The Midnight Rail Raid in Kennewick
Law enforcement turns a routine freight train inspection into a high-speed chase, leaving hoboes running for their lives.
Hoboes scurried and bullets flew in the small hours of Tuesday morning when Sheriff C. E. Duffy, Deputy E. L. Baxter and Chief of Police C. E. Copeland raided the uncushioned berths of N. P. passenger train No. 42. The officers were searching for two holdup men who had robbed freight train passengers. When the train pulled into the station, one suspect attempted to flee through an alfalfa field north of the depot. He was pursued by five bullets from Chief Copeland’s gun, followed by five more from Deputy Baxter’s weapon until he finally surrendered. Another suspect escaped, while three others were arrested. None of those captured were found to be the actual robbers, as the victims later confirmed. The suspects admitted they only ran because they feared being beaten by 'railroad cops,' stating, 'I would rather take chances any time of getting a bullet in the leg than to be caught and cracked over the head by one of them fellows.'
“I would rather take chances any time of getting a bullet in the leg than to be caught and cracked over the head by one of them fellows.”
This account captures the pervasive criminalization of migrant labor and the 'hobo' population during the early 20th century, a time when public officials often used excessive force against those moving through the region on freight trains. Today, the tension between transient populations and local enforcement remains a recurring civic argument in many Pacific Northwest transit hubs.
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