A Railroad Detective’s Inside Man Foils a Cle Elum Train Robbery
Two men were bound over in Ellensburg for an attempted holdup near Cle Elum after an informant exposed their plans.
Tacoma, May 6.—Special.—Division Superintendent Joseph McCabe has returned from Ellensburg, where he went to attend the preliminary examination of Harrison and Harrington, alias Leveal, the two men arrested for complicity in the attempt to hold up the overland train near Cle Elum. They were bound over in the sum of $1,500 each for trial in the superior court. In default they are put in jail. Justice of the Peace Bole conducted the examination, which, in the case of Harrison, was very searching. Harrington, on hearing the testimony there introduced, waived examination. The chief witness was Vinson, the man who, at the instigation of the railroad detectives, joined the robbers and exposed their plans. His testimony against the men was of the strongest.
“The chief witness was Vinson, the man who, at the instigation of the railroad detectives, joined the robbers and exposed their plans.”
In 1895, train robberies were a real threat on the Northern Pacific line, and detectives used informants to infiltrate gangs. Today the same corridor through Cle Elum and Ellensburg still carries freight and passengers, while questions about surveillance and informants in criminal cases remain familiar.
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