8657 
 '95 s^ 
 
 V 
 
 ^■ 
 
 Sensational Prison "Rscapes Prom 
 The Oregon State Penitentiary
 
 I 
 
 i 
 
 SENSATIONAL 
 
 PRISON 
 ESCAPES 
 
 FIIOM THE 
 
 STATE PENITENTIARY 
 
 Price 25 Cents 
 Bv Prisoner No. WSf) 
 
 I 
 
 i 
 
 ORE(J()N I 
 
 4 . 
 
 w I M ^«»— «—— »y
 
 1 I 
 
 SOUVENIRS 1 
 
 AND CURIOS I 
 
 Made by Prisoners during spare time j 
 and sold at prices extremely low j 
 
 SILVER WORK j 
 
 BUTTER KNIVES. PAPER KNIVES, NAIL ! 
 
 FILES, BUTTON HOOKS, RINGS. 
 
 BUCKLES, SPURS, 
 
 BRIDLE BITS, 
 
 Handsomely Engraved and Inlaid with 
 Mother of Pearl 
 
 I 
 
 HAIR GOODS 
 
 HAT BANDS, BELTS. FOBS, CHAINS. 
 
 For prices address 
 
 THOMAS LOTISSO, 
 
 Rt. 6, Box 1, Salem, Oregon. 
 
 i i
 
 ■^\■
 
 SENSATIONAL 
 PRISON 
 
 ESCAPES 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 OREGON 
 
 STATE PENITENTIARY 
 
 Price 25 cents 
 
 Hv Prisoner No. ()48r) 
 
 • « , •
 
 INTRODUCTORY 
 
 HERE are but few events that arouse pub- 
 lic interest to a hio-her pitch than an es- 
 cape from the penitentiary. The oflarin.e 
 headlines of the daily press. makin.sr the most of 
 sensational news, thrills the reader with a feeling 
 akin to fear, and yet. in many cases arouses a sort 
 of sentimental sympathy for the underdog, and ad- 
 miration for the man with nerve enough to stake 
 his life for a fling at the fortune wheel of liberty. 
 
 c County jail escapes are frequent enough to 
 
 2 cause but little comment outside of the particular 
 ^ community effected, but an escape from the States' 
 « stronghold well, that is a different matter, cor- 
 2 responding with the difference between night and 
 s day. While it is true that most escapes from all 
 S State penitentiaries are made bv trusties (men who 
 ^ work outside the walls without immediate guards, 
 and simply walk away from the job) yet occasion- 
 ally a prisoner with an overgrown bump of ingen- 
 uity and daring will carry out a carefully prepared 
 scheme, the result of much study and planning 
 that would do credit to an army general or a Na- 
 poleon of finance. And even if captured eventually, 
 as he usually is, he is generally accorded a certain 
 amount of respect by other inmates and officials 
 alike. Plowever that does not deter the culprit 
 
 li910()8
 
 from servinj? an extra amount of time for his ill- 
 advised caper. 
 
 The "walk-away," or common garden va- 
 riety of escape is of no consequence as they are 
 usually returned in a few hours or days at the 
 most. It is the sensational escapes, brought to a 
 climax by the man of daring and courageous ability, 
 that will be related in the following pages which 
 will be found of more or less interest to all read- 
 ers. 
 
 There is one thing noticeable that should not 
 pass without mention. During the past year, up 
 to this date, (September 1921 to September 1922) 
 not an escape or walk-away has occurred from this 
 prison- a most remarkable record indeed, when it 
 is remembered that all previous years have given 
 an average of one per month. This prison has had 
 many wardens and other officials in its time, but 
 to the present administration. Warden J. W. Lewis, 
 Deputy E. C. Halley, and Principal Keeper A. L. 
 Kendall must be given credit for a record that is 
 remarkable. Gangs working outside have been 
 just as numerous, there are as many or more 
 trusties, and no privileges have been curtailed — 
 opportunities have not been lacking, yet the in- 
 mates stick. The reason? Well, that is a book of 
 itself, the title of which might read, "Humane vs. 
 Brutal Prisons."
 
 THE TRACY-MERRILL 
 ESCAPE 
 
 N THE 22nd day of March. 1899, Harry 
 Tracy, prison number 4088, and David 
 Merrill, prison number 4089, were re- 
 ceived at the Oregon State Penitentiary from 
 Multnomah County, where they were sentenced 
 for assault and robbery. 
 
 Tracy was born in Wisconsin; was twenty- 
 four years of age, 5 feet 8i inches in height, and 
 had previously served a term in the Utah State 
 Penitentiary. 
 
 Merrill was a native of Washington, age 28, 
 height 5 feet 81 inches, with a previous record in 
 the Oregon State Penitentiary as number 2314. 
 
 Tracy was under sentence of twenty years 
 and Merrill thirteen years. Their escape was 
 made on the 9th day of June, 1902, just three 
 years and 77 days after their arrival. So much 
 for prison statistics.
 
