Legends of the Old West - LEGENDS LITE | The Outlaw Harry Tracy

Episode Date: July 21, 2019

Harry Tracy terrorized the Pacific Northwest in the waning days of the Old West. He was a thief, an escape artist and a cold-blooded murderer. He ran with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and was said to be more ruthless than Jesse James. This is his story... For more details, please visit www.blackbarrelmedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Light. I want to talk to you today about an outlaw, a man who is certainly not as commonly known as Jesse James or Billy the Kid or Butch Cassidy, but probably should have been. This is the story of Harry Tracy. As a podcast network, our first priority has always been audio and the stories we're able to share with you. But we also sell merch. And organizing that was made both possible and easy with Shopify. Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell and grow at every stage of your business. From the launch your online shop stage, all the way to the

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American Express. Visit amex.ca slash yamx. Benefits vary by card. Terms apply. As the Seattle Daily Times wrote about him in 1902, 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. is a Sunday school teacher. One historian nicknamed Tracy the mad dog of the wild bunch. He's said to have partnered with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, however, we're still trying to find complete record of that,

but given the things that I have read, one would assume that he did hook up with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, absolutely. Now, Tracy was charming, he was attractive, and he was very deadly. He was also an escape artist. He mastered the art of escaping from prison, which all of these things may sadly remind you of a serial killer that we all know pretty well, at least in namesake, and that is Ted Bundy. They also have a couple of their commonalities. They both started their life of crime in their 20s, and they both coincidentally escaped from Aspen, Colorado jails. Now, I'm not sure if it's the same Aspen, Colorado jail, however, very coincidental. So Ted, though, unlike Harry, started out to commit murder. Harry Tracy did not. He more wanted to rob his victims,

but clearly, spoiler alert here, that did change. So Harry Tracy was born in Wisconsin in 1874 to the real name of Harry Severns. So he ends up changing his name along the way to Harry Tracy when he decides to become an outlawed as a pair's family. So how considerate of him. So in Wisconsin, with his family, he learned to be a farmer. He ends up running away. We're not sure if he hated farming, not sure if he didn't like Wisconsin. Maybe he had different reasons. But regardless, he goes all the way from Wisconsin, journeys through Chicago and Colorado, journeys through Chicago and Colorado, landing in Billings, Montana, then ultimately ends up in Utah. So no idea why he chooses to travel this far across the country, but now we're in Utah.

So this is where Harry Tracy determines for certain an honest living is not for him. So he decides that stealing and robbing people is something he's very good at. This becomes his new trade. However, maybe he's not that great at it because it ends up landing him in jail for the first time in Utah. So this actually is apparently good for him because this is good practice. So this allows him the ability to hone his craft that then comes in handy for the rest of his life, and that is escaping from jail. So his first escape was thanks to two alliances. Now remember, he's charming and he's attractive, and so I doubt finding accomplices was something that was all that challenging for Tracy. So one of the fellow inmates named David Lant was his accomplice, and the other was an accomplice from the outside. So this accomplice from the outside was convinced by Tracy and Lant to bury a Colt revolver for them near a drain ditch where they

were digging with a few other inmates just outside the property of the jail. Clearly, they were being watched by guards, but what they were doing was outside the jail, obviously. So with this revolver, he gets this revolver. He proceeds to kill the deputy sheriff and two more people. He successfully escapes with David Lant, supposedly, and flees to Colorado. So they're now going from Utah to Colorado. So this is where it's believed that he meets up with the outlaws Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. this is where it's believed that he meets up with the outlaws Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. He's possibly still with David Lant as well, but whoever he's with, this gang of people that he meets up with in Colorado proceed to rustle cattle, commit robbery, and commit murder. Now, along their way with all their shenanigans, they end up killing a 15-year-old boy. So I'm not really sure if that was necessary, but anyway, so obviously after killing a 15-year-old boy. So I'm not really sure if that was necessary. But anyway, so obviously after killing a 15-year-old boy, the posse men are after them. So during this chase, a very prominent posse man named Valentine Hoy was also gunned down by someone in Tracy's group. So now Tracy is being hunted for jailbreak and multiple murders. So he's caught, finally, and arrested, and this time put in Aspen Jail.

