was thoroughly picketed during the night, probably two hundred volunteers
being engaged. Early on Friday morning Sheriff Asa Barton, of Rice county,
who had been up all night arranging the guards, commenced to accept new
recruits and dispatch them as rapidly as possible to the front, providing
every weapon that would snap a cap, that could be obtained in the
vicinity. His labors were arduous and incessant, but his splendid
constitution and indomitable perseverance enabled him to endure throughout
the three weeks that the hunt continued. The number of robber hunters
cannot have been less than five hundred during Friday.
The pursuers dispatched from Faribault were headed by brave, intelligent
men, among whom were Col. Williams, J. H. Harding, Dr. Hurd, T. Loyhed,
Mr. Baxter, James Hunter and Sam Dunham, chief of police of this city.
Nothing was heard of the bandits during Thursday night, but on Friday, it
was found that they had started in a westerly direction. It was difficult
to pick their trail, as men and horses shod in every manner had passed
over the roads during the night and morning. Rumors of all sorts came in
from all points, and the leaders scarcely knew what to do, but they wisely
determined to maintain their line of pickets.
It can truly be said that these knights of the road traveled on their
reputation, and they were looked upon as such desperate and sanguinary
foes that few men would have been willing to meet them except at
considerable odds. The pickets had been liberally placed, but the squads
were necessarily small, as an area of more than four miles square was
guarded. At most places only two or three guards had been placed, and
through one of these squads a