During Thursday night excited crowds had gathered in all of the towns in
the vicinity that could be reached by telegraph. Men of every class
volunteered to join in the hunt, and they came armed and mounted in every
conceivable style. The great majority had arms of little account, and a
large portion of the volunteers were entirely defenceless. There were many
intrepid men who joined in the pursuit in an earnest manner, and many
younger ones who started as they would in a chicken hunt, for sport and
excitement.
The telegrams had summoned the chiefs of police, detectives and several
members of the police forces of St. Paul and Minneapolis, and at six
o’clock Thursday evening, Chief King, Detective Brissette, Sergeant Clarke
and patrolman Brosseau and deputy sheriff Harrison, of the former city,
and Chief Munger, Detective Hoy, and officers West, Hankinson, and
Shepherd, of the latter place, were on the scene of the tragedy.
Under direction of Chief King, the St. Paul squad followed the trail of
the robbers under charge of Detective Brissette, while Detective Hoy and
his party proceeded to Faribault intending to start from there and attempt
to head off the robber band. Every point of egress from