The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1902-06-13
KILL GUARDS
and ESCAPE
OREGON PENITENTIARY THE
SCENE or BLooDsHED.
GUNS WERE STRUGGLED IN
Two Escaped Men Surrounded i,
Timber-Their Recapture or
Death Almost Certain.

Oedtn AJmoSt CERTAIN.
Salem, Ore, June 1.-TWO desper
ate prisoners, Harry Tracy. sentenc
ed to 20 years, and David Merrill,
13-year man, serving sentences TO,
assault and robbery from Multnomal
county, made an outbreak from thu
p~enitentiary this morning, after kill
ing three guards, Frank Terrell, shol
guard, S. R. Jones and B. F. Tiffany
fence men.
The prisoners had just marched in
to- the foundry for work at Z a. m.
when Tracy suddenly appeared arm
ed with a rifle, shot Guard Terrell
killing him almost instantly. Ingram
a life prisoner, attempted to take the
rife from Tracy, when Merrill shot
Ingram through the leg, shattering
it. Other prisoners were forced at
the point of a pistol to take the ladder
to the wall, when the two armed men
escaped.
Getting outside they shot Guard
Jones dead at a distance of $50 yards.
Guard Tiffany, after being wounded,
jumped the fence and followed the
men, shooting at them, when they
killed him.
The prisoners then escaped into the
woods.
A posse of 40 men is out after the
prisoners and have trailed them to
the woods half way between Salem
and the reform school. The men are
desperate and a battle is expected.
The posse is led by Sheriff F. W.
Durbin, Sheriff-elect B. B. Goliath and
officers from the prison.
The prisoners are armed with two
rifles and two revolvers.
The arms r believed to have been
thrown over the stockade Sunday night
by friends among excursionists who
came from Portland.
Ingram, the wounded prisoner, was
sentenced from Linn county for kill
ing his brother in 1891.
Prisoners employed in the foundry
We're scheduled to go to work at Z
O'Clock and had entered the moulding
room with the shop guard, Terrell in
side. and Guard Stapleton in an adj
joining Dom Suddenly, without
warning, Tracy and Merrill appeared
with rifles. Tracy aimed at Terrell,
when Ingram, a life prisoner, at
tempted to- reach and disarm Tracy.
1nstantly@Merrill shot Ingram and
Tracy killer Terrell, the latter falling
forward, dying almost instantly.
The prisoners. Tracy and Merrill
at once made for the Nsll near the |
northeast corner stockade, where.they !
scaled the walls by means of a lad
der. When outside the wall Guard
Jones, on the northwest corner of the
stockade, was killed, having been shot
twice in the abdomen and breast. Tiff
fanny was also shot and he dropped off
the fence, engaging the fugitives in a
fight. His gun was soon empty and
he was taken by the escapes and used
as a shield while they made for the
timber.
When out of range of the prison
they stopped and deliberately killed
Tiffany, escaping into the timber i'm
mediately. They had taken Tiffany's
gun, but finding it empty, threw it
away. Duncan Ross, a new guard,
was on the fence near Tiffany, having
been ordered to. relieve the latter at
his post. Ross was unarmed and the
escapes shot at him, one bullet strik-
ing him in the forehead, inficting a
slight scalp wound.
A large force of men is now out
for the escapes, who are
to be in the timber between
the prison and reform school, and as
they are desperate, a battle is expect
ed before they are secured. The pris-
on authorities offer $1,000 reward for
the capture of the prisoners. The
three guards killed have families.
Great excitement prevails in this city
and scores of men are leaving for the
woods armed and determined to run
the m%urederers down. A farmer has
reported that he saw the es-
capes in the woods near the reform
school. four miles south of this city.
Tracy Is a Desperate Man.