and bound them up in socks improvised from their underclothing. But they
dared not rest here too long as the corn fields and potato-patches on
which they depended for subsistance were at an inconvenient distance, and
their hunters might flush their camp at any moment. Saturday night they
again took up their tedious march, and about daylight went into camp a
mile from the German Catholic church in Marysburgh, the bell of which was
plainly heard by the robbers when it rung for early mass. They concluded
not to attend church that day, contrary to the usual custom of Cole
Younger at least, and a luxurious breakfast of roasted corn and baked
potatoes was prepared. This camp was within a few rods of the edge of a
clearing, showing the remarkable boldness of the gang. Here two small boys
saw three of them walking just outside the woods, and reported it, but
little faith was placed on their story, as the general impression was that
the bandits were still in the woods behind Elysian or had made a break on
their horses to the Minnesota river, and hence to parts unknown. Their
camp of Friday night had not then been discovered; and it was supposed
that they were still in possession of their horses.
In all the time intervening between Thursday afternoon and Monday morning,
the robbers had made but about thirty miles, and although surrounded at
times by