The First Train Robbery in Washington Territory
Masked gunmen held up a Northern Pacific Pullman car near Hot Springs, terrorizing passengers and sparking a region-wide manhunt.
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.
Sheriff Woolery of King County and Northern Pacific Railroad officials have joined forces to track down three masked robbers who held up a Pullman car near Hot Springs. The train, delayed by flooding, arrived in Tacoma at 2:00 a.m. Passengers described a harrowing scene where gunmen ordered everyone to hold their hands up, firing a shot over the head of a traveler named Mr. Freidman when he failed to comply instantly. The robbers appeared to be experienced, with one displaying knowledge of railroad bell signals. Among the victims, H. Guimaraes lost his valuables after the robbers tore his vest, though his wife—who had $2,700 sewn into her dress—escaped notice. Samuel Ofner, a commercial traveler, managed to hide his gold watch by tossing it behind him. This event is widely believed to be the first train robbery in Washington history.
“You can imagine a man, masked, clothed in a long coat, black slouch hat, and with an ungainly-looking mask, consisting simply of a handkerchief flapping over his face with two eye holes cut in it. Now your man comes to you with soul-curdling oaths. He says, shoving the muzzle of a revolver right up into your face: 'You come up.' If you don't 'come up' you're a fool.”
While train robberies are long gone, the Northern Pacific line followed routes through the Cascades that remain critical infrastructure for the region today. The 'Hot Springs' mentioned near the site of the robbery—likely the area near present-day Kanaskat/Palmer—marks a corridor that has been central to transcontinental travel for over a century.
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