 10 
 
 Their conduct as prisoners was bad and only 
 a short time after their receipt they began to cause 
 the prison officials constant trouble, and are said 
 to have been ironed with "Oregon boots" and 
 closely watched. The escape which took place on 
 the morning of the date named followed an excur- 
 sion to Salem on the day before, during which the 
 party or parties who placed the guns and ammuni- 
 tion in the moulding room are supposed to have 
 reached Salem, and under cover of darkness scaled 
 the prison walls and placed them where they were 
 found by Tracy. Only someone who v^-as familiar 
 with the prison and knew its inside workings and 
 Tracy's place in the moulding room could have 
 succeeded in escaping the guard patrol and 
 have carried out the plans so well. That the 
 escape was well planned is evident. Tracy for 
 some time prior to the escape had been studying a 
 map of Oregon and thoroughly familiarized him- 
 self with roads, trails, towns, etc., on the route 
 over which he afterward passed. That he had been 
 expecting outside help for sometime is shown by 
 the fact that for several weeks prior to that 
 memorable morning he would, upon entering the 
 moulding room to begin work, hasten at once to 
 his floor and search among the boxes and under 
 the dust paper with which it was supplied. Al- 
 
 •^^^^^'^^m^^
 
 11 
 
 though no particular attention was paid to his ac- 
 tions at the time, after his escape they were re- 
 called and spoken of by prisoners who worked on 
 adjoining: floors. Tracy and his associate in the 
 escape, Merrill, were cellmates and were also em- 
 ployed on the same floor. It is supposed they in- 
 duced some ex-convict with whom they had been 
 familiar, to return and bring the firearms with 
 which they made their escape. A year or two 
 later it developed that a former convict, Charles 
 Monte by name, who served time with Tracy and 
 Merrill, and was quite intimate with them, had 
 made the boast that he was the party who had 
 scaled the walls and placed guns and amunition in 
 a place previously designated where they would 
 eventually be found by the right parties. Monte 
 was arrested, tried and convicted, and on July 15, 
 1905, was sentenced to life imprisonment. His 
 boasting nature and desire to show off" as a "bad 
 man from Bitter Creek," fell to zero when a life 
 jolt was handed him, and at the time much doubt 
 was expressed as to his ability and nerve to pull 
 off such a stunt. To know the man, nothing but 
 a boastful, whining mongrel, was to immediately 
 become convinced that he was uttei'ly incapable of 
 such a deed of daring. However he was kept in 
 confinement over nine years before he was re-
 
 12 
 
 leased, a sadder but not much wiser man. 
 
 To describe the escape by all the reports 
 which have been given by "eye witnesses" would 
 be a big task. What follows is about as near the 
 truth as is possible to get it from the maze of con- 
 flicting stories told: 
 
 Prisoners were counted as they lined up to 
 march to the shops. The count had just been 
 made. Tracy and Merrill were at or near the head 
 of the line which contained something like 150 pris- 
 oners. As they entered the moulding room Tracy 
 went at once to his floor, as was his custom, and 
 searching there found the guns. Taking up a SO- 
 SO Winchester he threw the lever and raising it to 
 his shoulder fired at and killed the moulding room 
 guard. Mr. Ferrell, who was standing with his 
 back towards him just a short distance away. Mr. 
 Ferrell, who was pacing, as was his custom, on 
 the walk leading to the other departments, lived 
 only an instant after being shot. Tracy, reloading 
 his rifle, is said to have went toward the murdered 
 gaurd far enough to note the efi'ect of his shot, and 
 then, with Merrill, who had secured the other rifle 
 to assist him, he ordered the other prisoners into 
 an opposite part of the moulding room. He then 
 went to a window facing on the front yard and be- 
 gan firing at the guards in post number one. After
 
 13 
 
 firing several shots he and Merrill made their way 
 through into the front shops. After passing 
 through an alleyway leading into the adjoining 
 department they were encountered by a prisoner 
 who was shot, it is said, in trying to wrest the gun 
 from Tracy's hands. After this shooting they 
 made their way through the front shop and secur- 
 ing a ladder in the carpenter shop, came out on 
 the opposite side of the shops and facing the west 
 "all. As they emerged from the building, screened 
 by piles of old boxes then standing there, and 
 which served as a shield, they began firing at the 
 guards occupying towers commanding a view of 
 that portion of the yard. Mr. Tiffany, who had 
 been occupying the northeast corner tower, had 
 been transferred to a position as turnkey in the 
 warden's office, was present on the wall explain- 
 ing guard duties to his successor, Mr. Ross, when 
 the shooting began. As the outlaws emerged from 
 the shop and commenced to fire from their hidden 
 position behind the boxes, Mr. Ross, to whom 
 he had handed his rifle, was struck by one 
 of the shots and knocked from the wall path on 
 which the guards patrol. Mr. Tiffany, to secure 
 the gun which had fallen to the ground, jumped 
 from the wall, intending to secure it and return to 
 guard that portion of the wall. In the meantime
 
 14 
 
 Tracy and Merrill, supposing- most likely that they 
 had killed or badly wounded the guards in the va- 
 cant toA^er, but unable to sihnce the rifle fire from 
 the tower on their right, turned to the left, and 
 still keeping behind the boxes which screened 
 them made their way towards the north wall. Oc- 
 casionally the guard would see them as they pas- 
 sed through an opening, but although he fired 
 several shots and stood bravely on the wall, ex- 
 posed to a dangerous rifle fire, could not get a suc- 
 cessful shot. 
 
