Sheriff Offers $250 After Five Escape King County Jail
When five prisoners escaped from the King County jail in 1878, the local sheriff issued a bounty for their capture—a high-stakes display of frontier justice.
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 Sunday night, January 20th, 1878, the following named prisoners, confined in the King County jail for various offenses, escaped therefrom: Pat Shay, Peter Moore, Hang Ah Han, James Kelly, and Dan Lynch. Now, therefore, I will offer the above reward for the apprehension and delivery of all of said prisoners to me at said county jail, or $50 for each one so apprehended and delivered. L. V. Wyckoff, Sheriff, King County.
“I will offer the above reward for the apprehension and delivery of all of said prisoners to me at said county jail, or $50 for each one so apprehended and delivered.”
This 1878 notice reflects a time when Seattle's justice system was small-scale and reliant on public bounties to manage the local jail population. The mention of 'Hang Ah Han' captures the era's pervasive systemic bias against the Chinese community in 19th-century Seattle, providing a stark reminder of the era's social landscape.
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