A Desperate Chase Near Touchet
Two young boys accused of robbing a farmhouse are captured after a five-mile foot chase.
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.
"Doc" McMinn and Frank Smith, two of the young boys who are charged with robbing the farm house of Benjamin Wardell near Rulo station last Monday, were captured yesterday afternoon near Touchet by Deputy Sheriff Kees and Constable Allen Byrnes. Yesterday morning it was ascertained that the boys were seen near Touchet and the officers started out to look for them. After hunting nearly all day, about 5 o'clock in the afternoon, the officers came upon them on the Wallula road about five miles west of Touchet. When they discovered that the officials were after them they started to run in an effort to elude their pursuers. They were told to stop, but refused and Deputy Sheriff Kees fired two shots from a revolver to frighten them. This only seemed to increase their speed and it was necessary to run them down. They were finally overtaken and placed in irons. They were then put on a horse and brought to the city. They are now in jail with their companion, Cecil McMinn, who was arrested several days ago.
“They were told to stop, but refused and Deputy Sheriff Kees fired two shots from a revolver to frighten them.”
The apprehension of minors in the rural outskirts of Walla Walla County reflects the long history of the juvenile justice system's reliance on incarceration, even for property crimes. The pursuit along the Wallula road marks a era where local law enforcement relied on pursuit and firearm intimidation to maintain order in the sparsely populated agricultural reaches outside the city.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.