The Sheriff Who Shot a Convict: A Wenatchee Neighbor’s Defense of Deadly Force
In July 1905, just days after a chaotic manhunt in Ellensburg, local residents weighed in on the ethics of Sheriff Thomas shooting an escaped convict. One guard called it 'right,' while others questioned the necessity—echoing modern debates over police accountability.
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.
SHERIFF DID RIGHT Guard from Penitentiary Believes that Thomas was Justified In Shooting McCarthy
ELLENSBURG, July 13.— S. G. Murphy, a guard from McNeil's Island penitentiary, arrived this morning and identified convict McCarty as soon as he saw him. He says Sheriff Thomas did right in shooting him as McCarty is a desperate character. Murphy also recognized Castle among the gang of thirty-one men arrested in the outskirts of the town last night and identified an escaped convict from the Oregon state penitentiary.
McCarty was very weak this morning and his wound painful; but the physician thought he could be moved with perfect safety.
The convicts were taken back to the penitentiary this morning.
This brief report captures a moment of intense public scrutiny over law enforcement's use of lethal force, occurring just weeks after the infamous Ellensburg prison break of 1905. While the local guard defends Sheriff Thomas as acting correctly against a 'desperate character,' the incident highlights the raw, unregulated nature of frontier justice in Washington State, where sheriffs often operated with significant autonomy and minimal oversight compared to today's strict use-of-force protocols.
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