took the place of exultation, and many retired with their bitter [pg 53] conviction that the whole thing was a hoax. Twenty minutes for supper, but more than three-fourths of that time had been spent by the writer in interviewing the Mankato party, which had returned from the sanguinary field.
From these he elicited the fact that four of the men were actually in the hands of the Madelia people, and would be sent down in the morning.
ARRIVED AT MADELIA,
the writer hastened to the Flanders House, where he was informed the three prisoners, all wounded, were in bed. Finding the courteous and obliging landlord, he was soon allowed to pass the guard at the foot of the stairs, and ascending, he entered a small chamber, where two men lay in one bed. The first glance told the fact that one of the men was
COLE YOUNGER,
a large, powerful man, with bald head and sandy whiskers and moustache, answering the description, given so many times of this man. He is pretty badly wounded, and at the time was somewhat delirious, so that nothing could be gleaned by questioning him.
His body was full of wounds, mostly caused by buckshot. His worst injuries were about the head, several shot having penetrated the skull and embedded themselves at the base of the brain. It was evident that some of these leaden missiles had lodged among the nerves of the right eye, as that organ was closed and inflamed, and appeared to be forced forward. On entering his head, these shot had broken down the palate arch, and the pain experienced by the prisoner must have been intense. Lying by his side was
JIM YOUNGER,
who is a little shorter, and not nearly of such powerful build. He had quite a number of wounds, the most serious of which was through his mouth, the balls having displaced all of the teeth on one side, and broken the roof of his mouth. His lips and cheeks were terribly swollen, and he could articulate with the greatest difficulty, although he appeared to desire to talk to his visitors.
In another room, about ten yards from the first, lay