On September 21, 1876, Asle Oscar Sorbel, a seventeen year old Madelia farm boy, alerted Sheriff James Glispin and Captain W.W. Murphy that the Northfield bank robbers were near. Almost a hundred citizens responded to the call for volunteers. In the desperate gun battle which followed one robber was killed and the three Younger Brothers were captured. This marked the end of the Younger Brothers–James Brothers gang which had terrorized the midwest for over ten years.