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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 25, 1915)
East Oregonian Rounj-Up Souvenir Edition Pendleton, Oregon, Saturday, September 25, 1915 Par? N-nrJ"in HOW SHERIFF TAYLOR CORRALS JAIL BREAKERS Everybody Knows Our Doc' President of Round-Up as Officer of the Law Had Strenuous Chate After Four Jail Breakers; Prisoner Tells Tale in Verse. Twenty Papes Tilhilun D. Taylor la the president of tho lYiuIleton Hound-up, but that lun't ull he la. Thut position currl?K with It Jio pucunlury emoluments and no mun ever kept marrow In hla bones on honor. So "Till" has an other Job. He Ih sheriff of Umatilla county, lie watt sheriff long before there was ft ltound-up and most any body will tell you thut ho will be sher iff when the Itouiid-ups are number ed by the twenties. Thus, while as president of the ltound-up he has much dealing with outlaw horses. In his every day life he has u great deal to do with outlaw men And he handles the one about as well as the other. For nineteen years he has been guarding Umatilla county from the criminal classes and ao well has he succeeded that he Is known as the moBt efficient sheriff In the northwest and one of the best criminal catchers In the business. As Chief S-'pecial Agent E. B. Wood of the (vw. It. & N. puts it, "He's a wonder." "liloodhoumls ain't got nothing on you." Is the way Coleman Gray ex pressed the same notion and Mr. Uray knows whereof he speaks. In company with three other prisoners of ti e Umatilla county Jail, he cut his way through tho walls to liberty a few weeks ago, got away to the mountains to the south, and for nine days wandered about unmolested un til he fancied his freedom was se cure. It was Just at this moment that .Sheriff Taylor pounced upon hlmltml his two companions, O. W. Itaymond and Halph Peale, and, when he subsequently learned how the officer and his deputy, J. H. Ks te, had trailed them continuously, he couldn't refrain from expressing! himself as above quoted. 1 The story of their escape anil cap i " " f A ( ' U V- - : v . - . " -. . . :. : i " . ' ., . ... if- - . it . J . '"!' , - , - " " j- . , ' - ' ' Bulldogging a Steer is a Stiff Struggle The Round-Up City's CARRIES AN ENORMOUS STOCK OF HAY, GRAIN, POULTRY AND STOCK FOODS, TONICS AND REM EDIES OF ALL KINDS. Don't think of sending elsewhere for your stock and poultry supplies when you can save time and freight by buying in Pendleton, the central distributing point east of the Cascades. C. F. Coleswor We carry the famous Lee's, Conkey's, International, Lilley & Co., and other best lines. WHOLESALE AND RETAIL No order too large for us to fill. Get our figures on car load lots. thy 129 E. A1U Street, Opposite City Hall. Telephone 134. Pendleton, Oregon ture is an interesting one. The three and J. M. .k(."ormmack made their getaway one Saturday afternoon aft er they had dug through fourteen In ches of brl k with tome Improvised tools. Their escape was discovered soon afterwards but It was two hours before their trail leading to the mountains was struck, that Is the trail of the three for McCormmack never staid with them. For nine days Sheriff Tayl'.r and Deputy Es les followed every clew they found but the fugitives had used unusual caution. It was only when the es caped men began to underestimate the persistence of the sheriff that they were run down. Sheriff Taylor and Fayette Mettle, a camptender who had been robbed two days before, overtook the men, Deputy Estea having returned to Leh man Springs, the last stage point, to secure a bloodhound that had been sent out to them. The point where the persuers came upon the Jailbreakers was on one prong of Hlg creek, about eight miles south of Lookout Mountain. The sheriff and Mettle were following the main government trail and as they came up over a point, they saw their quarry not thirty yards ahead of them. The escapes had not been on the same trail but had Intersected It at this point and had stopped at Big creek to take a drink before climb ing straight over the ridges and drop ping clown onto the John Day. Sheriff Taylor caught sight of Peale and Itaymond first and Peale saw him almost at the same Instant. The .22 rifle which they had stolen from the Dndson camp was standing against a tree nearby but Peale made no ef fort to get it. The guns of Taylor and Mettle were upon them and, while Mettle remained covering the two, the sheriff walked a few feet and saw (iray. The rifle stolen from Mettle was at his feet and the mo ment he saw the sheriff, he grabbed the gun. before he could get It to hi shoulder, the sheriff's rifle was pointing straight at him. Taylor called him by name and ordered him to put down the gun. Reluctantly he did so alter the second command was given and the. sheriff require! Mm to walk a few feet away while he took charge of the gun. Willi Mettle leading the way and the sherilf bringing up the rear and both riding, the back trail was taken up. It was eight miles to Lookout and twelve from there to Lehman where the sheriff's car was. between Lookout ami Ix'hman, they met Dep uty Estes. None of the three men made an effort to escape on the way, though Gray said afterwards he would have taken a chance had he not known the bloodhound would have been put on his trail. He was the one of the trio whom the officers leared. Uesidea being a holdup man, he Is an ex-soldier and likes com panionship with p gun. Had the sher iff not come upon the three at a time when they had laid down their arms, there might have been shooting be fore the capture was effected. The three men having played out robbed the camp of Mettle on Hida thelr adventure. They admitted good fortune was with them at the Btart In-the first place, on the Sunday fol- lowing their escape, they found a. pair of high topped shoes left hy Joe LU at the