Late on September 6, 1876, four heavily armed men led by the outlaw Thomas Coleman "Cole" Younger rode into Millersburg from the west and spent the night at the Cushman Hotel before leaving the next morning on the Dundas road to join four other members of the James-Younger Gang in an attempt to rob the First National Bank in Northfield. In 1876 thirteen Swedish families lived in the Millersburg area, including Peter Gustafson, his brother Nicolaus, and Nicolaus's nephew Ernst, recently arrived from Sweden. On the morning of Thursday, September 7, Peter Youngquist, Nicolaus Gustafson, and four other Swedish neighbors traveled toward Northfield with mules and farm produce to sell. They reached Northfield around 1:00 pm and set up their vegetable wagon along the Cannon River near 5th Street. About 2:00 pm, after hearing gunshots, Nicolaus Gustafson ran to the intersection of Division and 5th, where Cole Younger shot him in the head during the bank robbery; he died four days later. John Olson witnessed the shooting and later testified against Cole Younger. The robbery failed because of the bravery of several local citizens and uncharacteristic behavior by some gang members. Witnesses said that three of the robbers had been drinking whiskey shortly before the robbery, even though Jesse James did not drink alcohol and never allowed gang members to drink while working, leading authorities to question whether he was in Northfield that day. During the attempted robbery, Nicolaus Gustafson and acting bank cashier Joseph Heywood were murdered, two gang members were killed by Northfield residents, and six escaped, with the surviving robbers leaving by the Dundas road and heading west for Millersburg, three of them badly wounded.