, and by night would
be safe beyond Shieldsville, and the next day could ride south across the
Iowa line and be in comparative safety.

But between the time we broke camp and the time they reached the bridge
the three who went ahead drank a quart of whisky, and there was the
initial blunder at Northfield. I never knew Bob to drink before, and I
did not know he was drinking that day till after it was all over.

When Miller and I crossed the bridge the three were on some dry goods
boxes at the corner near the bank, and as soon as they saw us went right
into the bank, instead of waiting for us to get there.

When we came up I told Miller to shut the bank door, which they had left
open in their hurry. I dismounted in the street, pretending to tighten my
saddle girth. J. S. Allen, whose hardware store was near, tried to go
into the bank, but Miller ordered him away, and he ran around the corner,
shouting:

"Get your guns, boys; they're robbing the bank."

Dr. H. M. Wheeler, who had been standing on the east side of Division
street, near the Dampier house, shouted "Robbery! Robbery!" and I called
to him to get inside, at the same time firing a pistol shot in the air as
a signal to the three boys at the bridge that we had been discovered.
Almost at this instant I heard a pistol shot in the bank. Chadwell, Woods
and Jim rode up and joined us, shouting to people in the street to get
inside, and firing their pistols to emphasize their commands. I do not
believe they killed any one, however. I have always believed that the man
Nicholas Gustavson, who was shot in the street, and who, it was said, did
not go inside because he did not understand English, was hit by a glancing
shot from Manning's or Wheeler's rifle. If any of our party shot him it
must have been Woods.

A man named Elias Stacy, armed with a shot-gun, fired at Miller just as he
was mounting his horse, filling Clell's face full of bird shot. Manning
took a shot at Pitts' horse, killing it, which crippled us badly.
Meantime the street was getting uncomfortably hot. Every time I saw any
one with a bead on me I would drop off my horse and try to drive the
shooter inside, but I could not see in every direction. I called to the
boys in the bank to come out, for I could not imagine what was keeping
them so long. With his second shot Manning wounded me in the thigh, and
with his third he shot Chadwell through the heart. Bill fell from the
saddle dead. Dr. Wh