Excitement had again subsided, and after the capture of the robbers’
horses in a state indicating that they had been abandoned for several
days, the opinion gained ground rapidly that the robbers had made tracks
on foot and were many miles away. The hunt had virtually come to an end,
was the thought of many, and a general movement was made by the pursuers
toward those homes to which of late, they had become strangers. The St.
Paul police had started for home, and the Minneapolis force was already
there. The indefatigable and energetic sheriff of Winona, was even
contemplating an abandonment of the chase when news was brought into
Mankato, which at once aroused excitement to its highest pitch. A farmer
had been captured by the bandits, and with arms tightly bound behind him,
compelled at the muzzle of a revolver to accompany them on the road to
pilot the way beyond Mankato. Hearing that this unfortunate was the man in
charge of Mr. Shaubut’s farm, the writer sought out the man