The Outlaw Who Begged His Mother Never to Know

Thomas Planck, the highwayman, burglar and bank robber whose operations ranged from British Columbia through Montana and Washington to California, was killed by officers after a jail break. In the county jail he refused to give his name. He told a fellow prisoner he preferred to go to the gallows and die an unknown man. 'I don't want my mother to know the trouble I have gotten into,' he said. He admitted to five murders and said he had probably wounded twenty men in four years.

His record, as he told it, included an unknown stage driver shot near the Kootenai in 1889 for resisting a hold-up; a bartender named Grose killed at Meaderville, Mont., in September 1892; a deputy sheriff killed in the same vicinity while chasing him; Constable William Jeffery shot through the heart at Philipsburg; Charles H. Brown shot through the heart at a saloon in Seattle on October 6; James Skinner, station agent at Great Falls, Mont.; and policeman John Flynn of Helena, Mont. He admitted the killing of Constable Jeffery.

After his capture in North Seattle by five officers, Planck was placed in the county jail. Jailer Monroe learned of his Fairhaven record in 1891 and his part in the Broadwater hotel hold-up near Helena on August 31, 1894. Planck became confidential with one fellow prisoner and said he intended to hold up the bank at Snohomish if he ever got out, then return to California. He wondered aloud how a man would go about holding up an ocean steamer.

He said he was born in New York and that his mother still lived there; he never knew his father. In British Columbia, he said, there was gold in the Kootenai and miners carried dust. He and a partner held up a stage coach; he ordered 'Hands up.' He described the Broadwater job: he entered the barroom, made everyone put up their hands, while his partner stood at the street entrance. His partner weakened and ran, and Planck had to fight his way out, losing a trouser leg and his hat. After a mile and a half he was safe, then held up a poor man for trousers and a hat and gave him $10. He was angry at his partner but decided not to kill him.

At Marysville, Mont., he held up a saloon and got $75 without trouble. At Meaderville he tried Steve Gross's barroom and killed the proprietor when he did not put up his hands; a deputy sheriff was killed in the chase. He went to Tacoma and took a room at a lodging house, picking up the boy Ed Murray, who later identified him.

At Butterworth's undertaking rooms in Seattle, thousands viewed the body. By actual count 10,000 persons passed the bier; estimates ran to 15,000. Almost as many women as men came, and one woman kissed him. Flowers were placed about the bier.

Dr. C. E. Hoy said John Shepley, shot by Planck near Kent, would recover, though the bullet broke his collarbone and lodged near the scapula, three inches from the heart. The gun bore the inscription 'T B from Yerbury, March 17.'

James S. Nelson, the farmer at whose house Planck ate his last meal, said Planck arrived wet, cold and blue, unable to hold a knife and fork. He ate ravenously. Nelson's wife had made extra bread in case Planck came. Planck left with a gunny sack, and Nelson gave the alarm. Planck was shot soon afterward.