IMPRISONMENT AND TRIAL.

Great fears were entertained that the Rice county jail at Faribault, [pg 68] would not be of sufficient strength to hold the three famous bandit brothers, of whose great desperation and accomplishment in the art of prison breaking, the most wonderful and exaggerated stories were circulated throughout the State. Sheriff Ara Barton, however, did not hesitate to accept his distinguished boarders, and probably a thought of their escape from him never entered his mind. He had the bandits in his care, and he proceeded in the most systematic manner to provide for their remaining with him. No effort was made to strengthen the jail, but a series of guards was arranged so that the inside and outside were both constantly under the eye of watchful guards. The only fears entertained by those having the robbers in charge, were that there might be efforts made from the outside, either by a mob who would seek to lynch the brigands, or by their own friends, who would undertake to liberate them. For both cases, Sheriff Barton was prepared.

A COMPANY OF MINUTE MEN

was formed by citizens of the city, and the bell of an adjacent engine house was connected with the guard room of the jail by a wire. In case of any attack, these fifty men, armed with repeating rifles, were to rendezvous at a certain point from whence, under their captain, they would proceed in order to the jail. Another wise precaution taken by the Sheriff was in the locking of the doors of the jail, which are about 18 inches apart. He kept the key of the inner one himself, while the guard inside retained that of the outside door. At a private signal, the guard would reach through and unlock the outer one, when the Sheriff would find use for his key on the inner one. Several guards kept constant watch night and day around the jail, and at its entrance, a cannon loaded with a blank cartridge stood, ready to give a general alarm. As an instance of how perfect the arrangements were, it may be stated that on one occasion when the fire bell sounded, in less than three minutes the jail was surrounded by men, some carrying guns, some bludgeons, and some farm tools. Any party foolish enough to have undertaken the rescue of those

THREE BANDITS,

would have been made short work of, while a mob, with the intention of disposing of them unlawfully, would have been met with a determined opposition, for the entire male population of Faribault were determined to support the Sheriff, and bring the murderers to trial.

Notice of the arrangements about the prison were published, and all people were warned from approaching the jail in the night time, but one man, belonging to the police force of the city, thought he was so well known to the guards that he could safely visit them, and one evening he walked toward the prison. One of the guards challenged him, but instead of replying, he raised his hand to his coat, to make his silver star visible, and at the same moment, the guard mistaking the movement and supposing that the man was reaching to his breast pocket [pg 69] for a pistol, fired, inflicting a wound that proved fatal soon afterwards. Thus was another tragedy added to the list, and the horror of the affair was intensified.

Thus for a month everything moved quietly along about Governor Barton's hotel, and he remained unmoved by the hundreds of threats and propositions he received. He is a brave man made of stern stuff, and when a proposition was made to him to remain neutral while a posse that was being organized, opened the jail and took the bandits out to

THE NEAREST TREE,

he coolly told their messenger, who was a prominent man in the State, and a personal friend of his, “that if they came, no matter who they were, they would be shot down like dogs.” This remark was repeated to the party who proposed the lynching, by Mayor Nutting, and people began to think it was best to abandon the project of anticipating the law, while the Younger boys remained in such hands. However, there is no doubt but that a summary disposal of these bloody cut-throats would have been widely endorsed by the best men of the State, as the feeling existed that no villians ever merited death more than they, while under the law of Minnesota, they could escape with a life sentence, with the possibilities of escape or pardon.