 After reaching the end of the shop buildings 
 the outlaws turned, and still protected by a cor- 
 ner of the building around which they passed, 
 crossed to the wall. As they reached it, placing 
 the ladder, one of them stood guard while the 
 other passed to the top of the wall. In nearing 
 the wall they had come out in plain sight of the 
 guard occupying the northwest corner tower. 
 This guard, Mr, Jones, who was killed, looking 
 for the escapes els where and guarding the front 
 portion of the prison yard, was watching in a 
 partly exposed position, and is said to have been 
 shot from the wall. 
 
 Reaching the ground on the outside of the 
 enclosure, Tracy and Merrill then turned and fol- 
 lowing along the wall in an easterly direction turn-
 
 15 
 
 ed the corner and came upon two guards who 
 were then making their way back to remount the 
 wall. Before they were seen they had them cov- 
 ered and ordered them to throw up their hands 
 and march. Using them as a shield to protect 
 them from the rifle fire of the guard in the tower 
 they had been unable to silence, and within range 
 of which they had again come, they passed to a 
 position of safety and then ordered the guards to 
 return. As they started to do so Mr. Tiffany was 
 shot in the back and killed in the same cold-blood- 
 ed manner as was Mr. Ferrell. The entire break, 
 from the time the first shot was fired, to Mr. Tif- 
 fany's death did not consume more than ffve min- 
 utes. 
 
 The warden and his assistant, who often 
 stood discussing the day's procedure and details of 
 prison management for some time after the line 
 had passed, were yet standing where they had 
 stood to count when the first firing began. 
 
 Hastening at once to the house, the warden 
 gave the alarm. Guards were armed and sent out 
 and our then deputy warden, Mr. Ad Dilly, armed 
 with a Winchester rifle, ran the full length of that 
 ]jortion of the prison wall leading from the prison 
 buildings to the tower in which guard Jones, whom 
 he had seen fall, lay dying. The escape by this 
 
 A^,
 
 k; 
 
 time had been effected and the outlaws were gone. 
 When particulars of the state of affairs in the 
 moulding room had been obtained (it is said by 
 telephone from the office) a prisoner carrying a flag 
 of truce was sent from the house to the shops to 
 give medical attention, and to also lead the pris- 
 oners back to the house, where they were counted 
 and locked in their cells. 
 
 The wounded prisoner, almost dead from 
 the loss of blood, was carried hastily to tbe hos- 
 pital, where measures were taken to arrest the 
 flow. Afterwards one of his legs, badly shattered 
 by the discharging rifle in his encounter with 
 Tracy, was amputated above the knee, and still 
 later he was pardoned. 
 
 Tracy, who was a dead shot in the exact 
 meaning of the word, set the whole country by the 
 ears, until it was "Tracy mad." With the coolest 
 kind of dime-novel daring he escaped time and 
 again from apparently absolute traps, only to show 
 up a few days later after some new adventure and 
 repeat the performance. 
 
 His trail led through Salem, Portland and 
 Seattle, finaly running eastward toward the Hole- 
 in-the-Wall country, which he never reached. 
 
 All along the way he spread terror among 
 the country-folk, often walking into a farmhouse
 
 17 
 
 behind a gun and demanding food, and in one in- 
 stance icidnaping a swede farmhand whom he held 
 for several days as a personal servant. 
 
 His duel with Merrrill and the slaughter of 
 three men in battle with peace officers and news- 
 paper men near Seattle were the great outstanding 
 features of the chase. About the latter end of 
 June he and Merrill, then together in the State of 
 Washington, had a quarrel of some kind and 
 agreed to fight out their diff'erences with rifies. 
 They -were to walk a certain distance apart and 
 then turn and fire. Tracy did not keep faith with 
 Merrill, and turning, shot and killed him as he was 
 walking away. However, when the body supposed 
 to be Merrill's, whom, report said, Tracy had slain, 
 was brought back to prison, many of the men see- 
 ing it, were quite positive that the remains were 
 thoseof some one else than Merrill. "Bunko Kelly, " 
 who had charge of the bath room for many years, 
 and who had seen Merrill stripped many times, 
 tried to point out the error, but the body was in 
 such decomposition that it was extremely difficult 
 to make positive identification. The question as 
 to the actual killing of Merrill by Tracy will, in all 
 probabilities, remain forever unansv/ered. How- 
 ever, this is getting ahead of the story.
 
 18 
 
 A posse of forty officers was formed and al- 
 most immediately the word was sent out that the 
 escaped convicts were trapped in a wooded place 
 halfway between Salem and the reform school. 
 But not so. That night, while officers watched the 
 woods, the convicts appeared in Salem, stopped J. 
 W. Roberts on the street, took his clothing- and 
 sent him on in his underwear, stole a team and 
 drove away. Bloodhounds were rushed from 
 the penitentiary at Walla Walla, Washington. 
 They came and hounded, but did no greater ser- 
 vice than to encourage the morale of the posses 
 with strenuous baying. 
 
 The following day this word came from Ger- 
 vais. Ore.." "Tracy and Merrill were observed in 
 a wheat field of Ellis Young near the Samuel 
 Brown place at 2:45 this afternoon. Company D 
 of Woodburn has arrived. The guards are closing 
 in. The crisis is at hand.' 
 
