Five Armed Robbers Hit Roslyn Bank on Payday
Armed outlaws storm a Washington coal town, robbing a bank in broad daylight and shooting bystanders before disappearing into the mountains.
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.
ROSLYN, Sept. 24.—Ben E. Snipes & Co.'s bank at this place was robbed of over $6,000 at 1:30 o'clock today by five heavily-armed and mounted men in a manner that rivals the work of the James boys. Today was pay day at the Roslyn coal mines, and the money to be distributed among the employes, amounting to about $40,000, arrived from Tacoma on the early morning train. F. K. Abernathy, the cashier, was engaged in copying letters when a stranger walked to the counter and demanded he hold up his hands at gunpoint. A second robber covered Dr. Lyons, a company physician, while a third struck Abernathy over the head with a revolver, felling him to the floor, before looting the safe. Outside, confederates kept the town at bay, firing at anyone who appeared. F. A. Frazier, assistant cashier, was shot in the hip while attempting to intervene with a shotgun; a local Black man was also shot in the leg. The outlaws mounted their horses and fled into the mountains north of Roslyn. Posses from Ellensburg, Cle Elum, and Roslyn have been organized to hunt them down.
“The plans for the robbery were skillfully laid and successfully executed.”
While Roslyn is remembered today largely for its connection to the television show 'Northern Exposure,' in 1892 it was a volatile, industrial boomtown. The 'James Gang' style of daylight bank robbery was a common fear in the era of frontier banking, reflecting the precariousness of cash-based payrolls in remote Washington company towns.
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