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The Thurston County area was first settled in
about 1845. The area became part of the Oregon
Territory of the United States in 1848. The area
was originally part of a county called Lewis
County for the next 4 years. Thurston County was
first formed by the Oregon Territorial Council
in January 1852. Thurston County then
encompassed most of what is now Western
Washington. Olympia was named the county seat in
July of that year. Andrew J. Simmons was elected
Sheriff of Thurston County, Oregon Territory in
1852 and was responsible for law enforcement in
our area.
The Washington Territory was created in March
1853. Olympia, population 996, was the named the
Territorial capital. The current boundaries were
established in 1877.
The Early Years: 1854-1900
The first Sheriff of Thurston County, Washington
was appointed by the Governor and not elected.
His name was Franklin Kennedy and he served in
1854. Sheriff Kennedy had arrived in this area
by covered wagon in 1853 and owned property in
the Kamilche area. Kennedy Creek was named for
him. He later served as a judge in Mason County.
The first Deputy Sheriff for this area appears
to have been A. Benton Moses who served Sheriff
Simmons in 1852. He was killed in 1855 serving
in the militia during the Washington Territory
Indian Wars of 1855-1857. The famous Chief
Leschi of the Nisqually tribe was convicted of
leading the uprising in which Moses was killed.
He was sentenced to be hanged in 1858. Thurston
County Sheriff Isaac Hays refused to be a part
of this miscarriage of justice which was thought
to be an act of war not murder. The hanging was
carried out by Deputy Sheriff William Mitchell
and a posse of 12 men at Steilacoom when Sheriff
Hays was absent. Chief Leschi was later
exonerated in modern retrial by the “Historical
Court of Justice”, which was chaired by
Washington State Supreme Court’s Chief Justice
in 2004.
Another murder case involved Yelm Jim (Owholit),
a Native American of the Nisqually tribe,
convicted of murdering his employer, William
White, in March 1858. When Jim was not locked up
in the local log blockhouse, he was shackled and
allowed to play with Sheriff (1858-1860) George
C. Blankenship’s young son at their home. The
blockhouse, which acted as the first jail, was
located in downtown Olympia in what was then
called Capital Park. He was eventually pardoned
by the Governor and released. George E.
Blankenship, son of the Sheriff, and Owholit
remained friends for years afterward. This is an
example of the complex relationships and
conflicts between the early pioneers and the
Native Americans of the area.
The longest serving Sheriff in the history of
the department was named William Billings. He
moved to Olympia in 1851. This adventurous New
Englander, served on a whaling ship in the
Pacific in 1848, prospected for gold in
California in 1849, was a member of the Free
Soil and Whig political parties in 1854
(forerunners of the Republican party), served in
the militia in 1855, survived a hurricane off
Cape Hatteras in 1857, and was superintendent of
the Puyallup Indian Reservation in late 1862.
He served as Sheriff for 12 terms (terms were
two years at that time) or 24 years till 1891.
He was the first Republican official elected in
this county. His first term was from 1860 to
1862 but he did not complete it. In 1862, he
heard the call of the gold fields in Idaho and
tried his hand at prospecting on the Salmon
River. His Deputy, R.W. Moxlie, assumed his
duties and was elected Sheriff in the 1862
election and served till 1865. Billings ran for
Sheriff again in 1868 and was re-elected 11
times in a row.
Sheriff Billings is famous for building the
first county jail of brick from his own
brickyard on 4th Avenue and Eastside Street in
Olympia. The jail was located at Legion and
Adams Street. It was in constant use till 1903.
In 1874, Sheriff Billings also built and ran the
first territorial prison at Seatco, now Bucoda.
He was allowed to use the inmates as laborers
and was paid 70 cents a day for housing them in
his privately owned prison. It operated till
1887 when the prison at Walla Walla opened.
Washington became a state in 1889. The 19th
century closed with the son of William Billings
serving as Sheriff.
