The Great Gasoline Boat Chase
A stolen launch from the Pasco docks is recovered on a remote island near Yellepit after a river pursuit.
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.
Deputy Sheriff E. L. Baxter and Constable Copeland were in town Sunday searching for a man who had stolen a gasoline launch from the Pasco docks and had started down river with it. He passed the U. S. Steamer Umatilla below Wallula Saturday afternoon. Capt. Winslow overtook him in a rowboat and brought back the launch, leaving him stranded on an island near Yellepit. On Sunday he was seen swimming for shore and on reaching it he started for the hills back of Yellepit.
“On Sunday he was seen swimming for shore and on reaching it he started for the hills back of Yellepit.”
Stealing a boat and fleeing down the Columbia River was a surprisingly common method of evasion in the early 20th century, before modern river patrols and GPS tracking changed the rules of aquatic pursuit.
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