Now, he was specifically taken to Aspen Jail because Aspen Jail was thought to be the most secure of all the jails in the area, and this is a place that Tracy absolutely could not escape. So, however, for an escape artist like Tracy, clearly, he gets out. So, as if Tracy's life had been boring before, clearly not, but this is where it really gets interesting. So now he escapes from Aspen, Colorado, and he runs to Portland. So Tracy's free again. He's on the run from Colorado to Portland. Again, not sure why he's choosing these cities. In Portland, though, he teams up with another well-known outlaw in the area named David Merrill. So he may have known Merrill previously, a little bit unclear, but an important note about David Merrill is that

he is also an escape artist. So 10 years earlier, David Merrill was in jail and he ends up creating a cell key out of random objects. Merrill breaks himself out of the Clark County, Oregon jail. So anyway, come on. Now, it's crazy that these people are all able to escape from jail. I mean, it's almost like you only had to be kind of creative to break free, but thank God people didn't. But I digress. So this friendship ultimately leads to one of the longest and deadliest manhunts of that time. So if you're familiar with our other shows, this manhunt that is upcoming is actually longer than the manhunt for Jesse James post the Northfield raid. So check out that series on our Legends of the Old West show if you have not, if you've not heard that series already, because

that's pretty amazing. But this manhunt's actually longer. So if Tracy and Meryl's friendship is not already a disaster for mankind at the time, Tracy complicates it further by falling in love with and marrying David's sister. So I cringed when I read this. We all know not to mix business and pleasure. So as I said, every piece of this is a disaster. So this is where we're at. Meryl and Tracy are both free. They're now a team.

Tracy is married to Meryl's sister. They are in Portland area, which Meryl knows very well, which is good for the team, but also bad because the police know Meryl very well. So they go on a robbing spree, earning them the nickname the Macintosh Bandits. And that's where things begin to unravel very quickly for them. After a few raids that the Macintosh bandits go on, the police, who I said know what Merrill is capable of, suspect him immediately for all of this crime. They go to his house, they indeed find stolen items, and they arrest him. Tracy was not in the house at the time, but it took Merrill apparently a hot minute to rat out his brother-in-law to strike a deal

with the police to serve less time. So as the rumor has it, Tracy was on his way back to the house as he got closer, become suspicious, and then ran for it. The police opened fire. They're chasing him. They eventually catch Tracy and they sentence him to 20 years in jail. So the mistake is they put Tracy and Meryl in the same jail. So Meryl is serving 10 to 12 years. Now Tracy is serving 20. So if I were Tracy, that would have been my immediate tip off that Meryl had ratted me out. You're serving for the same crimes with an eight to 10 year difference in sentence. But I don't know who knows if they discuss the sentence time because clearly that meant nothing. They were planning to break out anyway. So they served roughly three years behind bars, as we know it. And in June of 1902, it was time.

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them two Winchester rifles. So on this morning of the escape, they're lined up with their fellow inmates for the guard to take count. As the count is wrapping up, they opened fire, ran for an outside wall where they had a ladder waiting. Not really sure how they had this ladder waiting. Apparently, maybe they'd bribed another inmate to help them with a ladder while the count was happening. I'm not sure, but one inmate ended up throwing themselves on both of the outlaws, trying to stop them from escaping. He gets wounded, I believe, eventually dies. I mean, there's a lot happening. But anyway, they finally make it out. They throw the ladder against the wall. They begin firing at guards that are firing at them from the wall. Tracy shoots and wounds

one of the guards. They finally get over the wall. As they get to the other side of the wall, the guard that he shot and is wounded is laying there to greet them. So they then capture that guard and use him as a human shield as they run. Once out of sight, they shoot the guard in the head. Kind of a rough day, clearly a rough day for that guard. So Tracy and Meryl are now on the lam together. For those that haven't heard of this term, it means on the run. On the lam means on the run, meaning to escape. So they are on the lam. This is when they become national news. And supposedly there's an $8,000 reward out for their capture, dead or alive. So this $8,000 reward, especially at that time

period, is clearly a lot of money. In any time period, $8,000 is a lot of money. So this $8,000 reward, especially at that time period, is clearly a lot of money. In any time period, $8,000 is a lot of money. So this results with everyone with a gun is now determined to find these two criminals, which then heightens fear in everyone in the area because we now not only have two armed criminals on the loose, but then everyone else with a gun is now out shooting anything that they think are these two men. One source actually quotes Detective Joe Day of the Portland Police Department, who told writer Stuart Holbrook many years later, quote, the whole damned country was full of militia. They shot at everything in Clark and Cowlitz counties, sounded like the Spanish-American War all over again. It was the

most dangerous place I was ever in. So with police and now this money-hungry, angry mob on their trail, they continued on the lam, jumping from house to house, intimidating people by announcing who they were, robbing them, sometimes tying them up, except they wouldn't tie up the women because they wanted the women to make them food. So everyone's got to eat, right? So after they've tied people up, they've intimidated everyone. The women are making them food. They eat in the family's kitchen. As they sit down to take their dinner break, they would often catch up on the news. They would read the newspaper that was covering their escape very, very closely. So some sources say it was the newspaper articles that eventually caused the rift that there was no turning back from between these two men. So either Tracy thought Merrill was getting too much credit for the escape, or that's where he finally learned that