Charles Billings, born on the Puyallup
reservation, served as Thurston County Sheriff
from 1896-1900. He was involved in two shootings
during his time as Sheriff. In December 1897, a
jail inmate named James Cronin attacked the
Sheriff with slung shot (blackjack) in an escape
attempt. A well-directed shot from the Sheriff’s
revolver stopped the escape and nearly cost the
inmate his life. The second incident occurred as
Charles was bringing in a prisoner in his buggy
and was looking for something to tighten the
wheel. His revolver fell out of its holster and
discharged. He was struck near the heart,
suffered a broken rib and a punctured lung. The
unknown prisoner tied the buggy wheel on with
cords and raced it to Olympia. The Sheriff
survived thanks to his prisoner. How ironic for
a Sheriff to almost kill one prisoner only to be
saved by another.
Murder, Moonshine, and the Great Depression:
1900-1940
March 1, 1903 at 1500 hours, we suffered the
loss of our first Deputy Sheriff killed in the
line of duty. Deputy David Morrell was killed
during an escape from the jail by prisoner
Christ Benson. Deputy Morrell was putting the
prisoners back in the cells after their dinner
when he was struck by Benson with a piece of
pipe pried from the jail walls. Deputy Morrell
tried to fire his revolver but was disarmed.
Benson then shot him to death and escaped. A
trusty had summoned Sheriff Jesse T. Mills’ wife
from her home. She responded to the jail with a
revolver and kept the rest of the prisoners from
escaping. Benson was eventually caught and
convicted of manslaughter. Deputy Morrell’s name
is etched on the National Law Enforcement
Officers Memorial in Washington D.C. as well as
on the memorial for Washington’s finest near the
state capital building.
A couple of months later, Sheriff Mills closed
the old brick jail (which had served 585
arrestees since 1897) built under Sheriff W.
Billings. A new two-story stone facility with
modern security features such as Bessemer
steel-lined cells and double-barred windows was
opened in cooperation with the City of Olympia.
Deputies could use levers to open and close
cells without coming into direct contact with
inmates until they were ready to handle them.
Deputy Morrell might not have died if the new
jail had been in operation two months earlier.
Sheriff Mills had been a deputy for Sheriff C.
Billings and Sheriff G. Gaston. He made 105 of
the arrests that were deposited in the old jail.
He founded Mills and Mills funeral home in
Olympia in 1915 and was Mayor of Olympia during
World War I.
Sheriff E.A. McClarty assumed office in 1904. He
was a Spanish-American war veteran. He
participated in the charge up San Juan Hill
where his unit, the 16th Infantry Regiment,
planted the first American flag on top of the
Spanish blockhouse.
Sheriff Thomas Connelly (1906-1908) was the
first to use an automobile in his job in 1907,
when he borrowed a friend’s car to rush to
Tacoma. He was getting a half-tone photo of
suspected murderer Jesse White reproduced for
public notification. White was alleged to have
stabbed Frank Lamp 30-60 times on the wooden
bridge near the Olympia Brewery where Lamp
worked. Lamp lived long enough to identify his
attacker.
Prohibition in the form of the 18th Amendment
was enacted in 1920. However, Thurston County
Sheriff John Gifford (1916-1920) had been
busting moonshiners since 1918. Court records
show 20 misdemeanors and 9 felony violations
with nine stills busted in 1920. One intrepid
burglar in an attempt to try and steal
confiscated liquor tried to break into the
county jail by sawing through two steel bars and
busting the wooden window cover to the cell
where the alcohol was stored. He was
unsuccessful and Sheriff Gifford had to destroy
several hundred quarts of illegal liquor as a
result to prevent another attempt.
A high profile murder case occurred during
Sheriff Gifford’s term. The case involved a ship
caulker named Norman E. Burnette, who shotgunned
his wife and two children in a fit of rage when
she told him he was not the father of the
youngest boy in May 1918. He buried them in a
shallow grave on Hawks Prairie but hunters
discovered the bodies several months later. Mr.
Burnette confessed on the witness stand and was
sentenced to life imprisonment at hard labor for
first degree murder.
The need for jail space for female and juvenile
prisoners led to a $10,485. renovation of the
stone jail in 1919. It would now hold 30
prisoners.
Sheriff Gifford bought a five-passenger 1920
Dodge for the department with $1100. from liquor
fines in July 1920. His old Dodge which he sold
to the county in 1917 may have been the
department’s first county-owned vehicle. He is
said to have driven it 30,000 miles.
