Howdy folks and greetings from the Great Plains of North Texas!

Today we're continuing with our of story Cole Younger, one of America's most unknown but prolific and interesting outlaws. At this point in our story he is teamed up with Jesse James but the gang had been thwarted from carrying out their carefully planned bank robbery in Mankato, Minnesota because a crowd of "gawkers" were gathered in front of the bank watching construction going on across the street! 

## Plan B
Lol. You can't make this stuff up! It's crazy but it's history. All they had to do was wait until the crowds weren't gathering there anymore but no, they were itching to rob something so one of the crew suggested they go to the Northfield bank 40 miles away. It was the only bank in town and loaded with cash. So they rode off toward Northfield.

Before entering the town they split up and scoped out the area taking note of the roads, rivers, bridges, etc and of course came into town in two's and three's, stopping to eat at different restaurants before heading back out of town and gathering for one last planning session.

As in yesterday's post there are 8 of them: Cole, Bob and Jim Younger, Jesse and Frank James, Clelland Miller who was a kid who idolized them and begged them to let him come along, Bill Chadwell and Charles Pitts who were both longtime members.

I've read many different accounts from articles and history books but they're generally in agreement with what happened next, some accounts may vary a little but this event was exhaustively researched.

## Let's try this again
The plan was for Bob Younger, Charles Pitts and Frank James to ride up to the bank and go wait on the sidewalk. There were wooden crates so they sat on those and talked to the locals walking by and mostly tried to look like they were loafing around.

After a little while Cole and the kid, Clelland, would come riding up and keep their horses in the middle of the street, Cole would get off and pretend to adjust his saddle while keeping a lookout in all directions. At this point the three on the sidewalk would saunter into the bank.

Meanwhile Jesse, Jim Younger and Bill Chadwell are a block away in the town square on lookout duty. When Cole sees that there are too many people around he says to Clelland that surely the Boys won't enter the bank when it's this crowded. They do enter the bank.

Here's what the town looked like that year, it was 1876. The bank is on the right beyond the staircase:
![wagonstreet.jpg](https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/QmUtaMGmFkh77gtWfSfVqTDCNxEnToDqVCZBBHrhmRWtC4) [source](http://www.mnopedia.org)


There are so many bone-headed mistakes the Boys made on this trip and I'll go through them later but one of the dumbest was that they all wore uniforms, basically. They all had on matching WHITE linen dusters! For those of you who don't know what that is here's an example:
<center>![cattlemansduster13.jpg](https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/QmZgyNMyq81ELpUfRJrDN7hZs9xsE6HGSkQjZHAaQPUWqR)</center> [source](https://www.riverjunction.com/Duster--Linen-Cotton-Cattlemans-Duster-by-Heirloom-Brand_p_4795.html)

Talk about not blending in and talk about arousing suspicion! The townspeople took notice immediately and started watching. When the three entered the bank one of the townspeople looked through a window and saw drawn pistols so he ran down the street yelling **"Get your guns boys, they're robbing the bank!"**

Here's a photo of the building the bank was in, you can see it's sign on the left side:
![bank.jpg](https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/QmePg3xPDVseQCzHwsr2Lz9XHXWWRi1YftmqG6mUAcAx7X)[source](http://www.mnopedia.org)

See that staircase? Men with rifles and shotguns came out and stood on that staircase shooting down at the Boys. Big tactical advantage! The top photo shows the buildings across the street, Cole said they were bristling with rifles. 

Cole shouted to the men inside the bank to come out, they had to ride! 

## The battle begins
No one came out. Clelland went to mount up and was hit by a shotgun blast to his face and fell down, he gets to his feet, mounts up but is struck by a bullet in his chest and falls out of the saddle, dead.

Cole jumps down and goes to him, when he leans down to check on Clelland he takes a bullet in his hip. The three men at the square hear the gunfire and come charging down the street, guns blazing, and enter the engagement, shouting at anyone in the street to get back inside.

Now there are 4 of them riding up and down the street shooting back at the townspeople. The windows are full of guns and they are taking fire from all directions. Bob's horse standing outside the bank takes a bullet to the neck and collapses. 

Cole stops in front of the bank again and yells to the boys inside to get out now! They don't come out.

## Inside the bank

When Frank, Bob and Charles enter the bank and approach the teller and demand cash one of the tellers tells them that the safe is on a time lock and they don't have the key. Well, he was lying but the vault door was shut and they didn't try to open it. When they demanded the teller to open it and he said he couldn't, they hit him over the head, knocking him out.

Then they drug him closer to the safe door and tried to revive him, still demanding that he open the vault but he was only partially conscious. While they were working on him the other teller dashed out the back door. Charles Pitts ran after him and shot twice, hitting the teller in the shoulder, but he kept running and got away.

The battle raged on out in the street with bullets and blood flying. The entire street is filled with the haze and pungent odor of gunpowder, men are shouting and running for cover, the roar of muskets, rifles, pistols and shotguns is deafening.

Bill Chadwell took a bullet to his chest and fell out of his saddle dead as a doornail. Jim Younger takes a bullet to the jaw and is bleeding profusely.

Cole shouts to the inside men a third time **"For God's sake come out, they're killing our men!"** Finally the three inside give up and run for the front door, Frank James jumping on the counter at the last second and shooting the teller, who was stumbling around trying to come to his senses, in the top of the head.

## The getaway
Charles Pitts and Frank jump on their horses, Bob starts shooting at the men on the stairs. From across the street he takes a bullet to his right arm which breaks his elbow. Without missing a beat he switches to his other hand and keeps shooting.

Bob's horse was shot, the rest of the gang took off on theirs, so Cole goes back to pick up Bob. With one arm dangling Bob grabs Cole's hand and is hoisted up behind Cole. Cole is hit in his side with a bullet and another one hits him in the shoulder.

Bullets and shotgun blasts are whizzing all around him. His reins are blown apart by a shotgun blast. His hat is shot off. The back of his saddle is blown off. He uses his hand and knees to guide is horse and they take off in a hail of bullets. Miraculously they weren't hit riding away.
![QmP4XWrKhEyctSdKwPXzgJStaaib5GRAczyRhSaSaSMjQp.png](https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/QmP4XWrKhEyctSdKwPXzgJStaaib5GRAczyRhSaSaSMjQp)

The Boys think they're okay now. No posse has ever caught them and they are masters at hiding out and evading their pursuers, it's what they've done most of their lives. Their story continues tomorrow.

![steemitbloggers.gif](https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/QmayobDk9bTqm1RLU5ceRGmVfGeYAvTmzmaJSqrWAtK2xS)



Thanks for reading folks, God bless you all!
-jonboy     Texas

![QmV1rirc4aVwh5NVurSGyHWRg81cAiro8rA2TaeWCPVLtV.png](https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/QmYAD3WaHuacxWCVq5HMHtmtcqzJEfY1CkMFohx96UpATa)

![QmTYUoxpK2LHgoiePLMao9UEPVBChXDMcvH2YgojQYTAfq.png](https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/QmTYUoxpK2LHgoiePLMao9UEPVBChXDMcvH2YgojQYTAfq)