In the fall of 1876, after the bank robbery at Northfield, Minnesota, Jesse James was said to have escaped a pursuing posse by urging his horse across a wide ravine after separating from his brother Frank to evade lawmen. Jesse James became a captivating outlaw figure in the Midwest, cultivating a Robin Hood-like image among people hostile to bankers and railroad men while his gang robbed banks, stagecoaches, and trains; historians estimate the James gang stole more than $300,000, and there is no evidence they shared the loot. After Northfield, Minnesota Governor J.S. Pillsbury issued a statewide alert offering $5,000 for the capture of the robbers, believed to be Jesse James and his band or the Youngers, and warned officers to shoot to kill. Jesse and Frank James had turned to crime after the Civil War, using guerrilla tactics they had learned, but the failed Northfield robbery became their last bank robbery. Two gang members and a bank clerk were killed there, while Jim, Rob, and Cole Younger and Charlie Pitts split from the James brothers, fled northwest from Mankato, and were captured at Lake Hanska, Minnesota, where Pitts died in a gunfight. Jesse and Frank headed toward Dakota Territory and split on the shores of Split Rock Creek, with Frank traveling on the west bank and Jesse on the east; after Jesse jumped the chasm and escaped the posse, the brothers reunited and hid in caves in the area. Jesse James later retired to St. Joseph, Missouri, under an assumed name and was shot on April 3, 1882, by Robert Ford, who claimed his bounty.