Bang! With a flash of a gun Harry Tracy the Infamous Outlaw
lay dead by his own hand in a field in Lincoln County. After being on the run
from authorities throughout Oregon and Washington the law caught up to Tracy.
Two Creston men caught up to the fugitive and shot him with a mortal wound,
Harry tried to allude. Tracy made his way to a field near a rock when he
decided that he was not going back to prison and took his own life. It was
there on August 6th, 1902 that the Last Desperado died.
Harry Tracy was born Harry Severs in 1875 in Wisconsin and
started off life in the time honored profession of farming
but quickly ran away to become an outlaw. He started out pulling small time
heists in Colorado and Utah until he was sent to jail in 1897. Not unlike other
felons of the time he broke out of jail. “"I'm Tracy” he would say, “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." He was next spotted in Salem, OR where he and a partner
went on a stick-up spree. Again he was apprehended and sent to Oregon State
Penitentiary for 20 years.
Once again Tracy joined forces with his accomplice and broke
free. They grabbed two Winchester riffles and killed three guards that stood
between them and freedom. In Chehalis, Washington they parted ways when Tracy put
a slug in his partners back permanently ending any chance of reconciliation. This
started the largest man hunt of the era.
Tracy was on the lamb for 58 days by the time he got to a
small farm house outside of Creston, WA. Lou and Gene Eddy, owners of the farm, allowed Tracy to stay
as long as he helped build a barn; it was there the law caught up to him. Tracy
was out working in the Eddy’s wheat field when lawmen and town peoples surrounded
him and he was wounded in the thigh. Bleeding to death Tracy stumbled away and
hid in the field next to a large rock; it was there he decided to end his life
when he realized he could not make it out alive.
In the years preceding and since his death, Harry Tracy has
been termed “The Last Desperado.” He was the topic of many dime novels as well
as plays more recently a movie titled “Harry Tracy, Desperado” (1982). No one
will ever know just how many people died at the hands of Tracy.
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Booking Photo
This is Harry Tracy’s 1897 Utah
Penitentiary Booking Photo
Image courtesy of: www.franksrealm.com
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Harry Tracy Dead
This is the photo taken in the field
right after Tracy took his own life.
Image courtesy of: Lincoln county
Historical society
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The Glory is Due to Creston Men Alone
This was an article in the August 8th,
1902 Creston News, The official newspaper for Creston, WA.
Image courtesy of: Washington State
Library
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Harry Tracy the Death Dealing Oregon
Outlaw
This is one of many dime novels that
feature Harry Tracy.
Image courtesy of:
Washington State Library
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Tracy’s trail of blood
This is the cover of the book Manhunt: The Pursuit of Harry Tracy by
Bill Gulick
Image courtesy of:
bestyegg.blogspot.com
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June 9, 1902: Harry Tracy and David
Merrill Escape from the Oregon State Penitentiary
David Merrill was Tracy’s partner in
crime in the Oregon robberies When Harry Tracy escaped from Oregon State
Penitentiary he took David Merrill with him. Tracy soon after the escape shot
and Killed Merrill; Tracy claims it was a duel, but there were no witnesses.
Image courtesy of:
portland.daveknows.org
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By: Rebeka Smithson
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