We ask that you use your imagination and turn back the clock. Turn the clock back to just before 3 o'clock, back to Sept. 15, 1921. Dodge Center was 52 years old with a population around 700. World War I was over and Prohibition was the law of the land, but for rural Minnesota, the Roaring Twenties was only something that was read about in Eastern magazines.

In 1921 Main Street was not just the center of the business community, it was the business community. And central to this community were two banks, two banks which were too tempting to a certain young man visiting from North Dakota, a certain young man who had grown up near Kasson who was familiar with the area, a certain young man named Victor Johnson.

No one knows when Victor Johnson came into town, but at 2:30 in the afternoon Victor Johnson set a fire in Keck's Livery Barn to attract attention and pull people from the banks. As the fire bell rang, people ran to help fight the flames and save the horses.

As Johnson approached the Farmers State Bank on the west end of Main Street, Leo Triponel, assistant cashier of the First National Bank, came out to see if he could find out where the fire was. Mr. Rounseville came out of his office, next door to the bank, and told Triponel to go and see where the fire was while he would watch the bank.

At this time in Farmers State Bank, E.B. Benson and Miss Anna Stockman were alone in the bank. Mr. Benson was just ready to go to the fire when a man later described as dressed in a brown combination suit, with white handkerchief tied around his neck, wearing a cap and carrying a gunny sack came into the bank. He asked Miss Stockman if the president or cashier was in. Miss Stockman, thinking immediately that he was a bandit called to Mr. Benson to come back. Johnson was told that no bank officers were present. Johnson said that he presumed that the officers were at the fire.

The bandit then headed east, toward the First National Bank. Just before he arrived at the other bank, Mrs. W.D. Christoffersen went into the bank and Mr. Rounseville cashed a check for her. She then went into Abbott's store, next door.

Mr. Rounseville, standing in front of the Bank, opened the door for Johnson and said, "Is there something I can do for you?"

"I think that there is," was his reply.

Mr. Rounseville turned and saw that the man had a gun in his hand. Without being ordered to throw up his hands, Mr Rounseville made a grab for the gun, which the bandit had previously concealed under a gunny sack. The gunman fired, the shot going through the window. Three more shots were fired, two hitting Mr. Rounseville in the breast and one hitting a wall.

After firing the shots the gunman ran to the old mill, going across the park. As he ran he shouted, "The bank has been robbed and a man shot." Mrs. Rasmusson and Mrs. Tiffany and some show ladies with Uncle Tom's Cabin Show, saw him and began to scream. Soon firefighters heard them and a posse was then formed. Witnesses saw him run into the old mill.

Johnson hoped he could get away and make it to the Great Western Depot and take the 4:25 train south. Hiding out in the old mill, he hastily changed his clothes and discarded the gun.

Meanwhile, the posse continued searching the town and armed men posted themselves on the edge of town. Johnson's escape was not to be, for even though he changed his clothes, some young men in an automobile captured the lone suspect as he was walking back to town.

Johnson offered no resistance, declaring himself innocent. He was thoroughly searched and three 32 shells were found in his possession.

He was taken to the County Attorney's Office. Meanwhile, Rex Fleener searched the old mill and found a 32 revolver with four blank shots and two that had not been fired, as well as a combination suit that was later identified as the one bought by the captive and worn by the murderer.

When the mob heard that Johnson said he was innocent, some produced a rope while others wanted to take the prisoner to Owatonna on the 5:15 train.

It didn't take long for Victor Johnson make a complete confession and tell how Rounseville was killed. . . .

The entire town attended the funeral services for D.T. Rounseville. As for Victor Johnson, he would be indicted by a grand jury at Mantorville on three charges: first-degree murder, arson, and attempted bank robbery. A jury would convict him of second degree murder and he would be sentenced to life in prison, a sad ending for a young man yielding to temptation.

Thus ended Dodge Center's encounter with greed gone unchecked--but also a time when the town rallied-first to fight a fire, then to apprehend a criminal. It was a time when Dodge Center stood together, worked together, succeeded together: lessons to rememember as Dodge Center faces another century of growth.