 But not so. The next day in the early morn- 
 ing the convicts appeared at the cabin of August 
 King, a woodcutter, living near Gervais. They 
 walked in and took some bread. Tracy didn't eat 
 much. He rolled a cigarette then threw it away 
 in disgust. 
 
 This, of course, gave a new clew, and a 
 posse of 200 started on the trail. Meantime the 
 
 m^
 
 19 
 
 convicts had doubled back, and robbed Dr. C. S. 
 White of a coat and a horse and bug-pfy and disap- 
 peared again. 
 
 The next seen of them vvas near Gervais 
 when Charles Tuh, a guard, saw them climb over 
 a fence. He shot and missed. The men then turn- 
 ed up for breakfast at the home of A. Akers, 
 near Monitor, and again dropped from sight. 
 
 June 13 -The chase was simply a blind 
 search, 
 
 June 14 The posses were called off. 
 
 June 16 -Tracy and Merrill passed through 
 Portland, probably on a trolley, held up three men 
 on the south bank of the Columbia, made them 
 furnish dinner and ferry them across the river to 
 the Washington side. There they held up another 
 farmer, took the clothes off the back of a second 
 rancher whom they bound and gagged and fled in- 
 to the timber back of Vancouver. 
 
 June 17 -In a midnight fight with Bert Bies- 
 ecker and Lon Davis, deputy sheriffs, Biesecker 
 took a bullet through the coat sleeve. It was al- 
 most the only time Tracy ever fired and missed. 
 
 June 18— They appeared at LaCenter. 
 
 June 19 They appeared at a farm house 
 three miles from La Center, demanded food and
 
 20 
 
 disappeared again. About this time the convicts 
 were forced to give way in public interest to King 
 Edward VII of England, whose illness, it was 
 feared, might prevent his coronation. The king 
 got well. 
 
 July 3— Tracy appeared alone near Lake 
 Washington. He told persons whom he forced to 
 serve him with food that he had killed Merrill 
 near Chehalis. 
 
 "I was tired of him, anyhow," he said. 
 
 The same day Tracy ran into a posse that 
 included Deputy Sheriffs Raymond, Bower and 
 Williams, Karl Anderson, then a reporter for the 
 Seattle Times, now assistant managing editor of 
 the San Francisco Chronicle, and Louis B. Sefrit, 
 another newspaperman. The clash occurred two 
 miles from Bothel. 
 
 Tracy killed Raymond, Bower and Williams. 
 
 Anderson fired three shots at Tracy and himself 
 
 escaped death by a miracle. The governor of 
 
 Washington called out the national guard. Two 
 
 days later Tracy forced a Japanese to ferry him 
 
 across from Port Madison and disappeared on a 
 nautical junket on the sound. On Bainbridge Is- 
 land he kidnapped John Anderson, a Swede farm 
 hand and took him along as his personal flunkey. 
 
 ^^^^^^
 
 21 
 
 July 9— Tracy and Merrill were both report- 
 ed surrounded at Orollia. althoup:h Merrill was 
 dead at the time. Again capture seemed certain. 
 But not so. The next day Tracy made a farmer 
 named Johnson go to Tacoma and buy a revolver 
 and some ammunition for him on threat of murder- 
 ing Johnson's whole family. 
 
 July 11— Tracy broke through another cor- 
 don after a hot but bloodless fight near Covington. 
 Hounds found a new trail. It was reported that 
 Merrill had shown up atRavensdaleand that Tracy 
 was organizing a gang which he intended to head as 
 a second Jesse James. 
 
 July 14— Tracy had outwitted his pursuers 
 again and lost himself. A reward of $6,000 was 
 offered. 
 
 July 15 — Merrill's body was found near 
 Chehalis by a woman and her son picking black- 
 berries. 
 
 July 17— Tracy was again reported in a trap 
 — and out again. 
 
 Then for a time Tracy dropped out of the 
 public eye until the nnatter of the Fitzsimmons- 
 Jeffries fight had been settled. 
 
 July 23 Tracy, looking fresh and rested, 
 ate breakfast in the vicinity of Palmer. It was
 
 22 
 
 the first seen of him in days. Apparently he had 
 been resting: and taking in the news of the fight. 
 
 August 1 — Tracy crossed the Columbia into 
 Eastern Washington carrying four guns and 200 
 rounds of ammunition. He was headed for the 
 Hole-in-the-Wall. 
 
 August 5 C. V. Drazon, a farmer living 
 near Odessa, Wash., found this note pinned on his 
 door: "To whom it may concern Tell Mr. Cudi- 
 hee (the sheriff of King County, Washington), to 
 take a tumble and let me alone or I will fix him 
 plenty. I will be on my way to Wyoming. If 
 your horses are good would swap with you. 
 Thanks for a cool drink." 
 
 The next day was the last for Tracy. But 
 they did not take him alive. The first brief flash 
 from Spokane read: "Tracy's race is run. The 
 notorious outlaw killed himself last night by shoot- 
 ing with a revolver." 
 
 He had been wounded in the right leg be- 
 tween the knee and thigh in a battle with a posse 
 under Sheriff Gardner. He committed suicide 
 twenty minutes after being wounded. His body 
 was found at daybreak that morning in a wheat- 
 field, the revolver tightlv grasped in his right 
 hand." 
 
