A Tip-Off in Newport, Then Masked Men Held Up the Fast Mail
A Spokane passenger boarded at Newport with a warning that the Great Northern fast mail would be robbed before it reached Spokane. Hours later, masked men did exactly that—and suspicion fell on 'Red' Ed McDonald.
Spokane — That 'Red' Ed McDonald, notorious thug, was the moving spirit which brought about the wrecking and robbery in a dark stretch of track of the Great Northern fast mail train 14 miles from Spokane, Saturday night, is the report here.
Warned at least two hours before the robbery that a bad gang would perform this deed, T. N. Nelson, of Spokane, boarded the train at Newport. Accosted by an unknown Newport man, he was told that before the train reached Spokane the robbery would occur. Masked men held up the train as predicted. The unknown advisor whispered that Ed McDonald, the notorious thug, had been seen in the vicinity of Newport the day before.
“Masked men held up the train as predicted.”
A century later, the Newport–Spokane rail corridor is quieter, but the story still resonates as a reminder that organized crime and advance warnings can travel along the same tracks as commerce. It also shows how a small-town tip could suddenly put Newport at the center of a regional manhunt.
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