The Desperate Train Break to Walla Walla
A convicted prisoner attempts to escape his guards while being transported to the state penitentiary, triggering a tense standoff on a moving train.
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.
John Dryden, who previously escaped from the King County jail, made another attempt this morning to escape from Officer Monroe of Seattle while being returned to the Walla Walla penitentiary. Dryden did not surrender until a pistol was leveled at him and he was told he would be killed if he moved further toward the door. When Deputy Marshal Ed Minch reached Puyallup Junction, he was joined by Officer Monroe and two prisoners, Barney Rice and Dryden. A private of the United States Army named Graft, who was returning by the same train, was pressed into service to guard the men. When near Ellensburg, Monroe went into the lavatory. Dryden and Rice insisted on getting a drink from the tank, but when they started for the door, Private Graft produced his pistol and drew a bead on the desperadoes. The prisoners continued toward the door and began searching the pockets of a sleeping passenger, fearing they might be looking for a concealed weapon. Graft's loud orders to stop aroused Minch, who found Graft pulling the trigger. The prisoners were cowed by the armed resistance and were safely delivered to Pasco.
“He told the men that he would shoot, and he evidently meant it, as the prisoners took their hands out of the sleeper’s pockets, but refused to sit down.”
This tense incident highlights the precarious reality of transit in the 1890s, where law enforcement relied on civilian assistance and armed force to maintain order on long-distance rail routes. Today's transit policing, while more regulated, still struggles with the inherent vulnerability of moving vehicles, a century after this train-based standoff.
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