Sheriff Claud Havens came into office in 1925
(1925-1934) to fill the term of Sheriff Jackson
who resigned to go back to ranching. He
continued the fight against illegal liquor by
destroying 453 stills. The Sheriff’s Office
consisted of five Deputy Sheriffs and one Chief
Deputy in addition to the Sheriff. The
department had five cars but were without
two-way radios. The budget for the office was
$12,645.45 and $4,238.25 for the jail in 1928.
In 1930, a new sandstone courthouse opened
across from the Capital building with a new jail
on the top floor that started with 20 and would
eventually hold 56 inmates after two upgrades.
During Sheriff Havens’ tenure the department was
credited with 1807 arrests of which 1,000 were
for liquor violations. He also introduced the
first department K-9, a bloodhound named “Sad
Sam”.
Sheriff Havens received great acclaim when he
broke up a large demonstration headed to Olympia
called the “Hunger March” in 1933. This march
was a protest of 5,000 out-of-work men who
threatened to take over the Capital building and
according to the Daily Olympian “terrorize the
town”. Sheriff Havens and his Deputies meet the
unruly group with a cadre of deputized citizens
including a large group of longshoremen, Olympia
P.D. and Washington Highway Patrol officers,
near the top of the State Street hill and
managed to prevent any trouble by this show of
force. Sheriff Havens also experienced a major
heroin case, an attempted jail break, two
murders, and a hostage situation in which he was
shot at during his tenure. It was definitely the
Roaring 20s under Sheriff Havens.
Sheriff L.C. Huntamer (1934-1942), finished
serving out the 1930’s. His salary was $200 a
month and his deputies made $135. The budget had
grown to $34,000 with six Deputies. The office
still had only five cars but some had two-way
radios. He introduced the first uniform to the
department worn by Deputy Frank Kenney. The
first female deputy was Maude O’Brien, who was
Chief Civil Deputy and matron for Sheriff
Huntamer.
The Sheriff’s Office grows up, 1940-1970
Frank Tamblyn (1942-1954), a Deputy for Sheriff
Huntamer, was elected in 1941. He had eight
Deputies and they were paid around $210 a month.
The first Sheriff’s Posse, a mounted volunteer
unit, was started in 1951. His time in office
saw two high-profile murder convictions as well
as the Sheriff himself being accused of a
killing.
The “Snow White” murder of 31-year-old Frida
Becker occurred in 1948 near Yelm. A witness who
recalled part of a license plate led Deputies to
the suspect. Over a year later, the repeated
visits of Chief Deputy Ed Stearns got the
suspect to crack and subsequently confess to
killing Frida with a rock when she refused his
sexual advances and threatened to tell her
parents. The case made the “Detective” magazines
and earned the moniker “the Snow White Murder”
which was the neighborhood children’s nickname
for Frida due to the victim’s kind and innocent
personality.
June 1948 saw the second Deputy to die in the
line of duty. This time it was Deputy John
Johnson who was assigned to Tenino as their town
police officer. He died at the wheel of his
police car of a stroke.
The double murder of Geneva and L.E. Jessup by a
handsome ex-con named Bruce Perkins nearly cost
a Jail Deputy, George Tindall, his life. A
recently-released cellmate of Perkins had agreed
to break Perkins out of jail for several
thousand dollars. Don Rixie came to the jail at
the Courthouse on Capital Way on March 25th,
1949 and pointed a gun at the Deputy on duty and
ordered him to release Perkins. Deputy Tindall
dove through a nearby doorway and slammed the
door. Rixie fired through the door grazing the
Deputy in the back then fled but was later
arrested. Perkins was convicted of the double
murder and Rixie was sentenced to 25 years.
Sheriff Tamblyn’s chances for re-election dimmed
in 1952 when he was vilified during the election
for having caused the death of a man. The
Sheriff allegedly struck the man in the stomach
during an arrest and the man later died in the
county jail. No charges were ever brought
against the Sheriff but the mere suspicion
caused the public to vote for his opponent and
Deputy, Clarence Van Allen.
The new Sheriff served 4 terms and brought many
modern innovations and changes to the office.
These included a criminologist and polygraphist
(Hank Baesen), a Reserve Deputy program (1954),
a Dive Team (1956), Civil Service testing
(1959), a Standard Operating Procedure manual
(1960), four K-9 teams (1967), standard state
authorized uniforms and equipment including
shotguns and riot helmets, matron/dispatchers,
fully marked patrol cars, and 24 hours a day
patrol.
