A Desperate Situation

September 7, 1876 is a day that has become legend, and indelibly branded on the very soul of the west. Eight men in long linen dusters rode into the sleepy town of Northfield, Minnesota. They were brash and undaunted as they headed directly for the First National Bank building. They had the town's full attention, and they didn¹t seem to care. Jesse James, Bob younger, and Charlie Pitts, stepped down, tied their horses and calmly walked into the bank. Frank James and Cole Younger stopped by the door just outside. Jim Younger, Clell Miller and Bill Chadwell moved on down the street near a bridge across a small square. Inside the bank, the teller in charge, Joseph Heywood, refused to open the safe, falsely claiming it was on a time lock.
The brave man did not relent even as Jesse knocked him to the floor with the barrel of his gun and threatened to kill him. In a curious quirk of fate, no one checked the door and it was open. About that time a nervous Cole hollered in to Jesse, "Things are fixin' to get hot out here, come on." What they thought would be an easy job had quickly become a Desperate Situation. A crowd was gathering and some of the gang fired shots into the air, to clear the street. The well armed locals dove for cover and returned a withering fire. As the three outlaws fled the bank one of them shot Heywood in the head. To this day it is not known who the killer was, none of the surviving gang ever talked. As the men ran outside Charlie Pitts was shot through the ankle.

Pitts stumbled to his horse and managed to crawl up in the saddle. In the space of a few seconds, he took two more rounds in the shoulder, and Bob's horse was shot and fell from under him leaving him standing in the street yelling to Cole for help. Jesse, un-hit in the entire incident, quickly abandoned the others turning towards Frank who had found an open alley. Within minutes, six of the eight had cleared town. Clell Miller, Bill Chadwell and a local youth named Nicholas Gustafson, lay dead and dying on the cold dirty street. After a desperate run of several miles the gang regrouped. The James boys quickly deserted the others and headed south. In a few days, Pitts and The three Youngers were flushed and a running gunfight mercifully ended Pitt¹s suffering. The Youngers escaped once more and hid out near the town of Madelia, Minnesota. Wounded, sick and desperately cold they surrendered about two weeks later, suffering horribly. The Younger's were sent to Stillwater prison, they never revealed the identity of the other outlaws, never naming the James boys.

Jesse and Frank tried to live quietly, but Jesse never really quit. On April 3, 1882 while gathering a new gang, Jesse James was shot and killed for the reward, by one of his own men. He was 34 years old.
 

Steve Miller