Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1902-10-27


fell, this time one of the pursuing
party being shot by his own friends
in mistake for one of the outlaws.
While the pursuit still was making a
dragnet search through the swamps,
the fugitives, travelling with incredible
swiftness, made their way 100 miles
north to the line of the Northern Pa
cific railroad, which connects Port
land with Puget Sound.
AT this point in the flight Tracy and
Merrill were known to have been to-
eether, but when Tracy next was heard
OF he was alone and in the close neigh
borhood of Olympia A few days later
the dead body of Merrill was found
further back on the trail with a bull
let wound in his back.
After this discovery, the facts of
the killing Of Merrill came out in the
boasting of Tracy, who said he had
killed him as he had suspected Mer-
rill of having betrayed him at Port
land They had agreed, he said. TO
duel, the strange conditions of which
showed in striking manner the ma
ture OF the outlaw.
According to Tracy the quarrel
arose over the fact that Merrill was
rated as his equal in newspaper re-
ports of the escape and flight, and as
he held Merrill to be the inferior,
they had come to words and agreed
to fight. They were to walk, back to
back, certain number of PAGES and
then turn and fire, but Tracy, fearing
treachery on MerrilPs part, stopped
short of the agreed number of steps,
and, turning, deliberately shot the 9TH
er in the back.
At Olympia Tracy visited fishing
camp in the neighborhood and held up
the camp, making five men prisoners
and pressing into his service a naph-
tha launch which lay at anchor there,
leaving two Of his prisoners tied up
on the shore while the others were
compelled to man the launch and take
him out toward Tacoma. The launch
crew gave the alarm as soon as he
departed, and Tracy within few
hours was trailed to a clump Of tim
Der.
The sheriff of the county, Edward
Cudihee, a noted man-hunter, was alb
sent, but his chief deputy Jack" Will
liams, took UP the pursuit, and with
a posse surrounded Tracy's retreat,
only to have the outlaw slip through
his fingers after having added one
more murder to the list by the killing
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wounding Williams himself.
When Tracy renewed his flight
bloodhounds again were put on his
track, but the crafty outlaw had pro-
vided himself with red pepper, and
this he strewed over the ground as
he passed, with the result that the
dogs had their noses filled with pep
per and were thrown off the scent,
until Tracy had. time to get to water
where he obliterated his trail effec-
tually
Cudihee took up the hunt when he
learned of the disastrous defeat Of his
deputies, and promptly with the return
of the Sheriff, Gov. Mcbride of Wash
ington ordered out the Washington
National Guard and set 200 soldiers
on the chase in addition to the numer-
GUS bands of county and state officers
who already were hot on the murder
er's heels
The story of the pursuit of the out
law after this is a long and exciting
one, only few incidents can be Civ
en- here. Tracy was run to earth on
July 10 in thicket near Covington
on Green river, but when the pursuers
were sure they had him he burst
through the lines. and after two in
terchanges of shots slipped away, leav-
ing one wounded deputy behind him.
The trail then was lost for two
days, and when picked up called for
another outing for the bloodhounds
and Indian trackers, but with the
same results. Then Tracy was lost
for four days, till an old-time criminal
seeking a share in the reward in
formed the sheriff's officers that Tracy
had submitted TO surgical operation
performed by one of his companions
with a razor, but the nature of the
wound that was so treated was not
known. There was a long break in
the hunt thereafter, and it was but a
few days ago that he was heard from
moving toward. the point in eastern
Washington where he was run down.
Tracy's real name, or at least the
name of his father, is said to have
been Carr. AS boy of IL years in
1890 he was arrested in Dillon Mon
where he spent his boyhood for steal
ing keg of beer, and his record ever
since has been criminal. In 1897 he
appeared in Cache county, Utah, in
company with robber named Dave
Liant and the two together commit
ted many thefts, the burglary of a
store in Cache county finally causing
the arrest Of both and their conviction
and sentence to the Utah penitentiary
for terms of eight years.
Tracy escaped by taking a revolver
away from guard and marching the
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