1959 saw the Office battling the County
Commissioners for more pay. Deputies were
approved to work unlimited hours for
$380./month. Deputies opposed working only 56
hours a week as they said that was not enough
time to do everything necessary to perform their
duties with the staff available, according to
Undersheriff John Wagner. Wagner was the first
Thurston County Deputy to graduate from the
prestigious F.B.I. National Academy.
The 1960’s were just as turbulent for Sheriff
Van Allen and his Deputies as for the rest of
America. Sheriff Van Allen faced a coroner’s
inquest in February, 1961, when he and Deputy
Ernie Dennis (future Tumwater Police Chief) shot
and killed an escaped mental patient and
suspected burglar, James Greene. The Sheriff and
his Deputy were using military surplus .30
caliber carbines they had purchased with their
own money. Apparently they were trying to shoot
low and inadvertently killed the fleeing suspect
as he ran down a railroad track near Fairview
Road SW. The shooting was ruled justifiable
homicide by jury of 6 local businessmen.
The 1960s saw conflicts with Nisqually Tribal
members over fishing rights which were dubbed
the “Fish Wars”. The Native Americans received
support from outside the local area in their
conflict with our Deputies and Washington State
Fisheries Officers. Members of the Black Panther
party had to be disarmed at gunpoint in one
conflict on Conine Road. Activist Dick Gregory
spent some time at the County jail after being
arrested for civil disobedience for protesting
in support of Indian fishing rights. He was
visited by the likes of Jane Fonda, Robert Culp
and Marlon Brando according to former
Undersheriff Tony Sexton. The fishing rights
issue was eventually resolved by the famous
Boldt decision in 1974.
The force grew to 28 employees, 23 of which were
Deputies and 5 were civilians mostly matrons, by
1967. One department car, a 1967 Ford, was
equipped with a 427 cubic inch engine and after
a little tinkering by Deputies was clocked on
radar at 167 M.P.H. on I-5, recalls Deputy David
Hooper.
September 1969 was notable for the Sky River
Rock Festival which was held near Tenino. The
Sheriff had to deal with drugs, nudity, illegal
fires, blaring music, outlaw motorcycle gang
members, prostitution and a variety of behaviors
that was unheard of in this quiet rural area of
southern Thurston County. The crowd at this
mini-Woodstock was estimated by one journalist
at 20,000 people.
The 911 Era and the birth of Community
Policing: 1970-2000
Westport Police Chief and former Undersheriff
for Sheriff Van Allen, Don Redmond (1971-1979),
defeated his former boss in the 1970 election.
He built on Van Allen’s innovations and added
some of his own. He started programs like Crime
Watch, the Mobile Substation Van, a volunteer
Jeep Patrol, School Bicycle Safety program and
Work Release in the Jail. He also saw a new
Thurston County Courthouse and Jail built above
Capital Lake. New equipment such as electric
typewriters, tape recorders, light bars for the
patrol cars and a “dumb” computer terminal to
run license plates, stolen property and warrant
checks replaced manual typewriters, dictation,
single blue “bubble” lights and a teletype
machine.
Sheriff Redmond’s two terms saw its fair share
of challenges in combating crime too.
In February 1971, Deputy George Green was
severely wounded when he was shot by a
barricaded man off the Nels Brown Road.. The
30-30 rifle bullet went through a bull horn
Deputy Green was holding and struck him in the
face. He survived due to the fast actions to
rescue him by other Deputies. The suspect was
apprehended after being wounded in the leg by
Undersheriff Jack Crawford.
A new group of rock festival promoters who
called themselves the “Dinosaurs” held their
outdoor rock festivals on private property at
the end of Reichle Road SE near the Bald Hills
in 1975.
Notorious serial killer Ted Bundy found one of
his victims here, in 1972, when he kidnapped
Donna Gail Manson from the Evergreen State
College. He confessed to her murder before he
was executed but her body has never been
located.
The largest marijuana growing operation in the
county’s history was discovered off James Road
SW in 1975. Over 39,000 plants had to be removed
by over 40 Deputies and volunteers. Organized
crime was suspected as behind the operation.
Only one suspect was ever charged.
