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1902 Wyoming newspaper HARRY TRACY wild west outlaw on the run frm PRISON ESCAPE
1902 Sheridan Wyoming newspaper- wild west outlaw HARRY TRACY \"on the run\" from his OREGON PRISON ESCAPE- inv # 6O-415
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SEE PHOTO(s) - COMPLETE ORIGINALNEWSPAPER,the Sheridan Post(WYOMING) datedJuly 10, 1902.This original newspaper contains prominent front page \"stacked\" headlines: \"(Wild west outlaw Harry) \"TRACY NOT TAKEN / Multi-Murderer Continues to Elude Officers / Fugitive Oregon Convict is Known to have Killed Eight and Wounded Six Men...\" This has a 2/3 column long detailed account of outlaw HARRY TRACY on the run form lawmen after his escape from an Oregon prison.
Harry Tracy(23 October 1875– 6 August 1902) was anoutlawin theAmerican Old West.
His real name wasHarry Severns. Tracy is said to have run withButch Cassidyand theHole in the Wall Gang. By the time he had reached adulthood, he was actively taking part in acts ofrobberyandtheft. On March 1, 1898, Tracy and three accomplices engaged in a gunfight atBrown\'s Park, Colorado, in which Valentine S. Hoy,a member of theposse, was killed.Tracy and accomplice David Lant from the Brown\'s Park gunfight were captured but escaped theRoutt CountyJail inHahns Peak Village. They were recaptured and in June 1898 were sent to theAspenjail.After a couple months both Tracy and Lant escaped again. Lant disappears from history, but Tracy made his way toWashingtonandOregon. In late 1901, Tracy was captured, convicted, and incarcerated at theOregon State Penitentiary.
With fellow convict David Merrill he escaped on June 9, 1902, shooting and killing corrections officers Thurston Jones Sr.,Bailey Tiffany,Frank Ferrelland three civilians in the process. His claim to infamy is the size and scope of the manhunt and the extensive media coverage of same. He evaded capture for a month, mostly taking refuge in theSeattle, Washington, area. On June 28, 1902, an argument broke out between him and Merrill, which ended in aduel. Tracy cheated during their duel and spun around early, and Merrill was killed. His body was found on July 14. On July 3, 1902, he set up an ambush nearBothell, Washington, where he killed detective Charles Raymondand deputy John Williamsduring a shootout. Tracy fled, took severalhostagesin a residence, and engaged other law enforcement officers in a shootout. During that shootout he killed posse member Cornelious Rowleyand police officer Enoch Breece.On August 6, 1902, inCreston, Washington, Tracy was cornered and seriously wounded in the leg during an ambush by a posse fromLincoln County. Sheriff Gardner arrived and had his posse surround the field that Tracy had crawled into. Tracy committed suicide to avoid capture.
OnJune 9, 1902, Harry Tracy (1877-1902) escaped from the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem, assisted by fellow convict David Merrill. The two men escaped north into Washington. Near Chehalis, Tracy shot Merrill in the back, and continued on. After a week-long crime-spree in King County, Tracy escaped to Eastern Washington, where he dies by his own hand, following a gun battle in a Lincoln County wheat field.
Prior Arrests
Tracy and Merrill were serving time for various acts of burglary and highway robbery in Portland, Oregon. Both men were believed to be members of the \"Hole-in-the Wall\" gang, although not the one made famous by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. The gang that Tracy and Merrill belonged to was based in Utah.
Tracy was no stranger to the penal system, having been thrown into the Utah State Penitentiary for burglary in 1897. Two months later he escaped, by pulling a smuggled revolver on a guard and stealing the guard\'s clothes. He made his way to Colorado, killed a rancher, was arrested, and again escaped.
After Tracy and Merrill reunited in Portland, they began robbing streetcars and stores throughout the city. Eventually Merrill got busted. Tracy was nabbed a few days afterward. Tried together in 1899, both were thrown in the pokey. It wasn\'t until later that Tracy found out why Merrill got the lighter sentence.
Break Out
Although inside prison, Tracy had accomplices on the outside. In 1902, one of them was somehow able to smuggle rifles and revolvers into the prison yard. On the morning of June 9, Tracy and Merrill entered the penitentiary\'s foundry building with a work detail and grabbed the guns. Tracy fired one shot into the back of Guard F. B. Ferrell, killing him instantly.
Another inmate, lifer Frank Ingraham, amazingly jumped up to protect Guard Frank Gerard. For this, Merrill blew his kneecap off. Ingraham\'s leg later had to be amputated, but his heroic efforts were rewarded with a pardon from the governor.
Tracy and Merrill made their way into the yard, guns blazing. Tracy shot Guard S. R. T. Jones dead at a distance of 150 yards. After grabbing a ladder and climbing a wall, Tracy and Merrill were able to grab two other guards and use them as human shields. When another guard tried to shoot the escapees, Tracy made an example of hostage B. F. Tiffany by shooting him straight through the heart. The other hostage fell to the ground and played dead, and Tracy and Merrill ran off, setting in motion a region-wide manhunt that would last for two months.
News to Tracy
For the next few weeks, the two men headed north, stealing clothing, food, money, and horses when necessary. They were able to outfox their pursuers every step of the way. The authorities assumed they were heading to back to Portland. Instead the men crossed the Columbia river into Washington.
Near Vancouver, they overtook a farmer and had a meal in his cabin. Afterwards they noticed a copy of theOregonianand delighted in seeing their pictures in the newspaper, so much so that each cut their own photo out to carry with them.
Then, Tracy happened to spot something in the article, but he didn\'t show it to Merrill. As it turned out, Merrill\'s mother was the cause of Tracy\'s arrest in Portland and his subsequent incarceration in the state penitentiary. She had ratted on Tracy following Merrill\'s arrest in 1899, as a way of lessening her son\'s sentence. Tracy had not known that.
Merrill\'s Last Day
When they reached Chehalis, Tracy confronted Merrill with the information, and challenged him to a duel. Merrill fretted, but they agreed to count out 10 paces, then turn and shoot. Unfortunately for Merrill, there was no honor amongst thieves.
On the eighth step, Tracy turned early and shot Merrill in the back. As Merrill spun around, Tracy charged forwards, blasting another shot into his left side. Reaching the dying man, Tracy fired again directly into Merrill\'s skull. The body was discovered a month later by Mary Waggoner and her son George, while they were out picking blackberries.
Tracy continued on alone. By the first of July he had reached Olympia, where he hijacked a launch to Seattle, embarking on a week-long crime spree the likes of which King County had never before experienced.
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Stephen A. Goldman Historical Newspapershas been in the business of buying and selling historical newspapers for over 50 years. We are located in the charming Maryland Eastern Shore town of OXFORD, Maryland.
Dr. Goldman is a consultant to the Freedom Forum Newseum and a member of the American Antiquarian Society. You can buy with confidence from us, knowing that we stand behind all of our historical items with a 100% money back guarantee. Let our 50+ years of experience work for YOU ! We have hundreds of thousands of historical newspapers (and their very early precursors) for sale.
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