The Unlucky Escape of Frank Hogan
After four years on the run, a jailbreaker is recognized and knocked cold by the Chief of Police.
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.
About four years ago, a hard citizen named Frank Hogan stabbed and slightly wounded Constable Lillie while that officer was attempting to arrest him for a breach of the peace. He was finally arrested and committed to jail October 1st, 1879. On the night of December 31st, before being tried for the crime, he broke jail by cutting an iron bar and made good his escape. Nothing was heard of him till a few days ago when he returned to Seattle so much changed in appearance that even his old associates hardly recognized him. He could not stand prosperity, however, and so he got drunk and commenced kicking up a muss. Chief Woolery lit down on him, and Hogan again drew his knife, but before he could use it, the Chief dealt him a blow between the eyes, which sent him squarely to the floor. He was then marched off to jail, where he will remain till the next term of court to answer for the crime committed four years ago, and for which he was never punished.
“Chief Woolery lit down on him, and Hogan again drew his knife, but before he could use it the Chief dealt him a blow between the eyes, which sent him squarely to the floor.”
Public safety and jail security were constant civic headaches in early Seattle, a town often plagued by transient populations and porous institutions. Chief Woolery’s heavy-handed style of street justice echoes the rough-and-tumble era of Seattle’s policing, long before the professionalization of the force.
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