Editor’s note: This is Part I of a continuing story.
It was June 1872, a dark summer night, and a heavy storm loomed over all of McLeod County. As far as storms go, it was a doozy — heavy winds drove down hail and pounding rain. In Glencoe, the site of the county jail, the vigilant officers of the law were at home enjoying the comforts of cover from the terrible deluge outside. There happened to be mischief at the county jail, however, as two prisoners, Richard Fadden and Samuel Chase, were working diligently to free themselves from confinement.
Richard Fadden and Samuel Chase were criminals. The two were “sneak thieves” and members of a much larger band of the same. For nearly three years the citizens of Sibley County and McLeod County were subject to the dastardly deeds of the band. Several cases of stolen horses and cattle, missing wheat, corn and oats, and anything else that could be carried away were reported to local law enforcement. It was thought that quite a number of the thieves lived in the southern portion of McLeod County, yet no “smoking gun” could be linked to the supposed perpetrators until a winter evening in January.
On the night of Jan. 16, a Lynn Township resident named Andrew Scott lost nearly 70 bushels of wheat. While he never saw the act being committed, Scott saw two men pass by his farm earlier that day and he immediately suspected they were up to no good. Scott did a bit of investigating and found out the two strangers were in Hutchinson in the late evening of the 16th, and they had with them a sleigh with a load of wheat. He then went to the Dassel Station and found that the two men had been there on the morning of the 17th with that same load of wheat.
Scott alerted the McLeod County Sheriff, Sam Hatten, and a “posse” of officers immediately set out on the trail of the two men. They quickly found tracks and traced the thieves to Greenleaf where they’d made camp for the night. The next morning, the posse followed the trail past Preston Lake, then overtook the two thieves near Round Grove.
It was a lively race, the thieves certainly swinging the reins and urging their horses to pull the sleigh as fast as it and the horses would carry them. The officers drew their revolvers as they caught up to the thieves and fired. The gunshots spooked the horses and the beasts cleared themselves from the sleigh. One of the thieves, Samuel Chase, was able to escape. Fadden, however, was apprehended and brought to Hutchinson where he was interrogated and confessed. He was then taken to the jail to await the action of a grand jury.
Chase was caught a few days later in Belle Plaine and was taken to Hutchinson. Another man, J.J. Stacy, was arrested for aiding Chase in his failed flight from the law.
The wait for a trial was a long one. The two men spent the remainder of the winter, as well as the entire spring, behind bars. Finally as June was coming to an end, they saw their chance to escape as dark, heavy and ominous storm clouds formed on the horizon and began enveloping the sky over McLeod County. On the evening of June 27, McLeod County was about to be treated to a jail break.
— Brian Haines is executive director of the McLeod County Historical Society and Museum, 380 School Road N.W., Hutchinson. Do you have a historical anecdote to share? Haines can be reached at 320-587-2109, or by email at director@mcleodhistory.org.
