So would begin an arms length of crimes committed by Harry Tracy, including a jailbreak in Colorado and another from the Utah Penitentiary, before venturing to the Pacific Northwest. He proved time and again that no jail could hold him.
Around 1898, while living in Portland, Oregon, Harry Tracy met Vancouver, Washington native David Merrill. Perhaps the two men were destined to meet, as Merrill was no stranger to crime. A decade before, on November 1, 1887, while in the Clark County jail on a theft charge, David Merrill (using the alias Dave Robinson) along with two other prisoners escaped from their cell by the use of a key they'd made.
In the months that followed, Tracy courted and married David Merrill's sister, Rose. Not much is known about his bride, nor if they had any children together.
During 1898-1899, partners-in-crime Tracy and Merrill committed numerous robberies in downtown Portland, including saloons, banks, trolley cars, a drug store and other various businesses. In most of these felonies, they often bound and gagged their victims, at gunpoint.
At this time, Merrill's mother lived in Portland. Police officers, much like the Pinkertons with Jesse James family farm, decided to watch his mother's house. Though the police didn't use such extreme measures, they entered the house and found David Merrill hiding upstairs. In the aftermath, a detective caught up with Harry Tracy, who, in his notorious arrogant manner, leisurely walked straight up to the house, exchanged a few words, and turned around and left. One account has him fleeing the house, running through the trees and hopping aboard a moving train. After telling the engineer to jump, Tracy ran down the cab, leapt to the ground and knocked himself out cold.
Another version, and probably more likely, has Tracy fleeing the house and later hiding out in a butcher shop. Not one to go down without a fight, gunfire was exchanged, where he took a minor bullet wound to the head.
Harry Tracy was taken into custody and sentenced to twenty years in the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem, Oregon. David Merrill was sentenced to thirteen (note: could also be twelve.)
On June 9, 1902, at seven o'clock in the morning, Tracy and Merrill broke out of prison, leaving behind two dead guards, Thurston Jones Sr., and Bailey Tiffany.
This would begin the most intense manhunt in the Pacific Northwest.
In the days that followed, heading north and stealing horses, food and clothing as they went, Tracy and Merrill traveled over fifty miles to Portland. From there, the two men rowed by boat across the Columbia River into Vancouver, Washington.
Vancouver Sheriff John Marsh had already been
alerted and had formed a posse of over sixty
men. On June 16, Deputy Bert Biesecker and
volunteer Luther Davidson were positioned at a
post along Salmon Creek (a creek roughly seven
miles from the Washington state line) when just
after dusk they spotted the two escapees. After a
stand off and trading gunfire, it was here Tracy
once again demonstrated he would flee any one
who stood in his way.
Salmon Creek, photograph by Lady Belle Outlaw
En route to Olympia and while in Castle Rock, Tracy and Merrill got into a duel -- possibly over a disagreement -- and Tracy shot and killed his partner-in-crime/brother-in-law.
Alone now, stealing as he went and staying with various families, Tracy continued on his way, while skillfully keeping lawmen at bay. In early July, Tracy was in Seattle, then moved eastward on to Kent, Auburn, Coulee City, Ritzville and Creston. It has been mentioned that he also stayed in caves along the way. It seemed the outlaw was invincible, larger-than-life, and no bullet or man could bring him down. Newspapermen eagerly followed Tracy, and almost daily the outlaw filled the front pages of newspapers across the nation.
In all the criminal lore of the country there is no record equal to that of Harry Tracy for
cold-blooded nerve, desperation and thirst for crime. Jesse James, compared
with Tracy, is a Sunday school teacher.
- Seattle Daily Times July 3, 1902
On August 3, 1902 Tracy came upon a ranch located in Creston, which was owned by brothers Lou and Gene Eddy. Some historians contend that while staying at the Eddy ranch, Tracy helped the brothers build a barn.
The next day, lawmen and a posse surrounded Tracy in the wheat field. He was shot in the leg by one of five wheat farmers. Possibly sensing he could not make an escape while bleeding to death, Harry Tracy shot and killed himself with his 30-30 rifle.
On August 5, in Davenport, souvenir seekers tore clothes from his remains, and ripped hair from his scalp. Harry Tracy's body was returned to Salem where it was buried in lime outside the prison walls. $4,000 reward money was paid to the five wheat farmers. During his 58-day escapade, Tracy killed seven men. At the time of his death, he was either 27 or 28-years old.
The burial spot for Harry Tracy is now long gone and nobody knows for sure where his remains in the ground are. Perhaps the mystery is fitting for a man who was able to elude lawmen, trackers and posse men through two states. And just like his relics, we may never know the gaps in just where his life took a wrong turn. Today, over a hundred years later, he remains one of Washington and Oregon's most notorious outlaws.
"I'm Tracy. I don't want to hurt anybody but those who get in
my way, but when I say put your hands up, put them up."
- Harry Tracy
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