spans the Cannon river just below the mill race. On the north side of the square is the flouring mill of Ames & Co. On the west is Scriver's block and two or three small stores, among them that in which the bodies lay. On the east side is the office of the Rice County Journal and a wagon shop, and on the south is the Dampier House, under which are three stores, the last eastward and just opposite the corner of the Scriver block, is the clothing store of Mr. Hanauer. The Scriver block has also a frontage of 80 feet on Division street, 22 feet of which is occupied by the First National Bank of Northfield, in which one of the saddest and most daring tragedies was perpetrated—the heartless and deliberate murder of a faithful and brave man in the defense of the valuable property under his charge.
There are some four or five wooden buildings below the bank on Fourth street, and it was in this narrow space, from Mill Square to Fourth street, that the great fight which startled the whole country took place. Many indications of the fearful contest in bullet holes were found in every direction. Windows were pierced and shattered and balls must have been thrown around for a time as thick as hail, for the whole encounter took place within the short space of fifteen minutes. The conflict was a sharp and bloody one, and speaks volumes for the coolness and intrepidity of the citizens of the little provincial town.
From Mr. Bates, who took a prominent part in the encounter, the following was learned:
He said at about 11 o'clock his attention was called to four men who came from over the river. They came over the bridge and were mounted on four splendid horses. The men were well dressed, and Mr. Bates says, four nobler looking fellows he never saw; but there was a reckless, bold swagger about them that seemed to indicate that they would be rough and dangerous fellows to handle. Altogether he did not like the looks of them.
Again, at about 2 o'clock in the afternoon, as he was standing at the entrance of the store, talking to Mr. C. C. Waldo, commercial traveler from Council Bluffs, he saw the same men ride past—three came up [pg 15] the street from mill square and one down, street meeting within thirty feet of the bank. They dismounted and tied their horses to the hitching posts and two, he thought, went into the bank and two came down to the staircase leading up into the upper stories of Lee & Hitchcock's buildings, and here they stood leaning against the banisters talking. Commenting upon their fine physique, and upon their unusually good mounts, Mr. Bates and Mr. Waldo withdrew to the far end of the store to look over some sample trusses.
They had not long been so occupied when they heard several shots fired in rapid succession, and the thought flashed upon the mind of Bates at once, that the bank was in danger—Mr. Waldo stating that he cried out:
“Those men are going for the town, they mean to rob the bank.” Mr. Bates, however, does not recollect saying anything, he became so excited. He remembers, though, rushing to the door, and seeing some men riding up from the bank—they came riding towards him with long pistols in their hands and called out, “Get in there you son of a b——.”
Mr. Bates at once seized a shotgun and ran back to the door, but the gun would not go off. He then put down the gun and seized a fine seven shooter which was not loaded, and as the men came down again, (they were riding to and fro, evidently intent upon keeping people from going towards the bank), he standing behind the door jambs, called out.