The Day a Prisoner Broke His Chains and the Police Chief Grabbed a Boy's Horse
A robbery suspect makes a mid-day run for the bushes from the chain gang; Seattle's police chief commandeers a horse and trees him just outside town.
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.
A prisoner by the name of Shay, held for robbery, made an unsuccessful attempt to escape at noon today. He was at work with the chain gang on the outside of the prison, when the prisoners were called in to dinner and the keepers were temporarily off watch, he broke his irons between two rocks and made for the bushes, getting considerable start before he was discovered. Chief of Police Thorndyke soon had notice of the escape and, meeting a boy on horseback, he took forcible possession of the horse, pulled the boy off and gave chase. Just on the outskirts of the town he treed the fugitive in a clump of bushes and held him under fire until the Sheriff and a Deputy came up and captured him without a struggle.
“He broke his irons between two rocks and made for the bushes... Just on the outskirts of the town he treed the fugitive in a clump of bushes and held him under fire until the Sheriff and a Deputy came up and captured him without a struggle.”
The scene is pure pioneer Seattle: a chain gang, a commandeered horse and a police chief treeing a shackled runaway in the brush. More than a century later, the raw ingredients of the story — a man on the run, a dramatic pursuit and the town's top cop in the middle of it — are still the stuff of local news.
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