A young local Sheriff that everyone liked in this small Minnesota community, Sheriff Joseph Rogers had been this town's top cop for about two years when the brutal assault of a local couple and the assault of an unsuspecting farmer led him to being handed the task of hunting down those responsible, only to result in a gun battle that he would not survive. His murder would lead to chaos in this community where towns people, area officials, and even the Governor couldn't prevent two more men from being killed before this dark chapter of McLeod County's history would end.

The data used to compile this story, along with several related pictures on our website were courtesy of the book The Midnight Gavel of Judge Lynch, researched and written by retired McLeod County Sheriff Scott Rehmann. There is an impressive amount of detail researched in this book along with many actual photos related to this case. This is a great book and is available from Amazon at the following link: https://www.amazon.com/Midnight-Gavel-Judge-Lynch/dp/3242869400

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