“Looking at this saddle,” was the reply “I want an article like that, and thought perhaps I could strike a bargain with the owner.”
Drawing a pistol, the fellow cried out:
“Now you git'” And he did “git,” but as he walked away a bullet came hissing by his head and struck a wall close by. Henry deliberately picked up the ball and put it in his pocket, but made long strides for home.
It appeared that the object of the men on the street was at first only to keep people back from the bank, and not a desire to murder indiscriminately, but when they found that the Northfield people would not scare worth a cent, and that real work was before them, they showed all the
SAVAGE BLOODTHIRSTY PROPENSITY
of their nature, and wherever a face showed itself, whether it was man, woman or child, the robbers fired murderously at it, crashing in windows in a lively style.
Early Friday morning it was reported in Northfield that Brissette and Hoy had joined their forces at Morristown and had a hot encounter with the gang, which had been reinforced by three others. The [pg 19] police succeeded in killing one man and capturing the wounded man carried from Northfield. The robbers then took to the woods and the police held them there. This report was proved at a later date to be a complete fabrication, but so excited were the people that every rumor received credence and grew in dimensions as it was handed round by the busy throng of news seekers.
THE BANK,
It is in a small apartment, about 20 by 50 feet, situate in the Scriver block, folding doors in the center of the front opening into Division street. It has a counter three feet high, running across to within three feet of the west wall, and going back the whole length of the building. This counter is mounted by a thirty inch glazed rail, leaving a space of two feet in front, where the men jumped over, scratching the counter with their boots. Inside of the center is the safe vault fitted with the Detroit Safe Company's doors, and to the left is the cashier's chair where poor Heywood fell a victim to the assassin's hand. A blotting pad lay upon the desk stained with the life-blood of the murdered man.