The Jailbreak That Almost Was: A Struggle for Freedom in Port Townsend
In a dramatic afternoon at the Clallam County jail, five prisoners attempted to overpower the keeper with an axe and a garrote-style choke. Jailer Furlong’s quick draw saved the day.
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.
PORT TOWNSEND, March 7.—The prisoners in the county jail made another attempt to escape this afternoon. Dinner is served upstairs about 4 o'clock, and the prisoners finished the meal as usual. Five of them rose almost as a body, and Richard Ketchum said to Jailer Furlong, "I want to speak to you." At the same moment Ketchum threw his arms around the jailer's body, and another prisoner, Tom Clark, caught the jailer by the throat after the manner of a garroter. They were bending him to the floor, but Furlong resisted vigorously. Fortunately his right arm was free from the elbow down, and he reached for a revolver in his front pantaloons pocket, and got the weapon after a struggle and fired, the bullet going through Ketchum's right arm.
At this time a trusty named Smith seized an ax and came to the jailer's defense. This stopped the outbreak. Those engaged besides the two men mentioned above are John Martin, Thos. Connors and Frank Williams, all in for grand larceny. Ketchum and Clark committed a burglary in San Juan county, and were brought here for safe keeping. Ketchum was the new sheriff's very first guest.
A few minutes after the trouble Deputy Sheriff Jones took Clark and Connors to the nearest blacksmith shop and had shackles riveted on them. Ketchum's wound is not dangerous. It was evidently the intention of the prisoners to carry Furlong downstairs a cell, take the keys from him, lock him up and make their escape.
This 1906 jailbreak attempt highlights the precarious nature of law enforcement in early frontier towns, where overcrowding and understaffing were constant risks. The violent struggle between inmates and a lone jailer mirrors modern concerns about prison safety and the reliance on individual officer discretion during critical incidents.
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