Youth helped capture

bank robbers in 1876

By KURT NESBITT

Journal Staff Writer

HANSKA -- At age 17, Asle Sorbel accomplished what many men twice his age couldn't handle.

He helped capture one of the most ruthless and infamous band of bank robbers in American history in September of 1876.

On Sunday afternoon, several his descendants gathered alongside State Highway 257 to dedicate a historical marker in his honor.

"We decided that if it was going to get done, it would be our generation that would do it," said great-great-nephew Lee Sorbel, who lives in Illinois. "Otherwise, it would never get done."

On the morning of Sept. 21, 1876, Asle and his father, Ole, were milking cows when two men came to the farm, stopped and paid for food and then left. Two more men came through a few minutes later. One was limping.

Asle turned to his father and told him the men were the people who robbed the bank in Northfield, but Ole was doubtful. Asle ran to his neighbor's house and told about what he saw and they agreed that men could be the robbers. Ole gave Asle permission to tell the authorities and Asle rode Ole's work horse to Madelia. One hour later, the posse heard of the gang's whereabouts and set out looking for the Younger brothers.

Hanska historian Joel Botten grew up near the site where the marker for Asle Sorbel now stands. The marker was dedicated on the 150th anniversary that the first members of the Sorbel family emigrated to the United States from Hollingdal, Norway. Botten described Asle as "curious". He pointed out that news of the James-Younger gang's advances was common knowledge in the area. Asle knew of a bridge in the area that was being guarded and knew a few of the men that were guarding it and learned about what the robbers looked like from them.

Sorbel, who is also referred to in history books as Axel, A.O. and Oscar, was the son of Norwegian immigrants who settled near Linden Lake. Botten also noted that the Sorbel homesite played a role in the Dakota Conflict of 1862 when Ole Sorbel helped bury James Armstrong, an Irish immigrant who had been shot by Dakota arrows near Lake Hanska. Many of the first Norwegian settlers in the area took refuge in the Sorbel cabin during the conflict, Botten said.

"One person can make a difference," said Bob Burgess, director of the Brown County Historical Society.

From 1866 to 1876, the James-Younger Gang had committed 21 armed robberies, in which 14 people were killed and a total of $217,000 was taken. Burgess said Asle's story has several important lessons, including that one person can often make a difference and that "while you should listen to your mother and fathers, you should make your own decisions concerning such matters."

As it turned out, Asle was right. The men were, in fact, Bob, Cole and Jim Younger and Charlie Pitts, who were recently separated from Jesse and Frank James.

The James-Younger Gang struck a bank in Northfield on Sept. 7, 1876 and two members of the gang were wounded in a shootout there. Cole Younger later wrote that the gang chose to rob the Northfield bank because it heard that a Union general had a large sum of money deposited there; the James's and Youngers were guerilla fighters for the Confederacy during the Civil War.

Following the Northfield robbery, the gang abandoned its horses in the woods east of Waseca and Janesville and started out on foot. Jesse and Frank James stole a horse near Judson and headed west towards their home state of Missouri, leaving the Younger brothers and the others in the woods.

The Youngers managed to dodge the many groups of people who were out looking for them and eventually, they made their way into southern Brown County. Asle Sorbel spotted them a short while later on Sept. 21, 1876.

A posse later found the robbers hiding in some underbrush along the Watonwan River. The gang managed to hold off the posse with gunfire until Sheriff James Glispen arrived with six men and went in after them. Bob Younger was already wounded from the gunfight in Northfield. Charie Pitts was killed in the shootout.

After Cole, Bob and Jim Younger were captured, they confessed to the Northfield robbery and were given life sentences in prison at Stillwater. Bob Younger died of tuberculosis in prison in 1889. Cole and James Younger were paroled in 1901 and James committed suicide a year later. Cole Younger eventually returned to Missouri, writing his memoirs, touring as a part of a traveling show with Frank James and lecturing people about Christianity. He died shortly after Frank James died in 1916.

As for Asle, he left Hanska and settled in South Dakota following the Younger brothers capture and later moved to Montana after outlaws learned of his whereabouts. He returned to South Dakota where he died in 1930.

Lee Sorbel said neither his great-great uncle nor any of his family talked about the ride very often out of concerns for their own safety, but Asle told the story in a couple letters written to the Watonwan County Historical Society in 1929.

Family member John Bode, who lives a few miles away from the Sorbel homestead, said there is lots of awareness within his family about what Asle did in 1876.

"I grew up with the impression that Jesse James was a hero. I don't know how I got that impression," Bode said. "(Asle) was a wanted man by those guys."