author

J. H. (Joseph Have) Hanson

Best known for a vivid account of the 1876 Northfield bank raid, this 19th-century writer turned a notorious true-crime episode into a fast-moving historical narrative. Little biographical information seems to survive, which gives the work an added sense of period immediacy.

1 Audiobook

The Northfield Tragedy; or, the Robber's Raid

The Northfield Tragedy; or, the Robber's Raid

by J. H. (Joseph Have) Hanson

About the author

J. H. Hanson is credited on The Northfield Tragedy; or, the Robber's Raid, a contemporary-style account of the failed 1876 bank robbery in Northfield, Minnesota, associated with the James-Younger Gang. Project Gutenberg and library records identify the author as J. H. (Joseph Have) Hanson.

What can be confirmed from easily available sources is fairly limited: the book was published in 1876 in St. Paul, Minnesota, and presents the raid, the killings, the pursuit, and short biographical sketches tied to the event. That close connection to a specific moment in time is part of the book's appeal today.

Because reliable biographical details about Hanson are scarce online, it is safest to remember him through the work itself: an early true-crime and local-history writer whose name remains linked to one of Minnesota's most famous outlaw stories.