 ^:
 
 Today ye erect your scaffolds, 
 Where tomorrow monuments rise; 
 Today with the rabble ye crucify, 
 Whom tomorrow ye canonize. 
 
 — Frank D. Blue.
 
 CHARLES DROCKER RIDES OUT 
 
 'N MAY, 1915, Charles Drocker, a ye^g, 
 (safe blower) quietly assumed his place in 
 the prison line, having been sent up for a 
 term of ten years from Multnomah county. 
 
 The word "quiet" is used advisedly, as he 
 was the most unostentatious prisoner ever inside 
 prison walls. Almost his sole companion was 
 another yegg, Frank Wagner, with whom he occa- 
 sionally had a word or two. The old "saw" that 
 "still waters run deep, " was realized by the of- 
 ficials in the case of Drocker, to such an extent 
 that he and Wagner were kept in the dungeon at 
 intermittent periods, seemingly more for safe 
 keeping than anything else, as the trumped up 
 charges of misconduct were more of an excuse 
 than reality. However subsequent events proved 
 the officials were laboring under no false theories 
 so far as both of these men were concerned, but 
 they could not go on forever putting men in the 
 dungeon without more reason than mere sus- 

 
 25 
 
 picion, so they were released in the yard. But 
 Urocker did not tarry for lon^. 
 
 One day in June, 1916, Drocker failed to show 
 up for the noon count, and instinctively the of- 
 ficials knew that Charley had taken short leave. 
 But how could a man make an escape from a prison 
 yard in broad daylight with five hundred convicts 
 swarming about? That was a genuine mystery. 
 
 Search was immediately instituted by the 
 full official force, and not a hole was there left un- 
 explored: not a board that was left undisturbed— 
 but no Drocker. For two days and nights the 
 search continued without surcease, but to no avail. 
 Finally it became noised about that he had crawled 
 underneath an automobile truck which was unload- 
 ing at the kitchen door, and went out with the ma- 
 chine right from under the nose of a guard not ten 
 feet away, dropping to the ground outside, no one 
 knows where. He was not heard from until a year 
 or two later when word came from France that he 
 had received numerous wounds and as many dec- 
 orations for bravery in the late war. 
 
 One curious feature of the foregoing escape 
 that can be fully appreciated only by prison in- 
 mates, is, that more than a score of men in the 
 yard claimed to have seen Drocker go under the 
 
 -e«^^^S3B8»»..
 
 26 
 
 automobile. In view of the fact that one or more 
 of that number would have "snitched," (to use a 
 prison term, meaning informed on him) it is a fore- 
 gone conclusion that Charley got away with not 
 more than one, possibly two, witnesses. When a 
 man starts in telling his friends goodbye before 
 leaving, he finds himself forestalled by the officials, 
 for some one is sure to scatter the news. 
 
 -G^gg^^^^^d*.
 
 Run along, I've no time for a quitter; 
 I have troubles enough and to spare, 
 And the prizes of life only go to the man 
 Who is ready to do and dare. 
 
 — No. 3117, Auburn Prison
 
 WHEN I GO OUT 
 
 be to me tender, leaves that wait outside 
 
 This sullen wall, and keep inviolate. 
 Until I come to you with love-dumb lips 
 
 From out of this dull tenement of hate; 
 
 Out of the fresh breathing of the earth 
 To draw allayment of my rasping fear. 
 
 My woundings and my frettings, till my mind 
 Is soothed by winds that draw like nurses near, 
 
 To tend me on my bed of living grass 
 And all the hush of spring shall by my cover; 
 
 The hills shall stand as guards about my peace; 
 And the audacious sun shall be my lover 
 
 When I go out roads of all the world! 
 
 Beauty, fields and cities, do not fail! 
 Wait, strong friends, my coming — let my heart 
 
 Once more drink glory on a careless trail! 
 
 — Charles Ashley, Leavenworth Prison. 
 
 *:
 
 CLARKE GOES OVER THE TOP 
 
 lEORGE CLARKE was another of those 
 quiet, unobtrusive men who slip along: 
 throug-h life without attracting: much at- 
 tention, except when caught in the act. Of pow- 
 erful build, even disposition and courageous nature, 
 Clarke was ready at all times to meet most any 
 emergency that might arise. 
 
 During the rainy spring of 1916, George was 
 employed with quite a large gang of men who were 
 clearing land outside the walls under gun guard. 
 This gang were all housed on a lower tier of the 
 south cell house, and at night on coming in from 
 work, were allowed to hang their wet clothing on 
 the steam radiators along the wall across the cor- 
 ridor from their cells. At night only two guards 
 are on duty in the cell wings, and as the regular 
 counts were made, it was an easy matter to keep 
 track of the position of the guards. 
 
 One Sunday afternoon Clarke asked permis- 
 sion to remain in his cell instead of going out in 
 the yard with the other prisoners. During his lay-
 
 30 
 
 in he sawed the bars of his cell door from the in- 
 side until they almost severed. Then tearing- up 
 a blanket or two, he made quite a length of strong 
 rope, after which he stretched himself on his bunk 
 for a quiet nap, knowing he would have no time 
 for sleep during- the succeeding forty-eight hours. 
 In the meantime during the preceeding week, and 
 shielded by clothing hanging on the radiators, he 
 had, a little at a time, succeeded in severing one of 
 the outside window bars, smearing the fresh cut 
 with tobacco juice and dirt so that it would not be 
 readily noticed during the day. 
 
