The Rowboat on the Lake: A Mercer Island Escape Plot
Court testimony reveals a clandestine boat trip, a hidden trail through the brush, and a suspicious midnight departure that set local residents whispering of a daring jailbreak.
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.
Daniel Mahoney testified he was at Mr. Olds’ place on Lake Washington on the morning of February 8th. At about 8 o'clock, he saw a black boat with a woman in it, going down the middle of the lake toward Miller's place from the south. The boat was the same color, size, and build as Miller's. It was about half a mile from the shore, and the woman was rowing with the wind in her favor. Alice May Olds, 11, confirmed she saw the boat while feeding the dogs. 'It looked like a lady; she had a cloak on her shoulders,' the girl stated. Charles Olds later testified that he knew the island well, noting there is a fast trail from his place to a point near Miller's. He observed that while the island is usually difficult to traverse, it can be crossed easily in the spring. The testimony aimed to prove that Miller had been planning an escape from the King County jail, using the boat and local island trails to facilitate his flight.
“It looked like a lady; she had a cloak on her shoulders. I watched her until it got by our place.”
Long before Mercer Island was connected by the I-90 bridge and transformed into a high-end residential hub, it was a rugged, isolated landscape of homesteads and wilderness. This 1886 court drama highlights a time when the lake was the primary highway, and the island's 'hidden trails' were vital, albeit easily weaponized, routes for those hoping to evade the law.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.