The Bozeman courier., 1926-09-24
TRACK BOMBER'S
NEMESIS IS GONE
PIONEER DETECTIVE OF Mp.
RAILWAY DIES AT
ST. PAUL
w. j. McFatridge was Given Difficult
Task of Proving Isaac GraveIIe,
Montana Desperate, Dynamited
Railway to Scare Officials


With the death at St. Paul of
w. j. McFetridge, pioneer detec-
tive of the Northern Pacific rail-
Way, passed one of the central fig
ureS in a series of dynamiting
crimes that two decades ago ter
rOriZed all Montana. McFetridCe
was largely instrumental in bring
ing to justice Isaac GravelIe, a
Montana desperate whose attempt
to hold the entire Northern Pa
cific railway system for ransom
of $25,OOO rivals the exploits of
Kid Curry, the James gang and the
Younger brothers,
For months scores of peace Off
GERS engaged in a search for the !
bandit while hundreds of lives were
endangered and thousands of dol |
lars worth of property destroyed
in the series of dynamite outrages
perpetrated by GraVelIe to terrorize
railroad officials.
|. The plan of forcing the railroad to
pay over $4,000 under threat of des-
troying it's property was conceived in
the Montana state prison at Deer
Lodge by Harry Wilton, a convict,
and was carried out by Gravelle, Will
tons cellmate, on expiration of his
sentence. Included in the crimes Of
Gravelle during his reign of terror
was the dynamiting of a street car
, from Columbia Gardens at Butte
which was blown a short distance
from where the car tracks crossed
!, the Northern Pacific. While occupants
of the street car were uninjured, the
explosion caused intense excitement
, in Butte.
t Ransom Demanded in Letters
r The bold plan of Wilton and Gra-
2 velle was put in operation in the
2 latter part of July, 1908, when the
= following letter and two identified
= copies, mailed from different post
t offices, were received at headquart-
q ers of the Northern Pacific railroad
e at st. Paul:
= "July 16. Board of Directors, N.
P. R. r. company. Dear Sir: We
4 write you this letter to notify you
+ we hold the Northern Pacific for
n twenty-five ($25,OOOO) ransom and
h if necessary we will destry your rail
q road property until the same is paid.
We will give you fifteen days from
s date to think this matter over and
if at the expiration of that time
you have decided to comply with our
!, demands you can notify us of your
- decision in the following way: Tie a
!, piece of white cloth to the draw
y head of the last coach of each o1
= your passenger trains running be-
D tween st. Paul, Mimi, and Spokane
= Wash. Carry this signal until you are
u notified how to deliver the money
- if necessary will destroy your rail
: days from date you have not car.
ried the signal mentioned above, We
- will begin destroying your railroad
:, property and will continue to do Sc
- until the signal is carried. We wisI
to assure you that we mean busines.
IL and are willing to go the limit tt
gain our ends if it is necessary tt
lie destroy your property to bring yoI
to terms, the danger will be of
le serious nature. And as we do no
le care to be held alone responsible
Of for the possible loss of lives, we viii
IN notify the travelling public through
" the leading newspapers that we hole
n your road for ransom and until tn,
e. matter is settled travelling will b.
7e dangerous; we only ask for a yer,
ly small part of what rightfulIy belong
ir to us and when you people settle III
10 we will call it square.
ey Believed Work of Crank
n Hereafter give the working mai
e, more Justice and you will avoid thi
is kind of trouble. If we have to go Il
a extremes in this matter we will in
crease the amount of ransom. Thi
letter must be delivered with tn
money. Yours truly (There wa
no signature to the letter.
su The Northern Pacific officials. be
- l1eVing the letter the work of som
ai crank, paid no attention to it, bu
II they were rudely awakened at tn
y expiration Of fifteen days when tn
u huge Livingston bridge across tn
- Yellowstone was dynamited. The
" followed in rapid succession a serie
" of explosions at widely separate
~ points on the road. Much propert
- "a was destroyed, people were terrorize
90 and finally large force Of specis
officers was organized in an effoI
. to apprehend the bandits.
Whole Line is Guarded.
This condition continued for 90
eral months, during which time I'll
railroad and state officers snare
no efforts to run down the dyn,
miters. Guards and trackwalke
were posted one to each mile ,
track between Livingston and Ga
rison and finally early one morni1
in October a track guard, % mil
west of Helena, saw man diggir
beside the track. He fired at ii
man, who fled. Helena headouarte
was notified of the incident and
party headed by James Keown, vete
an railroad detective, were soon
the trail. Keown followed the fu
tive to Priests pass roadhouse al
there arrested the man, who VI
Gravelle.
Kills Self When Driven to Bay
McFetridge was given the diff
cult task of proving Gravelle's co
8 nection with the dynamiting viii
he did with such success that Il
man was convicted and sentenc,
to 10 years in prison.