Hobbs Kerry's statement is, that after the perpetration of the crime, the bandits rode southward together very rapidly until nearly daylight, when they entered a deep wood and there divided the money, after which the band rode off in pairs, except the James Boys and Cole Younger, who kept together. Kerry soon separated from Chadwell, who was his companion, and went to Fort Scott, and from there to Parsons, Kansas, thence to Joplin and then to Granby, where he remained for nearly a week, spending a great deal of money in gambling dens, and in his drunken moments let drop such remarks as led to the suspicion that he was a member of the gang that robbed the train. He next made a trip into Indian Territory, but after a short stay in that country he returned to Granby; there he was arrested in the latter part of August. The authorities had no difficulty in obtaining from Kerry the full particulars of the robbery and the names of his confederates. Detectives from all parts of the country, stimulated by the large rewards offered by the express company and Governor Hardin, set out in search of the bandits. Every State was penetrated, every suspicious character put under surveillance, and all the ingenuity that could be devised by experienced hunters of criminals was exercised.
The James and Younger boys and Clell Miller, finding the pursuit at an end, returned from the Nation, whither they had first fled, and by stealthy night marches succeeded in reaching Jackson county, where they retired to the robbers' cave and were there safe from pursuit.
THE FATAL ATTACK ON A MINNESOTA BANK.
The efforts of the detectives to capture the outlaws seemed to be chiefly confined to the south-western States, and learning this the bandits, after remaining within the seclusion of their undiscoverable haunts for a few weeks, grew tired of the inactivity such life imposed, and as Bill Chadwell was well acquainted in Minnesota, it was decided to send Bob Younger out to find him, and through him to perfect a plan for raiding one of the banks in that State. The means of communication between the bandits was such that Chadwell was soon found and brought into conference with the other members.
The purpose of going into Minnesota could not have been merely because of a supposition that a mere ample booty might be secured in that State, for there were many richer banks much nearer.