and some talk, of several hundred people coming up from St. Paul and
Northfield to carry out the disgraceful threat. This was sufficient to
rouse the precautionary energy of Sheriff Glispin, who at once appointed
an armed guard, which filled the entire hotel. The guard and the populace
generally were determined to protect their prisoners to the bitter end, if
the worst came to the worst, and at half past eight o’clock the hotel was
cleared, but on the arrival of the 9 p. m. train, it was found that the
rowdies had either missed the train, or had abandoned the scheme, or the
whole thing, (which was most probable) was a hoax.
The talk at the supper table arose from a man recently from Mankato,
asserting that the scoundrels should be lynched, offering to bet $500 that
they would be strung up before morning. It was said that the man was
intoxicated, but that was no palliation of his brutish threat.