The Jailbreak on Commercial Street
A clever prisoner manages to pick the lock of his cell and slip away into the night, leaving the sheriff scrambling for a lead.
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.
Wm. Morton, the fellow shown as being held for trial in the county jail, escaped Saturday evening under the following circumstances: In the corridor where he was confined there was a second cell. Between the cell and the front door, which was duly locked, it appears that Morton made a key to the cell, unlocked the door, and secreted himself there. On Saturday night when Jailer Farrar entered the corridor to count the prisoners in their cells, he had the doors all closed and proceeded to lock them one after another, and, as usual, the second cell, which was supposed was locked. After the jailer had reached the far end of the jail, Morton, who was concealed in the second cell, made a dash for liberty, and succeeded in reaching the top of the stairs to safety and outside of the darkness made by the jailer. He was soon out of sight, and has not been heard of since. Sheriff McGraw has several men looking for him, and will recapture the fellow if such a feat is possible.
“Morton, who was concealed in the second cell, made a dash for liberty, and succeeded in reaching the top of the stairs to safety.”
This 1888 escape from the county jail highlights the perennial struggles of Seattle’s civic infrastructure. While the city’s detention facilities have evolved from simple cells on Commercial Street (now First Avenue South) to modern complexes, the recurring administrative failures in secure custody remain a constant point of friction in local governance.
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