The Brief, Chaotic Crime Spree of Elmer Gray
A Spokane man's attempt to flee town by stealing a motor launch ended in a bizarre river chase and a capture at a local farm.
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.
Elmer Gray, 25, of Spokane, is in the Prosser jail following a series of incidents last week. Gray allegedly burglarized the home of Mike Driscoll in Kennewick, stealing a revolver, cash, and supplies. He then stole a gasoline launch from Fred Schuneman, but ran out of fuel near Yellepit. Discovered on an island by the crew of the U.S. Steamer Umatilla, Gray fired shots at them before wading to shore. He successfully evaded capture for a time by hiring on as a farm hand at W. O. Meals’ ranch, but was eventually cornered by Deputy Sheriff Baxter and Chief of Police Copeland after a brief foot chase through a plowed field.
“Baxter proved a good runner and the next day Gray was sent to jail.”
Stories of desperate runaways and small-time thieves were standard fare in regional papers of the era, offering a lens into the era's policing before modern communication networks made such prolonged escapes impossible. The geography of the Columbia River islands and the surrounding agricultural land remains a recognizable backdrop for this piece of local lore.
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