Herb has owned Poor Nate’s Tavern for more than 30 years. He’s been robbed twice before, but each time the cops have locked up the robber and recovered the money. The robbery in this story is different.

Poor Nate’s is on a highway in Dellona Township. The nearest town of any size is Madison, Wisconsin. It’s about noon when this guy dressed in camouflage and wearing a black ski mask walks around behind the bar and opens the cash drawer.

The bartender takes this guy seriously because he’s got a .44 Magnum, the same weapon that Clint Eastwood used in his series of Dirty Harry movies. Eastwood described the .44 Magnum as "the most powerful weapon in the world."

As the bandit heads out the back door with $5,000 of the tavern’s money, the bartender screams for help. Herb comes running down from upstairs. The 68-year-old tavern owner dashes through the back door yelling at the fleeing robber, "Come back here with my $#@ &$@# money."

Every time the robber turns around, Herb ducks behind a tree. According to a Madison newspaper report the chase soon comes to an end near a cluster of rental cabins. Herb finds the armed robber hiding behind a shed.

Herb tells the guy to "hand it over," and the masked man drops the moneybag and hands Herb the loaded .44. "I guess my cursing scared him," Herb says, "and he just gave it up."

Herb marches the robber back to the tavern and sits him down at a table until the cops arrive. With the mask off, Herb recognizes the 31-year-old robber as a regular customer.

One of the cops tells Herb that chasing an armed robber isn’t the safest thing to do. Asked what he would have done had the bandit turned and shot at him, the tavern owner says, "I guess I’d just duck."