Sunday camp of the Ells, and D. IX Phelps. The shoes fit Raymond perfectly. Later on they robbed a camp on Dodson creek and found another pair of shoes. At the Dodson camp they not only secured a rifle and provisions but they got a; pair of field glasses with which they! could scan the distant trails. i Their bad fortune came when they ribbed the camp of Mettle on Hida way creek about five miles south of Lehman. Gray and Raymond had left Peale at the head of a draw to watch for anyone approaching and had then entered Mettle's tent They had overhauled the supplies and sack ed up what stuff they wanted when Mettie suddenly appeared at the en trance of the tent, having approached from another direction than that where Peale was stationed. Mettie carried a rifle and, as he reached his tent, saw the feet of the two men In side. As he pulled open the flap, he was confronted by a rifle held In Gray's hands. He was ordered to turn aver the rifle, which he did. This was on Saturday, a week fol lowing their escape. The three men went over a ridge while Mettie hur ried to Lehman to telephone the sher iff. Taylor received the message about 3 o'clock and he and Estes left at once. It was late when they reached Lehman and they remained there all night. By daylight they had -ched Mettle's camp. Mettie guld ed them, nnd had picked up the trail. They followed the trail over the ridge found where another camp had been robbed and spent the rest of the day beating out the canyons, ending up at Lookout Mountain late In the aft ernoon. They tried to use the watch tower on the mountain to locate any sign of a fire but failed. The escapes stated afterwards that they made their way over three suc cessive high ridges after robbing the Mettle camp and rested on Sunday. They had secured a fishhook and Pcule caught 13 trout. Peale knew the country and was the leader, In tending to take them Into the John Day country. Monday morning Estes started back for Lehman for the dog and Taylor and Mettie took the gov ernment trail south to try to pick up fresh tracks. By good fortune, they came upon tho men Just at the time when they came out of the timber and crossed the main trail. In ten minutes more they would have disap peared up another ridge where trail ing would have been difficult The three men proved, themselvei pretty clever at covering up their trail. They ivrlkcd for long distanc es on rocks and grass where no prlnta were left, seldom struck traveled K1 t T V' '-' t Some Horses Don't Like to be Saddled iiilwMlirr paths and a number of times made long detours. It was one of these detours that threw the officers off the trail early In the week. However, they grew a little careless, stating that they did not figure the officers would follow their trail more than three days If they found It. Not once did they catch sight of the of ficers though they scaled every high point to use their field glasses. One morning while asleep on Meadow creek, the officers passed within a stone's throw of their camp and one of the trio caught sight of the horse's legs through the brush. They did not know, however, that the riders were Taylor and Estes. Back In the confines of the county jail Raymond burst into song to tell of their adventures. As poetry his composition will not get his name In the hall of fame, but serves to throw some light on their break for liberty. II follows: The Jail Break. Just read these few verses and you will know the whole tale Of the four young men who broke: from the county Jail On the 26th of August, In the 1915th' year: I Jim Estes went to Portland with aj deserter-volunteer; j Sheriff Taylor was sick, so we saw, our chance at last. We kept our chance well covered j while Joe and Funk passed With a pair of shears for a chisel, we dug the mortar loose; I Painted a paper for the opening when locked in our calaboose. I Two days and one night we put our muscles to the test, To get the hole completed while Es tes was still west. We hid the brick in the bath room, kept the dust wiped up clean, Stuffed cloth Into the ear drum It was easy as a dream. On the 28th of August we were ready for the break. We were through the walls to the concrete, our paper cover was a good fake. About two hours after dinner we were ready for the run; Broke the outside with an Iron, from then on we had our fun. We started for the hills, the sun was beastly hot, But we never thought of stopping until we reached the top. We got bur camp supply from herd ers as we traveled down the pike, Never thinking Taylor and Estes still were keeping up the hike. We kept our way through jungles and steep and rocky peaks. Ever sure that we'd succeded after being out a week. We camped at night in pretty val leys, fished and hunted on our way, Each took his turn at cooking, ad miring the scenery every day. The ninth day out on our vacation we were coming down a trail. Planning a bright and happy future, never thinking of the Jail. At last we dropped In a pretty valley, dusty and dry from our fore noon's walk. We took a drink and stretched our muscles. That to our sorrow was the final balk, For on to us at right angles Sheriff Taylor rode down the trail, He covered us while still in the sad dle and took us back to the county jail. We were comparing our trip through the mountains while coming back to town And we found that Taylor and Estes had covered all our ground. They brought out the hounds for the finish, for our trail was cold and hard. But they didn't have to use them for they caught us off our guard. While talking about the "old trail ers" of the days that are pass ed and gone, Don't forget that Taylor and Estes belong to the Pioneer Throng. Gray and Peale have since pleaded guilty and been sentenced to the pen itentiary and Raymond is expected to follow their lead. . 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