 After the twelve o'clock count on this partic- 
 ular night, Clarke arose and pressing his face close 
 to the bars of his cell door, had no difficulty in de- 
 termining the exact time the guards were making 
 the count in the north wing. Then he got busy. 
 Grasping the bars, sawed at one end, with his pow- 
 erful hands, he had no difficulty in bending them 
 to one side enough to admit his passage through into 
 the corridor. Taking his blanket rope with him, 
 he sprang across the corridor to the window where 
 
 he simply crushed through the weakened bars as 
 though they were so much straw, dropping outside 
 to a pile of wood. Racing some fifty feet along 
 the top of this wood pile, he brought up at an angle 
 of the prison proper and the auditorium.
 
 31 
 
 Climbing the window bars, he reached the 
 roof of the auditorium and from there to the roof 
 of the cell house was but a short boost. Losing 
 not a second of time he fastened one end of the 
 rope around a certain ventilator stack, which he 
 had long since located as standing in a direct line 
 with an outside window, glanced down just in time 
 to see the front yard guard making his way for 
 shelter, threw the loose rope end over the parapet 
 and slid down to the window which the rope just 
 barely touched. 
 
 Grasping the window bars he hastily climbed 
 down, his body showing in full view against the 
 bright lights within, to any one who might have 
 happened to look that way. As it was, no one saw 
 the huge spider speeding to the soft ground below, 
 and in less than five minutes from the time Clarke 
 left his cell he was walking up the steps to a guard 
 tower that was vacant at night, through which he 
 noiselessly sped to the narrow patrol walk outside 
 the walls from which he dropped to the ground — 
 and freedom. 
 
 Frantic search was made for the missing 
 
 prisoner some ninety minutes later, but by the 
 time the alarm was given and the posse started, 
 Clark was "riding the rods" of a fast freight 
 speeding south, which had been included in liis
 
 32 
 
 itinerary and timed to a nicety. 
 
 His liberty was of few months enjoyment, 
 however, as he was later picked up in a general 
 roundup of a certain district by the police of Los 
 Angeles, identified by his finger prints, and re- 
 turned to Oregon to finish his sentence. 
 
 -^^^^0^^m^^
 
 33 
 
 Alone by the grated window, 
 I mused in the after-glow; 
 The life I had lived unfolded— 
 I dwelt in the long ago; 
 Saw only blight and sorrow% 
 Roamed only the land of tears, 
 And never a golden moment came 
 Out of the buried years. 
 
 Like unto a cloud it faded. 
 Yet sadder it left me then; 
 I had traversed the vale of shadows 
 In my search for souls of men; 
 Had bowed at the crumble ruins 
 Of my hopes and fears that day, 
 As I gazed at the dying colors 
 On the rim of the far away. 
 
 - By a Woman Prisoner.
 
 ESCAPE OF FREDDY WEAVER 
 
 jURING May, 1911, Fred Weaver was sent 
 up from Wasco County on a sentence of 
 
 ^five to fifteen years for the crime of burg- 
 lary. Subsequent events proved that Fred was a 
 good burglar all right enough, but like most other 
 "good" burglars, he was not good enough to 
 burgle and keep out of jail at the same time. 
 
 Fred was employed in the bakery depart- 
 ment which at that time was located in the first 
 story of the prison addition in which was located 
 the mess hall on the second floor and the hospital 
 on the third. After about six months of toil, Fred 
 grew tired of prison monotony and decided to take 
 a much needed vacation, hitting upon a plan that 
 was both unique and successful. 
 
 Fred's working hours for each day began at 
 4:30 a. m., and in order to get the necessary 
 amount of sleep he formed the habit of going to 
 his cell earlier than others of the kitchen force,
 
 35 
 
 who all celled on the same tier. When the early 
 evening- count was taken at seven o'clock, the 
 guards never disturbed the silent form huddled 
 under the blankets in cell 274, as they knew the 
 man was an early riser and needed rest. Fred, 
 taking advantage of this fact, used it as his "ace 
 in the hole." 
 
 One Sunday afternoon, his cell partner hav- 
 ing previously gone to the hospital because of a 
 fancied illness, and to avoid questions later, Fred 
 fixed up a dummy under his blankels that looked 
 true to life from the corridor, and then returned to 
 his work in the bakery. When the kitchen help 
 straggled to their cells after six o'clock, Freddy 
 hid out in the basement. At seven o'clock, the 
 guard going through all departments to see that 
 everything was alright, failed to spot Fred behind 
 a stack of flour brrrels, and another guard taking 
 the seven o'clock cell house count failed to distin- 
 guish the dummy from a real person, so neatly 
 was it made up in the bunk. 
 
