The Jailer’s Eyes: A Daring Escape in Montesano
A desperate jailbreak in Grays Harbor County ends with a jailer sidelined by flea powder and a daring dash into the woods.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Intense excitement was occasioned in Montesano tonight by the discovery that F. D. Henry and R. E. Lewis had seriously injured the jailer, John Pettijohn, and escaped from the county jail. It seems that when their supper was being handed in to them, and it became necessary to unlock the door, Lewis grabbed the jailer while Henry simultaneously threw flea powder in his eyes. They managed to force the door open, knocked Pettijohn down with a billet of wood, seized his revolver, and fled into the woods back of town. The alarm was given at once, but the brief delay provided the prisoners enough time to get out of sight. Lewis had recently been sentenced to three years of hard labor in the Walla Walla penitentiary and was awaiting an appeal to the supreme court; Henry was awaiting trial for grand larceny. Lewis is a well-known gambler and a desperate character, and Henry is the son of an ex-Judge of Olympia, so they will be recognized by many in this part of the state.
“Lewis grabbed the jailer, and Henry at the same time threw flea powder in his eyes.”
Public safety and the conditions of correctional facilities were as much a flashpoint in 1892 as they are today. The story reflects an era where 'tough' characters and local officials clashed in a rapidly expanding, yet lawless, Washington frontier.
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