On September 7, 1876, eight bandits rode into Northfield to rob the First National Bank. It was a sunny Thursday afternoon. What would later be called a “textbook James-Younger robbery” began with three of the gang members entering the bank at 2 p.m. and announcing that they were holding up the bank.

The desperadoes ordered the three bank employees to open the safe, but were told that the door was locked and couldn’t be opened. Meanwhile, local citizens on the street began to arm themselves after a merchant discovered the robbery in progress and shouted, “Get your guns, boys — they’re robbing the bank!”

Upon this discovery, two gang members sprang to their saddles and began firing their pistols and yelling for everyone to leave the area or be shot. This forced the remaining robbers to enter the fray. The first to fall was a Swedish immigrant named Nicholas Gustafson. He was wounded in the head and died several days later.