Minnesota Prairie Roots

THEY WERE, HE SAID, masters of deception. And after listening to a well-researched and entertaining presentation about the James-Younger Gang at the Rice County Historical Society in Faribault recently, I agree.

This assessment of the outlaws who attempted to rob the First National Bank of Northfield on September 7, 1876, comes from Russ Swanson of Canton, South Dakota. The ag teacher, farmer, author and researcher shared a wealth of information on the gang, focusing on the outlaws’ efforts to escape capture after the failed robbery.

But Swanson, author of A Chase to the Death: The Detailed Pursuit of the James-Younger Gang Following the Northfield Raid, also provided plenty of pre-robbery history that I found especially interesting. The eight-member gang arrived in St. Paul in late August 1876 after a 13-hour train ride from Sioux City, Iowa. I always thought they rode into Minnesota on their horses and headed for Northfield. Not so.

PLANS TO ROB MANKATO BANK

The gang split upon their arrival in St. Paul with some going to Red Wing, where they stayed at the St. James (National) Hotel. Others went to St. Peter, then to Madelia. By this time, they’d purchased horses. Eventually the eight met in Mankato, intending to rob the First National Bank of Mankato, their original Minnesota target. But they were recognized and ditched the plan.

Swanson threw out a lot of information as he led the audience on the gang’s journey through Minnesota, then back west to Dakota Territory and Iowa. En route to Northfield, they stayed in LeSueur Center (current-day Le Center), Janesville and then Millersburg, imbibing in whiskey purchased there. Swanson spun a detail-rich storyline.

He didn’t spend much time on the actual seven-minute Northfield bank robbery, a point Swanson acknowledged at the beginning of his presentation. The short crime left a bank cashier, a bystander and two of the outlaws dead and others wounded.

PURSUIT & ESCAPE

The gang’s efforts to escape capture prompted the largest manhunt in U.S. history with 1,000 men searching for the outlaws. Swanson used maps to show the routes taken by the gang, which eventually split. Frank and Jesse James traveled together while the three Younger brothers and Charlie Pitts stuck together.

The saga is one of stolen horses, the first taken near Dundas. Of gunfights, including south of Shieldsville. Of taking men captive to guide them through the Big Woods near Kilkenny and elsewhere. Of awakening to church bells by Marysburg. Of abandoning horses near German Lake. Of crossing the Cannon, the Blue Earth and other rivers. Of hiding in cornfields.

MASTERS OF DECEPTION & HORSE THIEVES

To hear so many familiar place names took me along the escape route—riding into woods, crossing an unguarded railroad bridge, traversing rivers, stopping at farm sites. Desperate to evade capture, the savvy outlaws pretended to be members of the posse pursuing them. They stayed with farm families under those false pretenses.

That their true identities remained mostly hidden speaks to that “masters of deception” label Swanson tags to the gang. The outlaws stood out in their mannerisms, their talk and even their dress—draping, sleeveless inverness capes concealing their firearms—yet still fooled many.

They stole Percheron draft horses in Garden City. The James brothers stopped for breakfast in Luverne and then were pursued into Dakota Territory, stealing more horses. Blind and partially-blind horses. Eventually, the pair stole a horse at gunpoint north of Canton, South Dakota. Turns out that horse owner, Peter Wahl, homesteaded on land that Russ Swanson now owns. That prompted his 10 years of researching the James-Younger Gang, authoring a book and today presenting on the topic.

“This area is a hotbed of their territory,” Swanson told the audience in Faribault. He backs up that statement with extensive research, tapping into maps, newspaper articles, census records and more from Minnesota into South Dakota and Iowa. He noted the abundance of eyewitness accounts.

DETAIL-RICH STORIES

I found the entire presentation intensely fascinating, rich in details. A lost hat. Nights of impenetrable darkness. Stolen chickens. Too much whiskey. Eleven bullet holes in Cole Younger, whose toenails fell off when he removed his boots after days of riding. A bullet that wounded a pursuer’s horse still in possession of his family generations later.

As Swanson concluded his talk, he shared a quote from Cole Younger, captured in a September 21 shoot-out in Hanska Slough near Madelia that took the life of outlaw Charlie Pitts. “Be true to your friends if the Heavens fall,” Younger said, refusing to give up any information to authorities. The Younger brothers went to prison while the James brothers escaped to Missouri.

Swanson shared more, much more, in his lengthy talk and Q & A. In the all of it, I was surprised to learn of so many locations in this region connected to the failed Northfield bank raid. Had the eight gang members remained incognito while in Mankato, this story would have followed a different plot line, a different path into history.

© Copyright 2026 Audrey Kletscher Helbling