Inscribed by a Victim of the Jesse James - Cole Younger Gang
Robber and Hero: The story of the raid on the First National Bank of Northfield, Minnesota, by the James-Younger band of robbers, in 1876 ...
Publication: Northfield, MN: The Christian Way Company, 1895. First Edition.
Notes: A history of the bank robbery that put Cole Younger and his brothers behind bars, inscribed by one of their victims who was shot during the stickup and lived to tell the tale.
This book describes the attempt made by the gang led by Jesse and Frank James and Cole Younger and his brothers to rob the First National Bank in Northfield, Minnesota. The cashier Joseph Lee Heywood refused to open the safe; the gang cut his throat and shot him to death. Assistant cashier Alonzo Enos Bunker was also shot but survived. During the escape out of Northfield, the gang killed a town resident. An impromptu group of townspeople shot and killed two of the robbers as they tried to flee. After a two-week manhunt, the Younger brothers were captured; they pleaded guilty to avoid hanging. The James brothers escaped.
After Heywood was first injured, Bunker attempted to flee out the back of the bank to raise the alarm in the neighboring business. Charles Pitts (born George Wells) followed him. "Bunker threw his weight against the blinds, bursting them open, plunged down a flight of outside steps, and had nearly reached the rear entrance of the next building when he was again fired upon by Pitts. This time the ball hit its mark, passing through the right shoulder, near the joint, barely missing the sub-clavian artery, and coming out just below the collar-bone" (p. 23; Bunker's picture is opposite page 20). Pitts was killed during the capture of the Younger brothers. His body was packed in ice and sent to St. Paul where it was exhibited in the state capitol building. Reportedly the body was sold to a local doctor who kept it as a skeleton.
"A carefully written book based upon contemporary newspaper accounts and considered accurate."—Adams, Six-Guns, 1087. It also appears that Huntington tracked down survivors and interviewed them.
[2:blank], viii, 119, [3:blank] pages plus 11 half-tone plates including a frontispiece portrait of Heywood, a plan of the bank, and a composite of the captured and killed robbers (not including the James brothers). Front board stamped with a facsimile of cashier J. L. Heywood's signature.
NB: The full title continues: "The tragedy in the bank. The battle in the street. The two-weeks pursuit. The final capture. Portraits, illustrations, and biographical sketches. Compiled from original and authentic sources."
Edition + Condition: First edition (first printing with matching copyright page and title page date). A very good copy in olive-green cloth stamped in gilt on the front cover and spine (also seen in other colors of cloth).
This copy is inscribed by the surviving cashier, A. E. Bunker, who is listed in the acknowledgements. "To Mrs. May M. Culver, from her brother, A. E. Bunker, July '95."
Alonzo Bunker (1849–1929) was the fourth of ten children; May Moulton (1865–1925) was the youngest. She married William Hale Culver in 1892.
Item No: #366191
Price: $2,500