Frederick Krueger Collection, Roslyn Bank Robbery Papers, 1892-1893

On September 24, 1892, around 2:00 p.m., a group of five men held up and robbed the Ben E. Snipes & Co. Bank in Roslyn, Washington. The armed robbers stole over $5,000 from the bank’s vault before escaping into the nearby mountains. A three-week search for the suspects ensued but with no success. In late November, three suspects were identified in Oregon and brought to trial in Ellensburg, Washington. One man was falsely convicted before two of the real bank robbers were captured in April of 1893. George McCarty and Willard Christiansen (a.k.a., Ras Lewis and Matt Warner) were identified and jailed in the Kittitas County court house in Ellensburg. On May 22, 1893, the day before to the trial, the two prisoners escaped the county jail and after a brief gunfight were re-apprehended and returned to the prison. The trial lasted two weeks but resulted in a hung jury. An appeal was filed to hold the suspects for another trial but on September 7, 1893, the charges against Christiansen and McCarty were dismissed due to lack of evidence. Both were released from jail on September 9, 1893. Christensen and McCarty later admitted robbing the bank in letters and memoirs.