09/29/2026
LOOKING BACK: First jail break in Sanders County history, 1911
“For the first time in the history of Sanders county, a jail break occurred when J.C. Armstrong and E.C. Drumm, convicted of grand larceny last week, made their escape from the county jail about 10 o’clock last Monday night,” according to the Sept. 29. 1911 issue of the Sanders County Independent-Ledger.
"Deputy Fred Sturman had just left for Warm Springs with an insane man, Deputy Sheriff Andy Anderson was at Heron serving some papers, thus leaving Sheriff Moser alone to look after the prisoners.
“That night the trial of T.A. Hollenbeck was on and after his conviction Moser took him to the county jail and locked the prisoners up for the night.
“It now develops that in some way the men who escaped slipped a wooden wedge in the jamb of the inside cage door so that when the key was turned the bolt of the lock failed to slip into its socket, thus enabling them to open this inside door and enter the corridor at their pleasure.”
“After having, as he supposed, locked up his prisoners, Sheriff Moser went to the depot to enquire as to the possibility of flagging No. 4, and upon his return, but a few moments later, he discovered that Armstrong and Drumm had made their escape, but Hollenbeck had been unable to squeeze through the opening made by sawing off one of the bars.
“It appears that after getting into the outer corridor the next move was to cut an iron bar from the outside rear window opening onto the roof of a woodshed. Whether this bar had been sawed through previous to this time, or they had help from the outside is not known but the removal of the bar shows their method of escape.”
“The indications are that the bar was cut from the outside, and it is thought that the job was done by friends of Hollenbeck and intended for his escape rather than that of Armstrong and Drumm.”
“From indications the two men crossed the Northern Pacific tracks and made for the tall timber northwest of town, or toward Kildee, the next station west.”
“Half the male population of the town went out man hunting Monday night, but without result,” the Ledger reported. Bloodhounds and their handler were brought by train from Hillyard (near Spokane, WA) but after two days no scent was found.
Armstrong had just been sentenced to seven years in the state penitentiary and Drumm one year after being convicted of breaking into a box car at Trout Creek last June and carrying away 17 pairs of shoes, 16 shirts and other merchandise. After that crime, they were captured after a long chase by N.P. Special Agent Joel S. Hindman, of Spokane.
A reward of $25 each was posted for the arrest of the fugitives.
“It is practically certain that they will be recaptured before long as Armstrong has but one leg, and wears a peg leg, the tracks of which should be easily traced,” the Ledger reported Sept. 29, 1911. Armstrong’s nickname was “Peggy.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: However, it appears Armstrong and Drumm may have gotten far enough away, quickly, to escape a return to jail. The Sanders County Ledger newspaper published no story, from later in the year of 1911 through 1920, of the fugitives being apprehended.
PHOTO CAPTION
The Sanders County Courthouse and Jail are pictured here in 1908, a year after each building was opened. The original courthouse was replaced in 1950. The jail remained in service until 1978, and is now home to the Sanders County Historical Society and its Old Jail Museum.