Prisoners in the Jail rioted twice in 1976. On
one occasion, the main tank prisoners set
mattresses and bedding on fire which filled the
jail with smoke. K-9s were brought in to drive
the prisoners back into their cells. Prisoners
got locked down for several days with only
peanut butter and lettuce sandwiches to eat.
The biggest problem for Sheriff Redmond was the
sauna parlors. Sauna parlors invaded the east
side of the county along Martin Way in the
mid-1970’s. These businesses were suspected
fronts for prostitution and had names like “Pink
Panther”, ‘Judy’s”, “King & I”, “Petite French”,
and “Magic Fingers”. The Sheriff was accused of
using “terror tactics” by the parlor owners in
his battle with them. A two-year effort
involving raids, undercover operations, and a
new “Sauna Masseuse” licensing ordinance finally
drove these operations out of the county.
1976 saw Deputies starting at $768.00 a month.
The new Corrections facility that opened in
1978, along with the new courthouse, was a major
improvement over the old jail (in the sandstone
courthouse across from the State Capital).
Electronic systems to open doors, a multi-camera
surveillance system and intercoms allowed the
new facility to hold 88 prisoners in concrete
cell blocks without the traditional cell bars.
Deputies would no longer work the jail but a new
group of employees called Corrections Officers
was created that would staff the new Corrections
facility.
The 911 model of policing was popular during the
late 1970’s and 1980’s as the most efficient way
to provide law enforcement services to the
public by putting cops in cars, who would
respond to radio calls from dispatchers in a
central communications center who would answer
the emergency calls from citizens. The 911
emergency phone system made it easier, faster,
and more efficient to get help to those with an
emergency than ever before. Since they no longer
had to dispatch the Deputies, several of our
Matron/dispatchers transferred into the new 911
Dispatch Center in the basement of building 3 of
the new courthouse to become full time
dispatchers. The 911 system arrived in 1978.
Dan Montgomery (1979-1987), a former California
Highway Patrol officer, replaced Redmond after a
bitter election which divided the department in
November 1978. He continued his predecessor’s
efforts to make the office more professional and
capable.
He formed a S.W.A.T. team after an
officer-involved shooting in June 1979
demonstrated the need for better armed and
specially trained Deputies for high risk
situations.
The situation involved Deputy Pat Sweeney, who
shot George Parker at the KOA campground off
Kimmie Street SW. Parker had taken a young boy
hostage and was armed with a rifle. When he
pointed his rifle at the Deputy, Sweeney fired
then ran forward and rescued the child. Deputies
were only equipped with revolvers and shotguns
at the time. The first light-weight ballistic
vests were issued to Deputies the same year.
1985 saw the approval of semi-automatic pistols
for Deputies and the first automatic weapons
(Uzis) for S.W.A.T. which further enhanced our
ability to deal with armed criminals.
The Office had grown to 79 employees, and a 2.4
million dollar budget by 1980. The
unincorporated County had 75,000 people. There
were 30 Deputies in patrol and 6 in Detectives.
19,728 calls for service were handled that year.
Deputies were making from $1155. to $1637. a
month.
A new motorcycle traffic unit was formed and
brought three Kawasaki 1000 motorcycles into the
agency in 1983. Three Deputies were trained as
motor officers to ride these machines to
investigate accidents and apprehend drunk
drivers. The interlocal Narcotics Task Force was
formed by Olympia, Lacey, Tumwater, and the
Sheriff’s Office joining forces to form this
specialized investigative unit to work on the
illegal drug problem in 1981. The first Drug
Abuse Resistance Education classes (D.A.R.E.)
taught by Deputies during this period.
The Jail went through a major expansion and
remodel which was completed in1986. The
expansion added a whole new two-story cell block
and other improvements. The construction was
accomplished while the existing facility was
still occupied. The new expanded facility would
be able to house 145 inmates.
Deputy Gary Edwards ran against his boss in 1986
and defeated him in the primary election and
easily won the general election. Sheriff Edwards
(1987-2007) would be the second longest serving
Sheriff in our history being elected to five
straight terms. He is also one of the most
memorable.
In 1989, the Sheriff shot and killed a fugitive
after a wild car chase through the south county
in which a County Commissioner was his
passenger. This was just one of many
controversial pursuits by the “Working Sheriff”.
