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was going to do away with myself. But I told them I wouldn’t do that, and I never really thought of doing it." "But it was awful down there. When I was working I was alright. Boys, let me tell you, work is a Godsend. I always knew that, but I never knew how much it meant. Why, when I was out of a job, I’d go fishing to try and keep my mind off things, but even then I’d think of them and I’d nearly go crazy. I couldn’t go to church. I went two or three times, but I was afraid people would get interested and get too personal. "Up at Lucedale, where I worked in the lumber mill, I was out of a job for a while. I went to the court house then every day for a couple of weeks and attended court. It was mostly bootlegger trials, but I used to sit there all day just to pass the time away. "In the courthouse there I saw pictures of Dutch Anderson and some Minneapolis man for whom rewards were offered. I wondered if my picture was there, too and I looked around for it but couldn’t find it. I went back there several times to see if it had posted, but I never saw it. I had heard then, you know, that those posters had been sent over all the country. "You know, I did consider coming home once. I thought of coming home last November when the trials were on, but I couldn’t do it. I just couldn’t face the music, boys, I couldn’t face the music. Why, when I thought of all those people there that I had known since childhood, it nearly killed me. "I didn’t know what to do. I knew they couldn’t hang me. But I did think that some of those old folks I stole from must be mad enough to shoot me. I wasn’t afraid of that, though. I just couldn’t face them, that’s all. "I tell you, if I had it to do over again, I’d stand up and face the music rather than go through all that terrible experience again." The two loneliest days Sylvester spent in the South were Fourth of July and Christmas. On the Fourth of July he worked in the field all day under the burning sun, with the temperature over 100. He was cultivating cotton, and as he worked he thought of the folks back home and of the celebrations he used to have. On Christmas day he was alone – without a friend in whom he could confide. And he recalled the happy family gatherings they used to have in Plainview on that holiday. He got a five dollar bill from home for his Christmas present and it was as wonderful a present as he had ever received, he said. Sylvester’s actions as the train swept through the bluff country which he had not seen in 10 months were pitiful. He stared out his window, fairly devouring the landscape with his eyes. "Boys, the old north country looks pretty good to me," he said. "Gosh," he went on, "I want to go back now and do all I can for all the people who lost money on account of me. I want to see my friends again."
February 11, 1926- Clings to Foley Station Platform and Court Room Jammed With Eager Spectators
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* SOURCE: Manzow, Ron (compiler), "The Sylvester Family of Plainview, Minnesota - a collection of information taken from the Plainview News, other newspapers, letters, and diaries beginning in 1884": Plainview Area History Center, 40 4th St. S.W., Plainview, MN 55964. Compiled in 2001.
NOTE: from Ron Manzow, December 2001: "Feel free to reproduce the pages for anyone who wants a copy. It was
compiled to be shared... All I ask is that they consider sending a check to the [Plainview Area] History Center to help us out. That
should be enough."
Howder; © 1995-2011 All Rights Reserved. Last Updated February 14, 2011.