By DR. LARRY MOSES
No one asked me but… It was Thursday, September 7, 1876: a nice day for late fall in Northfield, Minnesota. Three men in dusters rode into town, the first of the James-Younger gang. They were soon to be followed by five more identically glad and mounted riders.
Many of the town’s people, especially the Civil War veterans, recognized what seemed to be a “guerrilla raid.” The gang entered town with the intent of making a “smash-and-grab” from The First National Bank of Northfield.
Inside the bank they confronted Joseph Lee Heywood, the bank’s bookkeeper, demanding he open the vault. When he refused, he was shot dead by either Jesse or Frank James.
Joseph was a veteran of the Union Army; he had enlisted in Illinois as a private and was discharged as a corporal. He had served at the Siege of Vicksburg and the capture of Arkansas Post. He was the father of a five-year-old daughter. At the time of his death, he was the City Treasurer and the treasurer of Carlton College.
Alonzo E. Bunker, the bank teller, made a grab for a Derringer on a shelf below the teller’s window. But he was spotted by one of the holdup men, Charlie Pitt, who confiscated the weapon. The Derringer would be recovered later from Pitt’s body when he was killed by a posse that chased him and the Younger brothers down.
Unsuccessful in their attempt to get the bank vault open, the outlaws grabbed the twelve dollars in the till and exited the bank.
When the outlaws hit the street, they were met by the citizens of Northfield. Even though the citizens were poorly armed, or not armed at all, they confronted the outlaws. Elias Hobbs and Justice Streeter resorted to throwing rocks at the bank robbers. Elias Stacey shot the outlaw Clell Miller in the face with birdshot. J. B. Hyde, Ross Phillips, and James Gregg also used shotguns that were filled with birdshot and not powerful enough to do much damage. Two men with rifles, Henry M. Wheeler and Anselm R. Manning, helped even the odds.
Wheeler was a 22-year-old medical student home on summer vacation. He was passing the summer working in his father’s pharmacy. He saw what was happening from the window of the drugstore and stepped into the street to shout a warning. But he was driven into the Dampier Hotel by gunfire from the outlaws covering the gang’s exit from the bank. He acquired an old carbine and fired three rounds, killing the outlaw Clell Miller and wounding Bob Younger.
Manning, a 43-year-old blacksmith, stepped into the street with a rusty old army carbine and three rounds of ammunition. He fired one shot and killed one of the outlaw’s horses. But before he could fire again his gun jammed. Manning ducked into a nearby store and cleared his weapon. From this cover his next shot wounded Cole Younger. His final round killed the outlaw Bill Chadwell.
The gang fled town under heavy gunfire leaving two dead outlaws and two dead citizens. The outlaws, pursued by a posse of citizens, decided to split up. The James boys went one direction and the Youngers, with the seriously wound Charlie Pitt in tow, went another.
A wounded Frank James and his younger, more notorious brother, Jesse, were pursued over 400 miles but eventual escaped back to their home in Missouri.
The Youngers were not nearly as fortunate. They were overtaken by a posse made up mostly of local farmers and shopkeepers. Charlie Pitts was finished off and all three of the Youngers sustained multiple gunshot wounds. The Youngers were captured, tried for bank robbery and murder and sentenced to life in prison.
The people of Northfield hailed the citizens who took the law into their own hands in 1876, as heroes and still honor them today.
My, how times have changed! Today in Minnesota those citizens might be arrested and charged with murder. The most prominent example is the Kyle Rittenhouse case.
Some people expressed the opinion that it was unthinkable that a seventeen-year-old would be armed with a semi-automatic rifle to protect a community that was under siege by violent protestors who had, the night before, destroyed parts of the city of Kenosha, Wisconsin. I agree it is unthinkable. But I further find it unthinkable that a city, state, or federal government is unable to protect the people and businesses of a city. There is indeed a Constitutional requirement for the federal government to step in and protect citizens against domestic violence. Article IV, Section 4: “The United States…shall protect each of them (states)…against domestic violence.”
The attitude displayed today is a product of a society that has taught people to capitulate to criminals rather than to stand against them. As a child, I was taught to never start a fight but was also told to never run from one. We were taught to protect our brothers and sisters as well as younger kids in the neighborhood. We might pick on each other, but in my family if an outsider picked on one member of the family, they could end up fighting all seven of us at the same time; my sisters included.
Today Americans are encouraged not to defend themselves or their property. Law enforcement experts tell adults to avoid injury they should surrender their cars, property, and wallets to criminals. Indeed, if a citizen shows a weapon while defending his/her property, they may find themselves facing criminal charges.
If gun control advocates were to have their way, citizens would not be able to protect their neighborhood, for only the criminals would have guns.
A number of American cities have created a ‘safe zone’ for criminals. Some have gone so far as to refuse to prosecute theft of less than $1,000.
Today we send our children to school, and if they are bullied, they are told not to fight back. If someone wants their lunch money, they should turn it over to them.
The Clark County School District with its new policy of “restorative discipline” is leaving the criminal in the general school population with two results. One, many affluent parents have removed their students from the public schools. Two, youngsters are beginning to arm themselves while attending school.
Thought for the week… Mankind can live free in society hemmed in by laws, but we have yet to find a historical example of mankind living free in lawless anarchy.
– Stephen Fry
