Tragedy at the Seattle Penitentiary
A desperate escape attempt by three prisoners at the Seattle jail ends in a bloody shootout, leaving one dead and others wounded.
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.
On Wednesday last, three persons made an attempt to escape from the Seattle, W.T., penitentiary, which ended with disastrous results. Jake Freeman was shot dead, Abe Reeves was dangerously wounded, and Riley Field recaptured. It appears that there had been a preconcerted plan among a certain number of prisoners to escape. At the opportune moment, they broke from the band, but a shot brought down one. Freeman was afterwards overhauled and killed, while the third was taken without a shot at him. Freeman was serving two and a half years for burglary, since Dec. 1, 1882.
“A desperate escape attempt... which ended with disastrous results.”
This event highlights the brutal nature of 19th-century carceral conditions in the Washington Territory. While the location of the old Seattle jail has long since been lost to urban development, the underlying issues regarding prison safety and the treatment of incarcerated individuals remain a haunting point of continuity in civic discourse.
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