The Great Jailbreak of 1889
In 1889, fifteen of 31 prisoners escaped a city jail through a sawed hole in the wall; none were recaptured.
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.
There was another delivery of prisoners from the city jail some time Sunday night. When Captain Knight visited the prison at 6 o'clock yesterday morning he found a large hole in the wall, through which fifteen out of thirty-one prisoners had passed to liberty during the night. When the escape was made is not known, but it probably occurred after the 4 o'clock morning desk reported off duty, as a watch is kept on guard at the jail all the time up to that hour. The hole was three feet long and two deep, and was located in the southwest corner of the jail. A prisoner had evidently cut through the inch boarding inside and had then cut through the two-inch outside plank with a keyhole saw. When the boards had been cut and sawed through they were easily wrenched off, leaving an open way of escape. Among the prisoners who took French leave with their keepers were three men arrested last night by Officer Bolton Royce and Special Officer Caldwell on a charge of robbery, and several other men had been arrested for simple drunks and vagrants who had nearly all been taken out by the prisoners yesterday morning. None of the fugitives have been captured so far. It is likely that they have left the city and, if they have, there will be no effort made to bring them back.
“A prisoner had evidently cut through the inch boarding inside and had then cut through the two-inch outside plank with a keyhole saw.”
Mass escapes were relatively common in Seattle's early days, reflecting the fragility of early municipal institutions. This event underscores the immense pressure the city's growth placed on basic civic infrastructure like jails and policing.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.