100 years ago in Spokane: Streetcar robber escapes, shot by police

From our archives, 100 years ago

Fred Johnson, dangerous desperado, escaped from the Spokane County Courthouse and ran to the Spokane River, where armed officers eventually pulled him, bleeding and half-drowned, to shore.

It all began when a deputy was leading Johnson to a meeting with prosecutors. He managed to knock the deputy to the floor and flee down the hallway and out the door.

Then Johnson raced toward the riverbank, jumped in a rowboat and rowed to the south bank. Police saw him disembark and were arrayed on the hill above, preventing him from climbing the bank. They flushed him from some bushes and he jumped back into the river and started swimming.

Officers opened fire, hitting his shoulder and grazing the back of his head. Yet he kept swimming.

One officer threw off his coat and helmet and started grappling with him in midstream. Johnson did not give up until the officer managed to grab his throat and hold his head under water.

He was hustled into a waiting patrol car.

“I am dying,” croaked Johnson.

“Watch him, he is only faking,” whispered the deputy from whom Johnson had escaped.

His wounds were real, but doctors said they were not fatal.

Johnson, aka Louis Coynt or Louis Markin, had a long criminal history. He had served time at McNeil Island for an Alaska burglary. Upon release, he held up a California streetcar and stabbed the motorman. He then escaped from a San Francisco jail and made his way to Spokane.

He held up a Spokane streetcar and was arrested after a chase through a Spokane rail yard.