Rainbow Valley, a 42-acre site along the Black
River, was created in 1990 and events called
“Peace gatherings” patrolled by a private
security force of tie-dyed T-shirt-clad “Trout
Scouts” were held at the site. The neighbors and
Deputies called these gatherings rock concerts
and a public nuisance. A nearly 10-year
enforcement effort over these festivals ended
with Rainbow Valley being forfeited to the
Narcotics Task Force and sold to the Nature
Conservancy to preserve as a wetland.
One of the biggest challenges under Sheriff
Edwards was the proliferation of small but
dangerous clandestine Methamphetamine labs which
began increasing in 1998. In May 2000, two
methamphetamine cooks were killed off Tilley
Road when their clandestine lab exploded. A
cooperative effort with local narcotics officers
and the creation of the Special Enforcement Team
to seek out and shut down these labs was one of
his biggest accomplishments. The number of these
small labs plummeted in just a few years from
150 incidents to near zero by the end of his
tenure.
Corrections expanded its programs to include
electronic home monitoring, day jail, chemical
dependency, and several more that helped control
an inmate population which had grown to 367 by
1998. The Corrections facility had tried to keep
pace by double bunking each cell in 1993 and
opening a 92-bed annex in 1996.
Y2K arrived with the new Millennium but caused
few major problems. A Presidential visit by
President Bill Clinton occurred in 2000 in which
the campaigning president stopped in Yelm and
Tenino.
Tough Times Ahead, 2000-Present
The New Millennium saw economic problems due to
shrinking revenues hit the Office more than
once. Sheriff Edwards was faced with laying off
five Deputies in 2003due to his budget being cut
by the County Commissioners. These were the
first lay-offs of Deputy Sheriffs since the
early 1980’s, but more drastic. Things improved
and most of these positions were recovered by
the end of Sheriff Edwards’ fifth term in 2006.
Sheriff Edwards had seen the department grow to
86 Deputies, 80 Corrections Officers and over
210 total employees by 2005. The budget was over
22 million dollars and there were 126,450 people
in the unincorporated county. A starting Deputy
Sheriff was making $4110. a month. Sheriff
Edwards truly believed in serving the public
especially the rural south county. He expanded
the resident deputy program and created five
patrol districts to improve response time. He
implemented the use of Radars, Mobile Computer
Terminals, Tazers, Pepper Spray, .223 rifles and
cameras in patrol vehicles. He authorized the
use of Precision Immobilization techniques and
portable spike systems to stop high speed
pursuits. He also acquired the first department
helicopter. The budget had grown so complicated
that a Chief Deputy position was created just to
deal with the finances of the office. He brought
the G.R.E.A.T. school program to the rural
county and continued D.A.R.E. too. He also
established our Sex Offender Registration unit
to keep track and warn the public about the most
dangerous offenders.
The current Sheriff, Dan Kimball, succeeded his
boss, as many Deputy Sheriffs had done before in
our history, in 2007. He arrived on a platform
of “Creating a Safer Community Together”. He
implemented technology based improvements such
as on-line reporting of crimes over the
internet, a “Community Alert” network of
neighborhood groups to which we could email
crime alerts, a graphical-interfaced Crime Map
that plots several crimes within eight hours, a
Computer Forensics detective position, and a new
Records Management System. He also made the
office more efficient by eliminating some
command positions so the Patrol Division could
be increased. He created a Community Outreach
Deputy to improve communication with the public
and saw the beginning of construction on a new
Corrections Facility called the A.R.C.
(Accountability and Restitution Center).
However, the greatest economic downturn since
the Great Depression hit Thurston County hard in
2008.
The worst reduction in force to ever hit the
Sheriff’s Office began by mid-2008 and resulted
in seven Deputy Sheriff positions, four civilian
jobs, and three Corrections Deputies being lost
for 2009. The crisis deepened in 2009 with
county revenues continuing to decline, and the
Sheriff was forced to battle with the
Commissioners to prevent the loss of up to 25
Deputy Sheriffs. The final results are still
pending as this documentation of our history
ends. The next several years will continue to be
a challenge for the men and women of the
Thurston County Sheriff’s Office - the best law
enforcement agency in the state in my opinion
but I am biased.
Jim Chamberlain, July 4, 2009 |