 That was all that was necessary to Fred,- the 
 rest was easy. After waiting but a short while to 
 assure himself that the dummy had been properly 
 counted, Fred boldly and industriously set to work 
 sawing his way out. After getting through the 
 first set of bars he found himself in the prison 
 
 »^ . \..^2f&a>'
 
 36 
 
 yard, a long way from liberty. But Fred had that 
 all figured out beforehand, so he lost no time in 
 getting to work on another set of window bars 
 leading into the basement of the prison proper, 
 this time breaking into prison instead of out. 
 Crossing the basement after breaking a lock on an 
 intervening door, being small of stature, he 
 squeezed through another set of bars which he had 
 pried apart with a stick of wood. This let him out 
 into the front yard and after waiting for the yard 
 guard to make his regular rounds, Fred calmly 
 walked over to a stairway leading to the but re- 
 cently vacated guard tower, softly ascended, 
 walked through the tower and out on the runway, 
 from which he dropoed to the ground and liberty. 
 Oh, yes: the inside guards counted the afore- 
 mentioned dummy all night and were "ranked" 
 for it the following day, but that did not bring 
 Freddy into the fold. However, he was captured 
 in Seattle a few months later and is still "doing 
 time," for immediately upon the expiration of his 
 sentence he returned to his old trade of burglar, 
 was apprehended in a short time and given another 
 sentence of eight years. 
 
 %
 
 'THREE-MINUTE" WAGNER 
 
 'N THE FALL of 1914, two German boys, 
 Frank Warner and Carl Weine^al, made 
 an escape from their cell to the outside by 
 digging a tunnel downward in the heart of a brick 
 wall. 
 
 Both of these boys worked in the bakery and 
 celled together on a lower tier of brick-walled cells. 
 Incidentally, a part of their get-away scheme con- 
 sisted of keeping their cell spick and span and 
 highly decorated with penants, fancy doilies and 
 pillow tops, and as visitors were shown along these 
 cells every day the decorative scheme of all cells 
 in that particular tier were never disturbed. 
 
 F'or many weeks Frank and Carl kept digging, 
 a bit at a time, starting in on the brick wall about 
 two feec up from the floor and near the cell door. 
 They made a hole sufficiently large to admit egress, 
 which necessitated leaving but one row of bricks 
 between them and the corridor. It was a tight 
 squeeze but they made it in due time, carrying 
 
 21)10()K
 
 38 
 
 away the loose brick and mortar in their pockets, 
 ceil buckets and newspapers. During the day they 
 stretched a fancy doily or two tightly across the 
 hole, so when cells were officially inspected no one 
 thought of pulling down this highly ornamental 
 (and useful) object. 
 
 After weeks of digging they succeeded in boring 
 a hole straight down the inside of the brick wall to 
 the basement below, and now everything was all 
 ready for the break. The final night arrived and 
 they started their crawl for freedom. In dropping 
 from the ceiling to the concrete floor of the base- 
 ment one of the boys fell on his head, which put 
 him out of commission for some time, while the 
 other one twisted one leg so that walking was very 
 painful. Not a bright start by any means, but 
 they were forced to go on, as they could not reach 
 the hole and crawl back. And then, too, the hole 
 in the basement ceiling would be discovered the 
 first thing in the morning; go they must, even 
 though in their crippled condition, capture was al- 
 most a certainty. 
 
 Slowly they worked out through bars that 
 had been pried loose, into the front yard, slipping 
 across to steps leading to the patrol walk along the 
 wall from which they dropped to the ground out- 
 side. At this inopportune time a mongrel dog set 
 
 -«^^^^^^^©^
 
 39 
 
 up a ki-yi that attracted the attention of a guard 
 in a near-by tower, who started shooting: and set 
 off the general alarm. The boys made a run for it 
 but were heavily handicapped with their crippled 
 bodies, but at that they succeeded in evading the 
 pursuers for two days before they were picked up 
 and returned to prison. On release at the expira- 
 tion of his sentence, Weinegal was deported, but 
 Wagner remained in this country. 
 
 Frank Wagner was probably the most cap- 
 able safe-blower on the Pacific coast. "Three- 
 Minute- Wagner" he was called, as he required but 
 three minutes or less to open most any safe in the 
 country. His method was a secret which he never 
 divulged, but many safes throughout the country 
 bore mute evidence that he thoroughly understood 
 his business, and time and again he has proven 
 that his sobriquet was no idle boast. 
 
 On release from prison Frank immediately 
 "touched off" a safe he had had in mind for some 
 time, but in six months and two days he was again 
 returned to prison, this time under a sentence of 
 forty years. 
 
 Less than a year later he made another es- 
 cape, but this time right from under gun guard 
 while working in the brick yard and in broad day- 
 light. He skipped through into a brush lined creek 
 
 -«<3«^!^ #SSK®»»^
 
 40 
 
 close by and traveled with all speed possible until 
 he reached the wooded hills some five miles distant, 
 where all trace of him faded out. However, some 
 three months later, the inevitable woman proved 
 his undoing. Word was received by the officials 
 that he was at a certain house in Clatsop county 
 and a small posse was quietly formed who pro- 
 ceeded to the place designated without arousing 
 supicion. Surrounding the house, Wagner was 
 called, and he came out shooting, but a well di- 
 rected bullet brought to earth this outlaw, who, 
 had he used his shrewd and clever brain along le- 
 gitimate lines, would have made for himself a 
 place worth while in the realm of whacever he 
 choose to follow. 
 
