I just watched the movie about that.
I just watched the movie about that.
https://youtu.be/4Y18SAwz1vI
"On September 7, 1876 three men entered the town of Northfield about 2pm. They were noticed because of the long linen dusters they wore (which concealed their weapons), the exceptionally fine horses they rode (attention paid to their horses had apparently caused them to cancel a robbery attempt shortly before in Mankato, Minnesota), and, some witnesses said, the rather arrogant confidence with which they moved. Several townspeople, some of them former Civil War soldiers, immediately recognized the look of a "guerrilla raid." One of them is even said to have shouted, "It's a St. Alban's raid" (a bank near the Canadian border robbed by Confederate agents during the war).
Much to the outlaws' surprise, the people of Northfield not only refused to cooperate with the robbery, they shot back. A lot of them shot back. With deadly accuracy. And they organized huge posses that didn't give up but kept after them for days and weeks. As many as 2000 men chased them for weeks. This just didn't happen to them in Missouri. The guns the Northfield townspeople grabbed quickly to use may have been old or in poor working order, but they had an advantage of range over the handguns the robbers used. It's worth noting, though, that despite accounts written at the time mocking the apparent poor marksmanship of the Missouri robbers, the outlaws were very pointedly trying not to kill anyone. Cole Younger later said, "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... Every time I saw any one with a bead on me I would drop off my horse and try to drive the shooter inside..." The townspeople, on the other hand, were shooting to kill."
"On September 7, 1876 three men entered the town of Northfield about 2pm. They were noticed because of the long linen dusters they wore (which concealed their weapons), the exceptionally fine horses they rode (attention paid to their horses had apparently caused them to cancel a robbery attempt shortly before in Mankato, Minnesota), and, some witnesses said, the rather arrogant confidence with which they moved. Several townspeople, some of them former Civil War soldiers, immediately recognized the look of a "guerrilla raid." One of them is even said to have shouted, "It's a St. Alban's raid" (a bank near the Canadian border robbed by Confederate agents during the war).
Much to the outlaws' surprise, the people of Northfield not only refused to cooperate with the robbery, they shot back. A lot of them shot back. With deadly accuracy. And they organized huge posses that didn't give up but kept after them for days and weeks. As many as 2000 men chased them for weeks. This just didn't happen to them in Missouri. The guns the Northfield townspeople grabbed quickly to use may have been old or in poor working order, but they had an advantage of range over the handguns the robbers used. It's worth noting, though, that despite accounts written at the time mocking the apparent poor marksmanship of the Missouri robbers, the outlaws were very pointedly trying not to kill anyone. Cole Younger later said, "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... Every time I saw any one with a bead on me I would drop off my horse and try to drive the shooter inside..." The townspeople, on the other hand, were shooting to kill."
http://www.civilwarstlouis.com/History/jamesnorthfield.htm
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