Accounts of bank-robberies and other exploits of outlaws and desperadoes are usually supposed to belong to the criminal-news columns of the daily paper and to the writer of sensational literature. When the robber is the only or the principal actor in the scene, and his prowess or brutality the only feature worth mentioning, the less said of it the better. But when a great crime is the occasion of great heroism, courage, fidelity, intrepid resistance, and the triumph of virtue over violence, then

Having completed their preliminary survey, they prepared for their grand exploit. Their first project was the robbery of one or more of the banks of Mankato, a thriving town at the great bend of the Minnesota River. Five of the band appeared in Mankato on Saturday, September 2nd, and, as usual, created a sensation with their fine horses and horsemanship. They made purchases at some of the stores, and paid a visit to the First National Bank, where they got change for a fifty dollar bill. Accordin

As we have already seen, the two divisions of the band spent the night of Wednesday, September 6th, in neighboring villages, within easy reach of their next day's destination. Early on the morning of Thursday, the 7th, they took up their march along the roads converging upon Northfield, meeting in the woods west of the town. In the course of the forenoon, some of them appeared upon the streets and in the stores, where two of them were recognized as the same two that had made the previous visit o

“No,” , replied Heywood. The same question was put to Bunker and to Wilcox, each of whom made the same reply. “You are the cashier,” said the robber, turning upon Heywood, who was sitting at the cashier's desk, and who appeared to be the oldest of the employes. “Open that safe —— quick, or I'll blow your head off.” A second robber—Pitts—then ran to the vault and stepped inside, whereupon Heywood, who had risen to his feet, followed him and attempted to close the door. He was instantly dragged ba

As Mr. Allen went to his own store, he had passed that of Mr. Manning, to whom he shouted his warning concerning the robbers. Up to this time Manning had no suspicion of what was going on. One of the robbers had been in the store in the forenoon, looking about and pretending he wanted to buy a gun. He was a genteel, well-dressed fellow, and Manning supposed him to be some stranger who had come to Northfield to hunt; though he did not believe that he wanted any gun, and thought there was somethin

That afternoon the county coroner, Dr. Waugh of Faribault, held an inquest on the three bodies, and a verdict was found according to the facts: “That J. L. Heywood came to his death by a pistol-shot fired by an unknown man who was attempting to rob the First National Bank of Northfield;” “That the two unknown men came to their death by the discharge of firearms in the hands of our citizen in self-defence, and in protecting the property of the First National Bank of Northfield.” The grief and ind

Three times on Thursday afternoon advanced detachments of this force encountered the fugitives. First a couple of volunteer scouts, mounted, by a singular coincidence, on the horses of the dead robbers, came within sight of the band a they were seizing the farmer's horse on the Dundas Road. But as the robbers were six to the scouts' two, the latter did not venture an attack, but contented themselves with trailing their game until reinforcements should arrive. Again, at Shieldsville, fifteen mile

He instantly started for Madelia, seven or eight miles away, urging the old farmhorse to the top of his speed, and shouting to every body he passed “Look out! The robbers are about!” but finding nobody to believe him. A short distance from Madelia the horse fell down, throwing the excited rider into the mud; but he was soon up and a way again faster than ever. Entering Madelia, he rode straight to the Flanders House, according to his promise to Col. Vought. The latter was standing on the porch o

Sight-seers and lion-hunters came by hundreds, from every direction. On the day following the capture the hotel was besieged by an eager throng, that filled its halls and corridors and the adjacent street, and kept a continuous stream of visitor filing through the room where the robbers were confined. Reporters, photographers and detectives were there, each intent on his own professional ends; and every type of sentiment was represented, from open vindictiveness to morbid sympathy and admiration

ALONZO E. BUNKER, second son of Enos A. and Martha M. Bunker, was horn at Littleton, New Hampshire, March 29th, 1849. He came to Dodge County, Minnesota, in 1855; received a common-school education in the public schools of Mantorville; learned the printing business in the office of the Mantorville Express, and in due time became the foreman of the office. He taught school for a short time, after which he entered the St. Paul Business College, from which he graduated in 1869. The following year h

“The bank cashier, Mr. J. L. Heywood, of Northfield, Minn., who, with a bowie-knife at his throat and a pistol at his temple, returned a decisive ‘No’ to the demand of the gang of robbers that he should open the bank vault to be plundered, is rightly enrolled among the heroes of our times. In him fidelity and courage of the noblest quality were illustrated again. He is dead, but the trust committed to him was not betrayed, and his name will live in honor. He fell at the post of duty as gallantly

TO THE SUBSCRIBERS TO THE “HEYWOOD FUND.” —The undersigned, a committee appointed at a meeting of the Banks and Bankers of St. Paul, Minnesota, Sept. 19th, 1876, to issue a circular appeal to all Banks and Bankers in the United States and Canada, requesting voluntary contributions in aid of the family of JOSEPH LEE HEYWOOD, late Acting Cashier of the First National Bank, of Northfield, Minn., respectfully report that on Sept. 20th, 1876, we prepared a circular, and mailed about seven thousand co