 ^e^^^«^^S@o^
 
 DARING ATTEMPTS TO ESCAPE 
 
 jANY DARING attempts to escape have 
 been made in the Oregon penitentiary, 
 but for sheer, downright nerve, pitted 
 against one chance in a thousand for success, there 
 is nothing yet to compare with the foolhardy effort 
 of three men from the shoe shop in August, 1917. 
 
 The shoe shop at that time was located di- 
 rectly over the rotunda of the prison. In the hall- 
 way just outside the shop, was a short stairway 
 leading to the roof of the cell houses, but half way 
 up the stairs was a door, secured with a heavy 
 padlock. There were but four men working in the 
 shop at the time, three of whom decided to take 
 l^ave of their sordid surroundings, so one morning 
 about nine o'clock, they picked the lock on the stair 
 rioor and quickly ascended to the roof, taking with 
 them some sixty feet of rope which they had se- 
 cured in some mysterious manner at a previous 
 date. 
 
 Fastening one end of the rope to a solid foot- 
 
 '=^5«?^4.j;;3®&»^
 
 42 
 
 ing on the roof, they threw the other end over the 
 parapet and one by one, slid down to the ground. 
 On the way down they passed between two win- 
 dows of the warden's office and the front office 
 clerical force, who were all busy at the time, but 
 had any of them glanced up from their work they 
 could not have failed to notice the three as they 
 passed out of the open front gate, some fifty feet 
 distant. The runaways succeeded in hot-footing 
 soome two hundred yards before they were dis- 
 covered by a couple of trustys. who gave an alarm 
 and the chase was on. ending in the return of all 
 three of the truants. 
 
 This same shop, before it became a shoe 
 foundry, figured in another episode, though whUe 
 no thought of escape was in evidence at the time, 
 later developments forced the interested party to 
 make the effort. It happened in this way: 
 
 The female ward of the prison is located in 
 the second story of the administration building, 
 and separated from the shoe shop in the prison 
 proper by a mere brick wall some two feet thick. 
 An old saying is that "love laughs at locks and 
 bars;" brick walls might as well have been included. 
 
 Now a year or two previous to this particular 
 
 -e^^^"^^^©^-
 
 43 
 
 time, a section of the wide base board in the shoe 
 shop had been neatly cut out so that when replaced 
 loose it would not be noticed. A hole was then dug 
 through the brick wall, leading into what was then 
 a store room of the vvomen's ward. By the under- 
 ground system of communication in vogue in all 
 prisons, the women, six in number, were advised as 
 to what was taking place, and they, with common 
 consent and mutual desire, set to work on their 
 side of the wall, covering the results of their labor 
 by pasting newspapers clear around the room, but 
 leaving the one over the hole so that it could be re- 
 moved at will. 
 
 A prisoner whom we will call "Doc," for the 
 reason he worked in thf hospital, and his female 
 accomplice were sent here together on a fifteen- 
 year sentence, and for some time Doc (and a select 
 few) patronized this hole-in-the-wall whenever oc- 
 casion permitted. It was dangerous business, as 
 the possibility of getting caught functioned at 
 about 99 per cent, and as luck would have it. Doc 
 was the fall guy. 
 
 One day Doc was tipped off that the matron 
 would be away all afternoon, so he made for the 
 secret entrance at the first opportunity. During 
 visits of that sort, time flies without notice, which 
 the ijair discovered to their sorrow, for just as Doc
 
 44 
 
 was about to leave the room, the matron's voice 
 was heard in the hall. With the matron were one 
 or two visitors, and woman-like they talked and 
 talked, standing in the hall and shntting off Doc's 
 escape to the hole. And holy horrors! The five 
 o'clock bell was ringing! In five minutes, the 
 count! And Doc missing! 
 
 The jig was up. Doc, perforce must remain 
 missing, which he did. For nine days he stuck to 
 that room, planning a way out. After the excit- 
 ment died down he prepared to make good his es- 
 cape, intending to take the girl with him, dressed 
 as a man in clothes smuggled through the hole. 
 
 One morning about five o'clock, he proceeded 
 to tie up the other women prisoners, intending to 
 tie the matron, too, take her keys and walk out 
 with his accomplice. His first prisoner was a game 
 little colored girl, who was willing enough to be 
 tied if it would help the plot along, but the next 
 one, seeing a chance to make herself solid and per- 
 haps gain a pardon, (which she did) changed her 
 mind regarding the prearranged programme, threw 
 
 open a window and proceeded to wake up the west- 
 ern half of the State of Oregon v/ith her screeches. 
 That settled it. Doc flew for the hole-in-the-wall 
 and attempted to hide in the prison, but was found 
 in a few moments, and it is needless to add, "them 
 days is gone forever." 
 
 -«^^l«#^Ss^-
 
 BEAUTIFUL 
 
 ART LEATHE 
 
 ¥Aff^iT¥ BA 
 
 Quality and workmanship the 
 very best 
 
 ONLY GENUINE FIRST 
 GRADE LEATHER USED 
 
 Price $10.00 and up 
 
 For description and prices address 
 
 BANASTER & BURNS 
 
 Rt. 6, Box 1 
 
 Salem, Ore.
 
 JUL I mi 
 
 MAY 1 Ib48 
 Alls i 1953 
 APR 2 4 1959 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 
 
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