Over a century ago, Napavine played an unexpected role in what would come to be known as one of the greatest manhunts in the Pacific Northwest. The sensational events of that summer read like the final chapter in a Western dime novel—proving once again that “truth is stranger than fiction.”
Desperate Criminals on the Loose in Lewis County
“There was great excitement in Chehalis Saturday when it became known that Merrill and Tracy, the escaped Oregon convicts, were in this immediate neighborhood.” Chehalis Bee Nugget, July 4, 1902.
In the summer of 1902, residents in Southwest Washington had reason to grab their guns and bolt their doors. Notorious outlaws Harry Tracy and David Merrill had escaped from Oregon State Penitentiary on June 9, and rumor had it the fugitives were headed this way. With rap sheets boasting multiple robberies, murders and jailbreaks, outlaws Tracy and Merrill had reputations that rivaled Jesse James, Butch Cassidy and Billy the Kid. The pair’s carefully executed escape from prison left three guards and one inmate dead. It was one of the most famous prison breaks in Oregon history.
After the jailbreak, law enforcement officers and the Oregon militia quickly formed a 40-man posse and took to the countryside in hot pursuit. But the experienced escape artists managed to stay one step ahead of the disorganized lawmen, confounding their pursuers time and again.
One night, while the officers searched the woods, the outlaws appeared in Salem and stole the clothes right off a surprised J.W. Roberts. They left the man standing in his underwear while they stole a wagon and team of horses and boldly drove away. The daring criminals continued to elude their pursuers even after bloodhounds joined the chase. Desperate, the Oregon State Penitentiary superintendent offered a cash reward of $3,000—that’s over $100,000 in today’s money—for the capture and return of both criminals “dead or alive.” The $1,500-a-head reward spurred dozens of citizens to join the manhunt. By June 13, a posse of 200 men, each toting a shotgun and flask of whiskey, saddled up and joined what would turn into the longest and most chaotic manhunt in Pacific Northwest history.
“Witnesses claimed the pursuers packed more firewater than firepower and endangered livestock more than the fugitives.” The Columbian, October 11, 2020.
Armed and dangerous, the desperate convicts made their way north to Portland. On June 16, they held up three men on the south bank of the Columbia River and forced the men to ferry them across to Washington. As soon as they landed on the Washington side, they held up a farmer, stole the clothes off the back of a second rancher and disappeared into the woods beyond Vancouver. Noticing a copy of the Oregonian in the farmer’s cabin, the two men were delighted to see their pictures in print, and each cut out their own photo to keep.
As they continued north, Tracy and Merril left nothing but terror in their wake. Alarmed citizens read newspaper accounts of more armed robberies, house break-ins and folks being forced at gunpoint to assist the fugitives on their escape.
Then, early in the morning on Saturday, June 28, Frank Vrba and his wife were outside working on their Newaukum River farm when they spied two men fitting the outlaws’ description. The men were traveling north past Napavine towards Chehalis. The infamous outlaws had made it as far as Lewis County without being caught—but only one of them would leave here alive.
Deadly Duel in Napavine
Just a few minutes after passing the Vrba’s farm, the partners argued violently. Unable to resolve their dispute, they agreed to settle their quarrel with a duel. In the early morning hours, on a hillside above the Newaukum River, they stood back to back and began pacing in opposite directions, one step at a time. But before the agreed-upon count of ten, Tracy spun around and shot Merrill in the back, twice, then once in the head for good measure. Merrill slumped to the ground, dead. Lucky for Tracy, the Vrba’s ducks were making such a racket that the farmer and his wife didn’t hear the commotion.
Tracy hid his ex-partner’s body in some bushes behind a log. Without a backward glance, the lone outlaw proceeded to wade across the Newaukum River, where, at 9:30 that morning, he robbed F.R. Porter’s cabin. The criminal forced open the door and stole eggs, biscuits, flour, milk, one suit of clothes, three coats, gloves and some underclothing.
Tracy later boasted about the details of Merrill’s murder to Frank Scott, a man whom the outlaw had forced at gunpoint to take him in a launch from Olympia to Ballard. “I was tired of him, anyhow,” Tracy told him.
While the search for Tracy continued north to King County, events in Napavine were just starting to get interesting.
A Gruesome Discovery
On July 14, 1902, a few weeks after the murder, Mrs. Mary Alice Waggoner of Napavine and her 12-year-old son George set off berry picking along an old county road on their way to visit her married daughter. About two and a half miles northeast of Napavine, they noticed a foul smell coming from behind a nearby log. At first, they assumed it was a dead animal. Jokingly, one suggested it might be the unlucky Merrill they had read about in the papers. Sure enough, after the mother and son took a closer look, they discovered a body lying face down between two logs. The woman was convinced she had found the murdered fugitive.
Hoping to secure the $1,500 reward for the return of Merrill’s body, Mrs. Waggoner hurried to her daughter’s home. She found someone to watch the body while she quickly came to town and reported her discovery to Sheriff Deggeller. She also consulted with an attorney. Mrs. Waggoner then related her sensational discovery to a reporter from the Chehalis Bee Nugget, but they agreed to keep the news quiet until the body could be identified at the inquest.
For the coroner and those at the inquest, verifying Merrill’s body was an especially gruesome task. “The man’s face and head were decomposed and blackened beyond recognition. The stench was terrible,” reported the Chehalis Bee Nugget. But upon close examination, the decomposed remains revealed two gunshot wounds to the back and one to the head. The wounds matched Tracy’s account of the murder that he had boasted to the Olympia man earlier. Few people believed Tracy at the time, but Merrill’s body proved his story true.
Merrill’s brother Ben, who had been working in Hylander’s livery barn in Chehalis, was notified and also came to the inquest. Although the convict’s face was unrecognizable, Ben Merrill confirmed that the body was indeed his brother’s by the set of four false teeth. Prison authorities identified Merrill by his prison scars and a dislocated shoulder. To add to the evidence, Warden Janes confirmed that the empty 30-30 Winchester rifle casings found near the murder scene were an exact match to the empty casings found inside the Salem prison following the jailbreak.
“The careful examination of the body at the Sticklin undertaking parlors Tuesday evening by the coroner’s jury satisfied Warden Janes of Salem that the right man had been found.” Chehalis Bee Nugget, July 18, 1902.
From this point, the story only gets “curiouser and curiouser.” Stay tuned for the dramatic conclusion of the Tracy-Merrill story in Part 2, coming soon.
