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Harry Tracy and David Merrill rode horses silently in the night after their robberies. Perhaps they were reflecting on what had just transpired, perhaps they were enjoying their liberty while it lasted. They followed the Southern Pacific Railroad, a line that started in Lebanon, Oregon and went past the Washington border. They kept alongside the railroad, but in the bushes and brush to avoid being spotted. It’s important to keep in mind, that the area was significantly less developed than it is in modern times, there were significantly more trees, underbrush, and large ferns in 1902. The horses struggles with terrain and would make noises.

‘Don’t you suppose we should get rid of these horses?’ Merrill suggested.

‘We stole ’em, didn’t we? Why’d we get rid of them?’

‘Well they’re probably thinking we are headed to Washington, with two stolen horses… They’ll probably make us easier to spot.’

It was dark, late, and they were tired.

‘How’d they know we’re heading to Washington?! Did you tell someone?’ Tracy snapped.

‘No, it just seems the obvious place to go.’ He meekly replied.

Merrill was right however, the horses weren’t helping them get away any faster, if anything they were becoming an liability. They agreed to ditch the horses, and continue walking. After a short while, they both slept under the stars. They had traveled almost 8 mile from Salem and were outside of Brooks, Oregon.

Merrill awoke a few hours later in a panic, covered in a damp sweat from a nightmare he was having.

‘Whasmatter?’ Tracy muttered, eyes still closed.

‘nothin’

The sky was steel blue from the twilight of the impending sunrise. They could see a small dirt road that led to the train depot. If they could sneak on one of the cars and hitch a ride, they’d be away from the authorities soon enough. They made their way to the train depot passing several people. Tracy began looking at the train cars, peering at this one and that, they carried their weapons, but attempted to conceal them.

‘Can I help you gentlemen?’ One of the railroad workers had spotted them. Merrill froze, debating whether to gun down another person. There were other people around, and there was already a manhunt beginning for them.

‘We’re just looking for any passenger rails to Portland.’ Tracy coolly said with a smile. The employee took a long discerning look at the two of them, he could see Merrill was beginning to sweat and was nervous. Tracy noticed the tension growing.

‘My friend is ill, we’re trying to get him to a doctor, one’s in Salem are no good.’

The pause continued, finally the man broke the silence,

‘There aren’t any passenger trains for a few days.’ He said coldly.

‘alright. Well we must be getting on.’ Tracy nodded scooting past the rail worker, with Merrill following behind.

The two began to walk back down the dirt road and disappear into the woods, being watched the whole time by the rail worker and others.

‘We have to keep heading North on foot.’ Tracy stated.

‘Why don’t we just wait until he’s not watching and hop on a cargo car?’

‘Nah, that guy recognized us. He may not know it, but he thinks there’s something queer about us. He likely fancies himself a Hawkshaw, he’ll call the sheriff and his posse will be here. They began to walk slowly North, resting often in the bush and trees just off the rail. They had only made it to Gervais, some six miles from the morning when they stopped for the day and slept, they wouldn’t awaken until nightfall.

It was June 11th, and they only had eaten some bread they managed to take with them from the penitentiary. Hungry, exhausted, and feared, the fugitives tried to familiarize themselves with their surroundings. The two began to move in the darkness, trying to head out of the woods back to the train tracks. They both stopped when they heard speaking in the distance.

Two men dressed in civilian clothes were walking, one hugging a rifle the other with one slung across his back. They were searching for them.

‘I hear they killed at least 3 guards. I heard the bounty is up to $2,000!’ One said.

‘An that fellow in Salem was out in his glad rags, they made him get naked and give them his clothes!’ The other laughed.

Tracy put his hand on Merrill, the light was low but they could see each other’s eyes. No words were needed to be exchanged, both knew exactly what to do. The civilians continued blindly searching the woods, coming closer to the fugitives. As the posse members got within 10 feet of them, they began to move behind the civilians.

Tracy pumped his weapon.

‘Let’s not make it a fourth and fifth person.’ Tracy callously remarked.

‘Do. not. move. I am Tracy the convict, I supposed you’ve heard about us.’ He lowly remarked.

‘Drop you weapons and get on your knees.’ he continued. The men, dropped their weapons and stood in place.

Tracy pressed his Winchester into the backs of one of the men, who dropped slowly to his knees. The other followed as Merrill approached and removed the weapons from the men. One started to sob, the other stoic.

‘You kill us, you’ll be dead in minutes!’ the stoic one exclaimed.

‘That’s right, there’s over 50 men right outside these woods lookin for you.’

Tracy looked at Merrill and back at the two men on the ground.

‘Take off your coat.’ he said to the sobbing one, poking his head with the barrel of his weapon. The man did what he was told, dropping it letting it disappear below the brush.

‘Go, and don’t look back or I’ll shoot you.’ Tracy said.

The tow men sprinted away, a hat falling off the stoic one. Neither looked back, nobody said anything.

‘Better get moving’ Merrill said. The two went North trying to leave Gervais, but every time they came to the wood edge, they could hear more posse members looking for them. The only thing there was to do was to head back deeper into the trees and rest. That’s what they did, hunger made it impossible to try to overtake so many men at once.

The next day the fugitives continued to scout the edge of the woods and ferns, conducting reconnaissance and looking for their chance of escape. By now there were over one hundred men on the hunt for them, all taking turns going in groups into the trees to try to find Merrill and Tracy. They had laid low and overheard posse members talk of the manhunt.

To Tracy’s pride and Merrill’s dismay they learned that every man within a 10 mile radius was asked to assist with finding them. The manhunt had taken such a serious turn that that Company F of the Oregon State National Guard had been called in to surround the woods.

‘We have to leave tonight or they will find us.’

‘And how will we do that, Tracy? You heard em’ there’s over a hundred of them and guard is here!’

‘We’re going to walk out of here.’ He said softly. ‘walk right out of here, right past those soldiers.’

As night came a second time on the convicts in the forest, they buried Tiffany’s empty weapon. Merrill put the coat from the sobbing posse member on to cover the overalls he had stolen earlier. Tracy put on the hat that had been left to disguise his feature. Now, they chose to expose their weapons and carry them in a relaxed manner.

‘Walk slow, don’t look at anyone.’ Tracy reminded Merrill.

As they approached the edge of the woods, they were met by another pair of posse members.

They nodded each other as they passed.

‘Where did you just come from?’ One of them questioned after passing. There was a long silence.

‘I just don’t want to look in the same spot you just looked.’ he continued.

‘commode.’ Merrill grunted, which was good enough for all parties and they headed their separate ways.

The two continued through the various camps and fires around the woods. This was a luxury they hadn’t had in three days. They meandered by an empty fire that had a pot of beans and stew boiling. The two grabbed two dingy, dirty, copper bowls from the dirty pile of used dishes. They served themselves a bowl of beans and immediately began walking away from the fire past the posse camp, heading North, stolen bowls in hand.

They had once again escaped.

Notes: This is a rendition of the events surrounding true historical facts. Please keep in mind that sights, sounds, dialogue, etc may not be an exactly historically accurate, I was not alive or in Salem, Oregon 1902. While the author(s) do their best to depict this story as historically accurate as possible, there are some additions for entertainment value.

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