A seven-minute gun battle in a quiet Minnesota city helped deliver down America’s most well-known outlaw gang, abandoning bodily relics which are nonetheless preserved 150 years later. On 7 September 1876, the James-Youthful Gang rode into Northfield, Minnesota, planning to rob the First Nationwide Financial institution. As a substitute of handing over their cash, native residents fought again with pocketknives, rocks and looking rifles. The failed raid lasted simply seven minutes, resulting in the most important manhunt in United States historical past on the time and successfully destroying the gang led by Jesse and Frank James. As reported by the Star Tribune in its Curious Minnesota collection, the violent encounter left behind a number of historic objects which are nonetheless stored in Northfield, together with an outlaw’s duster coat, a leather-based saddle and the mummified ear of a lifeless gang member. The objects are preserved and displayed by the Northfield Historic Society, which is positioned in the identical constructing on Bridge Sq. the place the First Nationwide Financial institution as soon as operated.
Seven minutes that ended an outlaw empire
The raid started shortly earlier than 2:00 pm when eight closely armed outlaws, together with Jesse and Frank James and Cole, Bob and Jim Youthful, entered Northfield. Three gang members went contained in the financial institution whereas the opposite 5 watched the streets outdoors. Inside, appearing cashier Joseph Lee Heywood refused to open the vault. He falsely informed the robbers {that a} time lock protected the door. The gang members turned offended as Heywood refused to provide in. Exterior, native residents realised a theft was happening and started firing from close by store home windows and rooftops. Medical pupil Henry Wheeler shot and killed gang member Clell Miller from a second-floor window of the Dampier Home lodge. Ironmongery store proprietor A.R. Manning shot Invoice Stiles lifeless on the street. Contained in the financial institution, one of many gang members shot and killed Heywood in frustration earlier than the raiders escaped with none cash. Your complete gunfight lasted about seven minutes. “The James-Youthful gang’s foiled September 7, 1876 financial institution theft took seven minutes, triggered the most important manhunt in US historical past as much as that point and launched a permanent nationwide trade within the enjoyment and examine of outlawry,” author Karin Winegar famous in a historic commentary on the raid.
Relics left behind after the battle
Quickly after the taking pictures, native residents collected tools, weapons and private belongings deserted by the fleeing outlaws. Among the many predominant objects preserved in Northfield is an extended duster coat left behind in the course of the chaos. A heavy leather-based saddle was additionally deserted by one of many gang members whereas fleeing south in direction of the Madelia swamps. Essentially the most uncommon merchandise is the mummified ear of gang member Charlie Pitts, who was killed two weeks later throughout a significant shootout with a Minnesota posse in Madelia. After his demise, medical employees preserved elements of his physique, and his dried ear ultimately turned a part of the historic assortment documenting the top of the raid. The financial institution constructing itself remains to be largely intact. It consists of the unique vault door and a restored teller counter the place Heywood made his closing stand.
A city that defeated the outlaws
Frank and Jesse James managed to flee Minnesota and return to Missouri, however the remainder of the gang was killed or captured. The Youthful brothers, Cole, Bob and Jim, have been all wounded and captured in Madelia. They later served lengthy jail sentences on the Minnesota State Jail in Stillwater. The gang’s defeat turned the defining occasion in Northfield’s historical past. As a substitute of hiding the violent episode, the city turned it into an annual group custom. Each September, Northfield holds the Defeat of Jesse James Days, a competition that features historic re-enactments of the seven-minute financial institution raid outdoors the unique First Nationwide Financial institution constructing. The Northfield Historic Society continues to run the museum, attracting 1000’s of holiday makers annually who come to see the vault, the road nook the place the gunfight came about and the bodily relics left behind by the outlaws 150 years in the past.
