The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1902-08-07

iSS, uO- lne posse SURROUNDING
+ him was the cause of his committing
. suicide to save hanging. and the men
o are much TO be credited with his I
o death and to be rewarded for it as
= though they had killed him directly" Z
q . . Q q . 9 o o . . + . q Z
abouts was learned. and a ruse devised Il
trap HIM
| A message was sent to the outlaw to joiI
Detective Reiner. the latter posing as {
friend OF Merrill. The two met bu
Tracy's qulck-wittedness led him 10 dis
trust Reiner. The detectives manner be
trayed him.
The men were near a railroad track upor
which a locomotive was approaching, ano
Tracy suddenly ran from Reiner, jumped
into the engine cab, shot at the detective
! put his pistol 10 the engineers head and
made him send the engine ahead at full
speed. Reiner was painfully wounded
The telegraph alarmed the next town
ahead, and the engine was surrounded at
| that place Tracy fought, but was over
powered. He was put under arrest and
| tried with Merrill. Several charges were
| placed against them. and they were con-
victed on the score OF robbery. Because he
resisted arrest and shot Reiner, Tracy got
| the longer sentence, receiving twenty years
| to Merrills thirteen.
| Before he was taken to the Penitentiary
| Tracy secured revolver from his wife. a
! sister of Merrilrs, who visited him in jail
in the guise of his fiance. With this he
| held up his jaier and would have escaped
| but that the formers assistant arrived at
| the instant and disarmed Tracy.
PALS PUT TO WORK
I IN PENITENTi4RY.
every guard in sight The guards took to
| cover.
. The conytcts then seized a ladder, which
they had in readiness. and placed 1t TO the
| wall. Meantime life prisoner by the name
| of Ingraham attempted to prevent them ac-
colnplishing an escape. He was shot in the
leg for his pains and has since been par
| doned
Bullets rained about them. but they scaled
| the wall and jumped down to the open
| ground outside. Two guards ran out of the
| ftant prison entrance in order to cut on
| III convicts.
Tracy and Merrill covered them with the
| rifles. The desperadoes were known dead
shots and the guards dropped their arms.
Using the guards as cover they retreated
from the prison. But the guards on the in
v:cts intended that the captured guards be
| hostages. and when the firing was kept up
from the prison they fired on their captives.
Guard B. F. Tiffany fell. dying instantly.
and the other guard, Ross by name, feigned
death and escaped uninjured.
FUGITIvE's TRAIL IS
LOST IN FOREST.
The fleeing bandit-murderers gained the
outskirts or Salem. which is small town,
surrounded by mountainous forest. They
took to the woods. and posses could not
find their trail
At 10 o'clock that night citizen OF Salem
on his way home through the woods was
held up by them and robbed of his cloth
ing. which the men divided between them.
They so frightened this man that he did
not report having seen them for several
days They next stole horses and started
! north for the Washington State line.
Then began the famous flight Next day
, a posse of fifty men surrounded them near
Cervais, Ore. 1t was in thick woods, and
the convicts. woodman fashion, hid behind
trees and took snapshots at the posse
men. But the fifty were not confident, and
awaited re-enforcements. Two companies
of the National Guard were ordered out to
assist the fifty citizens. On the morning of
| June u Merrill and Tracy broke through
the Gordon set around them by militia and
police. They continued on their way north.
and day later bought tobacco at New Era,
| Ore.
Bloodhounds were put on their trail. But
| Tracy devised the simple plan of throwing
red pepper on his trail. A sniff of the pep
| per and the hounds were useless. The
!
! pursuit for day or so longer Then they
| gave it up and returned TO the cities. forced
| to admit that fully 500 soldiers and police
| men had failed to capture two mountaineer
| convicts.
J STATE OF WASHINGTON
THROWN INTO TURMOIL
| On June 16 the men entered the State Of
| Washington, and from that time to this the
whole State has been in turmoil. Tho
convicts robbed several persons in Clark
| County and Sheriff Marsh undertook to
| make the capture. A fight followed In the
| woods. near Vancouver. Possemen received
| slight wounds but that was the sum total
| Of the results. After the fight the tra'l
| was again lost.
| During the remainder Of June Sherin
| Marsh, with bloodhounds, was attempting
| tn end the exploits Of the convicts. 1t was
| unavailing.
| After July Tracy doomed into the lone
| individual desperado-hero. his prowess even
commanding sympathy.
| Merrill disappeared. Whenever, after tnat
time. there was report Of robbery and pill
| lage, one man was the cause, and the man
was Tracy It was reported that the Two
| had separated, but 1t is now thought that
| Tracy killed him The latter MADE that
| boast to a farmer W aom he had neio up
| TRACY BOASTS OF
KILLING MERRILL.
"I killed Merrill because he was losing
his nerve" said Tracy.
At this stage Tracy's acts took on the
ttnge of the marvellous and spectacular
Things which he did seem absolutely impos-
sible-beyond the pale of one mans power
| of achievement
On the morning of July he appeared at
the oyster beds at South Bay, near Seattle.
He walked into the tent of man named
Adair. Four men were there. He demand
ed breakfast. watching its preparation with
his rifle ready for instant use When the
meal was cooked he lined the four on the
opposite side of the table. ate with one hand
and held the Winchester in the other.
Having eaten heartily. he captured gas
I oline launch. The craft was commanded by n
Captain Clark and his son. The Clarks
came ashore and went to the tent only to
i