Lori: I don't know about the James Gang, but several years ago I was sent excerpts from "Desperadoes in Dairyland" in the Milwaukee Journal dated Feb 8 1981, page 24, as regards to some Britton family research. It involves two brothers, the Maxwells, desperadoes of their time who holed up in Pierce County. The following is a synposis of this article. They were Edward and Alonzo, the family was from Arkansas and came to Wisconsin after the Civil War. They were horse thieves. After serving some time in Illinois' Joliet prison for the deed, the youngest brother, Alonzo, ended up in Hersey, St. Croix County in 1879. He assumed the name Williams at the time, deciding to go straight. He married and settled down but in 1881 his eldest brother, Edward, was released from prison and things changed. Alonzo, who was working for a mill at the time, had an accident which abruptly ended his employment. Although neither brother was working, they always seemed to have a lot of ready cash. Finally they burglarized the St. Croix Lumber Co. in Stillwater, MN and the sheriff there came looking for Ed, having found he was in the vicinity the day before. The two brothers apparently fired on the sheriff, driving them out of town, whereupon they fled. Alonzo's wife moved in with her parents after they ran and suffered an early birth, both she and the baby dying. When Alonzo heard the news he flew into a rage, blaming his older brother for her death. But Edward managed to persuade him that it was the Undersheriff Miletus Knight of Durand, who had gone looking for the boys with a warrant at her home that had caused her death. Alonzo vowed the death of Knight and on July 10, 1881, they took the ferry across the Chippewa River, just above Durand, asking the ferry operator where they might find sheriff Knight. Another set of brothers, Milton and Charles Coleman, both who had served in law enforcement, Milton in Dunn County and Charles in Pepin, heard the brothers were on their way and set out to capture them, against the townspeoples advice that they raise a posse to aid them. They were canvassing the village when they saw two figures approaching, and apparently a real gunfight ensued, which the Coleman brothers lost. Both died in the gun battle. The brothers then fled to Illinois, but were tracked there by law enforcement and shot their way out of yet another predicament, killing the sheriff and wounding several deputies. The newspapers called it the battle of Fox Creek. The two were finally tracked down on November 9th in Grand Island, NE by sheriff Joseph Killian, Edward was captured, but Alonzo escaped. Ed was returned to Durand under guard and found dozens of citizens waiting for him when he stepped off the skiff. Apparently, during the ensuing trial, the citizens of Durand could not wait for justice and siezed the prisoner and lynched him. There is a long excerpt from a newspaper at this point that gives an account of the lynching, but has been criticized as fable, I won't go into all of it. Needless to say, Edward Maxwell, aka. Williams was hung and died. No one was charged in his death and his brother Alonzo disappears never to be seen again. They apparently spent time hiding in Pierce County during their run from the law, possibly attempting to hide at Polly (Britton) Webb's home. Her brother, Augustus Britton, may have been part of the posse that chased them up Cady Creek. You might want to check out the book to see if there is any mention of other desperadoes in Pierce County. Debbie Barrett