An 18-Year Pursuit Ends in an Ellensburg Jail
A fugitive who thought he had outrun his past is finally captured for an 1871 shooting in Los Angeles.
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.
Detective W.R. Russell of Los Angeles arrived in this city yesterday from Ellensburg, where he had been securing Governor Moore's signature on a requisition for a murderer named Richard Bee. The latter lay in jail at Ellensburg serving out a six-month term on another charge of assault with intent to commit murder. Eighteen years ago, Richard Bee and William Duncan were farmers at Los Angeles. One day they were playing cards in a saloon and had a dispute over the game. Bee left the saloon in a towering rage and went to his home a mile and a half away. He took down his shotgun and drew out the charge of bird shot. Then he loaded his gun carefully with buckshot. As he premeditated murder, he also prepared for flight by saddling his fastest horse and placing it conveniently near. He entered the saloon with his shotgun leveled and shot at Duncan who was but a few feet away. Duncan threw up his left arm and the load of shot went through his left arm and into his side. Bee fled to the mountains, and managed to reach Winnemucca. He sent for his wife, and lived there for sixteen years under the name of Bassett Jackson. During most of this period he ran a restaurant. Two years ago, the authorities at Los Angeles learned of his whereabouts, and in June last sent Detective Russell to Winnemucca after him. When the officer arrived there the bird had flown. It is suspected that someone in Los Angeles kept him posted. Since that time Detective Russell has been hunting for his man, and finally located him in Ellensburg, where he had been arrested for assault. As the term has now expired, Russell will take him back to Los Angeles to be tried there for murder. There are no less than six witnesses living in Los Angeles at present who saw the murder committed. Duncan left a wife and five children. His homestead was in what is now a prominent part of Los Angeles. His three sons and two daughters have grown up and are wealthy, and naturally desire revenge for their father’s murder. They have spared no expense in running down Bee, and, as the murder was a cold-blooded one and as there are plenty of witnesses, he will doubtless be convicted.
“Since that time Detective Russell has been hunting for his man, and finally located him in Ellensburg, where he had been arrested for assault.”
This cold case highlights how even 19th-century fugitive justice depended on local collaboration and tip-offs. Today, the expansion of the Ellensburg-Yakima corridor makes such long-term hiding in plain sight nearly impossible, but the theme of historical crimes resurfacing in quiet towns remains a staple of the region's news cycle.
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