Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1902-06-13
CONVICTS ESCAPE
SHOOT THREE OREGON PENt-
TENTiARY GUARDS.
A Life Prisoner lntcrvenes and Is Shot In the
lss-Both Men Are Desperate Criminals
They Are Well Armed With Rifles and
Revolvsrs and Have Plenty Of Ammuni.
tion-Larse Posse In Pursuit.

SolCW, JULIO IV.-E1dTTS tracy
and David Merrill, convicts, escaped
from the Penitentiary at Z o'clock
yesterday morning and made their
way to liberty. leaving murdered be-
hind them Guards F. B. Ferrell, S. R.
T. Jones and B. F. Tiffany. while
Frank Inghram, convict, who tried
to bar their road, was shot in the
knee which was So badly shattered
as to require amputation. He Is now
resting easily, and strong hopes are
entertained for his recovery. Clad in
their prison garb, well armed and pro-
vided with ammunition. the men are
now lurking in the woods not far
from town, and, although hundreds of
citizens have recruited the posses that
are searching for them, they have
thus far eluded pursuit.
The convicts. who are professional
criminals of the most dangerous type,
had secured rifles and revolvers Sat
urday or Sunday. probably from some
confederate previously released from
the Penitentiary who had smuggled
the weapons in. The men working in
the stove foundry, among whom were
Tracy and Merrill, had just been
marched In from the chapel and were
about to report to work to Ferrell,
when Frank Girard, another guard,
heard a rife shot, and, looking quick
ly In the direction from which It
came, saw Ferrell dead and the two
thugs, both armed with new rifles,
approaching him. Girard, like all
shop guards, was unarmed, and he in
stantly took to flight, running for his
life down the center aisle of the build
ing. while his pursuers gained on
him at every step. Suddenly Frank
Inghram, a life prisoner from Linn
county, seeing the peril In which the
guard was placed. stepped out and
endeavored to stop the highwaymen-
Tracy stopped long enough to fire a
shot at him.
Before reaching the yard Tracy and
Merrill again brought their murder
GUS rifles into play. First they rid
died the extreme southwest and
northwest guard posts, but fortunately:
did not kill man. Then, with a.
single shot at distance of $50 yards,
one Of them brought down Jones, who
was On the wall in charge of the north
post. AS the guard fell dead they
turned and took several shots at Tiff
fany and Ross, guards on the north
wall.
Then, believing that they had sufi-
ciently cowed their keepers, they
coo1ly proceeded to take ladder from
one Of the shop buildings, placed it
against the east wall and mounted it
while bullets from guards on more re-
mote parts Of the wall flew thick
about their heads. Tiffany, who had
not lost his nerve at any time during
the fusillade, sent shots repeatedly
after them, but none of them hit it's
mark. and the escaping men in an
oIhCi 1ASCdht udu LuS
wall and disappeared.
Running along to the spot where
the men had crossed, Tiffany and Ross
leaped after them and followed them
around an angle in the wall, where
they met them face to face. Instant
ly the guards were covered and COM
manded to give up their rifles and
cartridges. With the memory of the
murder that had already been done
fresh in their minds, the guards COM
piled and threw their guns and am
munition on the ground. They were
then ordered to stand forth and we're
marched ahead Of the convicts for 100
yards, when guard from one of the
posts fired at the fugitives. They in
stantly returned the fire, and Tiffany
whom one Of them had selected for
target, fell dead with a bullet through
his right breast. Ross Immediately
dropped, and his presence of mind
saved his life, for the men, believing
that he, too, had been killed, paid no
further attention to the shots behind
them and ran for cover.
Cuban Minister Coming.
New York, June 11.-Gonzalo