The Convicts Who Walked the Streets: A Walla Walla Jailbreak
In March 1889, prisoners in a Walla Walla jail refused to work on city streets. Their defiance sparked a standoff that ended with the threat of starvation rations and the promise of armed guards.
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.
Walla Walla, Wash., March [Date] — The prisoners in the city jail were taken out to work on the streets and refused to do anything but eat bread and water will be tried.
The liberal class here are confident of procuring the arrest of C. B. Reynolds permanently.
C. B. Reynolds of the exchange to pay a complete amount for some electrical equipment having removed to the district, manager serving in the large chain.
Not Dr. White, a prisoner, died this day.
Dr. Black, who was well known as an ex-Senator at La Grande, reports him in a prostration condition, suffering double pneumonia and severe prostration.
The old brick making machinery of penitentiary feet armed. A full force of convicts will go to work immediately.
A popular idea of a state convention is that each county shall select a member and draw lots for the third, subject to the approval of such political committee. Every one appears to wish to see politics eliminated from the state conventions, and the only way to get a good one is to send men every one can depend upon.
Mrs. Herzog and daughter crossed this morning returned to Portland to remain. Mrs. Herzog lives in this city 23 years.
Here on Justice of the penitentiary seat in Berne resignation to the commissioners today, which was reluctantly accepted. It is removed in Pendleton Tent Special Agent Welton, in charge of the Catlin reservation, has made a request to the authorities for rapid police troops to enforce the law regarding violation of land on the reservation leased by white men from Indians. Much trouble is feared in carrying out the law.
This brief report captures a moment of labor resistance that feels surprisingly modern: inmates refusing work conditions. While today's debates focus on prison labor reform and wages, this 1889 incident shows that the tension between incarcerated individuals and the state's demand for free or cheap labor is not new. The mention of 'liberal class' supporting them hints at early social justice advocacy, paralleling modern movements for prisoner rights.
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