Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1902-10-22
OUTLAW TRACY'SCAREE
MOST REMARKABLE MAN HUNT ~
THE ANNALS OF CRIME.

L
| tended Over Two States - A Powerful
Man Though Of Very Slight Buil0.
The death Of outlaw Tracy by A'
own hands ends perhaps the most se'
markable man hunt in the annale 'of
crime, and closes life and death
chase which lasted without cessation
for So days and extended over the
greater part of two states.
Since June last Tracy, hunted by
Indian trackers, bloodhounds, hun
dreds of authorized officers of the law,
the state troops of Washington, and
unnumbered volunteer bands Of v1gi-
lantes, with price on his head that
amounted to a fortune, Travelled over
about fifteen hundred miles Of wild
country, and deiied capture to the
last.
From the moment of his daring es-
cape from the Oregon state peniten-
tiary to his last stand in the swamps
of Lincoln county, near the eastern
border of Washington, he killed
| six officers of the law, slew Ills
fellow fugitive, David Merrill. in
duel fought wkile men and hounds
wero On his heels, wounded nearly a
dozen other officers of pursuing par
ties, and terrorized the people of two
| states.
Living on the country he passed
through, Tracy rode down stolen
horses without number, robbed farm
e.-s of food, clothing, and money need
ed for his flight; crossed and re-
crossed rivers, hiding when he could
and fighting when too hard pressed.
Six times he shot his way through
pursuing parties which surrounded
him, and struggled on in his desperate
race against death for liberty.
The criminal exploits of Frank and
! Jesse James, the Younger Bros. Muir
rell and all the horde of desperate
outlaws of the west pale beside the
determined daring and reckless cour-
age of the Oregon convict
On the morning of June 8 Tracy,
then serving sentence of 20 years
Imprisonment for robbery and shoot
ing sheriff's officer who had attempt
ed to arrest him, made his successful
dash for freedom from the Salem pris-
on, aided by his fellow-criminal, David
Merrill, who was serving term of
13 years for completely in the robbery
Of which Tracy was convicted.
That there was aid for the two des-
perate men from the outside is GER
tain, for on the morning of the day of
| their escape, two repeating rifles were
left in the jail corridors, where Tracy
and Merrill easily could reach them
as they marched with the other pris-
oners from their cells to their days
work
Tracy believed all along that Mer-
rill, who first was arrested for the rob-
berries they both committed at Port
land in February, 1899, had betrayed
him to the officers of the law, but nev.
ertheless he consented to plot with
Merrill to break prison, and their plans
were carefully made.
AS they passed the guns left for
them each seized weapon and made
rush for the walls around the peni.
tentiary. The guards attempted to
stop them, and Tracy, dead shot,
killed Guard F. B. Farrell and wound
ed Frank Ingraham, life convict who
attempted to aid the guards.
Then, in the face of heavy fire
from other guards, Tracy and Merrill
raised ladder and escaped over the
wall, stopping long enough to return
the fire directed at them, third shot
from Tracy's rifle killing iuard S. B.
T. Jones. Then the escaping des-
peradoes made rush for the prison
outer gate, where they encountered
two other guards, whom they made
prisoners, meaning to keep them as
hostages should the other guards not
cease firing.
The latter, however, kept up the
hail of bullets. and Tracy. who had
compelled his captives to walk before
him, shot dead B. F. Tiffany, while
Merrill fired at the second captive,
who dropped, and. pretending to have
been hit, escaped. Then both escaped.
Twenty guards from the prison were
sent in pursuit, and from that begin.
ming grew the famou: chase which
| closed with so dramati, setting.
Eiuding their pursuers, tho two out.
laws captured an involuntary host,
]. w. Stewart whom they made ex-
change clothes with them, and also
pressed into service an eXpressman
whose attire they likewise appropriat-
| ed.
Both Stewart and the expressman
were held captive until the next day,
when after having spent comfortable
night and been we'll fed, the fugitives
stole two horses from another Salem
resident and started for the north.
On the second dag Of the pursuit
bloodhounds were pressed into service
and the chase grew hot Within a day
there was set on the heads of the fugi-
tive pair a price of $4,000. Neither of
the bandits was heard of for some
days, till, at a place called Gervals
! they further altered their attire by
robbing a man named Roberts Of his
| clothing.
A Gordon of several hundred men
were thrown around Gervais, but
Tracy and his companion easily broke
through after an interchange of shots.
The fugtives next were heard of six
days after the escape, on June is,
when they held up a boatman and
compelled him to row them across the
Columbia river. The impressed boat
| man landed the runaway convicts In
Washington near Vancouver, formerly
| the home of Merrill, where they un-
doubtedly expected to find friends and
| shelter.
Again bloodhounds were put on the
+.o;l Int hofora tha ont1o >hra,,,