Merrill had ratted him out and betrayed him years earlier at that Portland home. Remember when Tracy was on his way back and ran for it? And then other sources, however, say that Tracy thought Meryl was getting too soft or weak and wasn't able to keep up with the madness that they were this rampage that they were on. So he had to get rid of him. So whatever the cause, most agree that the result was Tracy challenging Meryl to a 10-step duel. On step eight, however, Tracy turns and shoots Meryl in the back. So that's one theory. Tracy kills his partner, Meryl, very unceremoniously, cheating during a duel. So that's one theory. The other theory, and this is where the sister comes in, the wife of Tracy. So if you believe the fact, the theory that he got soft and Meryl got soft, he got weak and Tracy just couldn't trust him anymore to carry out what they needed to carry out, then this is perhaps the theory that you would go with. That Tracy wanted to let Meryl go and did let him go as a

favor to his wife. So in doing that, he had to kill someone else as a stand-in so no one would be looking for Meryl. So this theory arose because there was uncertainty whether the body delivered back to the prison was actually that of Meryl. So this theory is probably not likely, but it is possible. So I wanted to throw that out there for consideration. So either way, Tracy is now back on the lam alone and apparently headed to Hole-in-the-Wall, Wyoming. On the way, he made it as far as Creston, Washington, where he stopped at a ranch for food, which appears to be his nightly ritual. He kept that up after Meryl is gone, dead possibly. So he forbids the family from mentioning his visit by threatening them. However, they disobey and the posse caught up with Tracy in a nearby wheat field.

So he was shot in the leg by this posse and wounded very badly. So as the posse converged, Tracy's struggling. He's trying to stop the bleeding. He drags himself over 50 yards, finally realizes that, you know, the blood is gushing too quickly. He has no hope. He gives up. He shoots himself in the head. Tracy had refused to never go back to prison, and apparently he kept that promise to himself

and anyone else that he told of this promise. But Tracy was on the lam for 58 days. He's believed to have killed 11 people during this time, again, making it the longest and deadliest manhunt of that time. So much like the Dalton gang after the Coffeyville raid, which is episode one of our Legends of the Old West podcast, if you're just now joining us, make sure to go back and listen to that. But the public helped themselves to scraps of Tracy's clothes and locks of his hair. Everyone apparently wanted a piece of this famous outlaw. So perhaps

the most gruesome part of this entire story, for me at least, is to avoid body snatchers digging up his corpse for display. His face was then burned with sulfuric acid prior to burial. Ugh, this is so gross. So anyway, but this is hard to believe. It's hard to believe even when I read it, but not as hard to believe when you kind of know the background of that time. And if you've heard about what happened to Wild Bill Hickok's grave after his passing, after he was murdered, you know the story of Deadwood. This was also discussed in previous episodes. You understand that this may have actually been necessary to keep people from digging up the body and hold it as a trophy, apparently. So I'll leave you with a couple of

final thoughts about Harry Tracy. So remember the quote I started this episode with comparing Tracy to Jesse James. And here are a couple more that I think I definitely have to share. of Northwest Colorado. Tracy's name is typically not mentioned in the same breath with the likes of Jesse James or Billy the Kid, which is perplexing given this man's fearsome reputation. They go on to say, Harry Tracy should be among the most notorious outlaws of the Old West. Finally, I'll close with a quote from someone who actually knew Tracy personally. This is the prison superintendent who wrote in a Lee's Biennial report. Since my contact with criminals and my study of related subjects, I have not met a man with so many strong points to qualify him for a successful criminal. His quickness of apprehension and decision was Napoleonic. He had a nerve of steel. With him, the taking of a human life was a question of expediency only. His reckless daredevil exploits and hair-breadth escapes were to him diversion. In conversation with him, he was very direct, and although devoid of much education, he had good

use of language. He was especially fortunate having intelligent and shrewd outside help. We kept him much longer than had any other prison. His devious career and ignominious death furnishes a strong warning to all men who have a tendency toward outlawry. Without a dollar to his estate, with a reputation for crime only, while still a young man, his sons set in darkness and his remains lie unhonored in a prison cemetery. So there you have the story of Harry Tracy as I understand it. So thank you for joining me for episode three of Legends Light. And though this is an episode of our Legends Light series, as I just said, Legends of the Old West is up for People's Choice Award.

We'd be so grateful if you would go to our social media of the Old West is up for People's Choice Award. We'd be so grateful if you would go to our social media pages at Old West Podcast, where you'll find posts containing the links to be able to nominate us. And as always, if you like the show, please give us a rating and review on iTunes or wherever you're listening, and we look forward to talking to you soon.