NEWSPAPERS: JAIL BREAK, SUICIDE/AND MURDER 13 jUNE 1917 IN MEDFORD, JACKSON COUNTY, OREGON. *********************************************************************** USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net/ ********************************************************************************* Transcribed and formatted for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Elizabeth Corethers 17 Nov 2002 ********************************************************************************* Medford (Oregon) Mail Tribune, Wednesday, 13 June 1917 DEAD JAILER LIES IN MORGUE WITH SUICIDE Charles H. Basye, Succumbed to Wounds Inflicted by Prisoner J. L. Ragsdale in His Jail Break, Who Committed Suicide When Surrounded in Brush by Sheriff's Posse. On a marble slab piled high with roses and wild flowers, tokens from mourning friends of several decades' duration, reposed Wednesday afternoon in Perl's undertaking parlors, the remains of Charles H. Basye, the Jackson county jailer, who died late Tuesday afternoon from a series of gastly wounds inflicted with an old-fashioned 5-pound clothes ironer, in the hands of J. L. Ragsdale, the convicted prisoner, for whom Basye was endeavoring to perform a kindly offer in telephoning Ragsdale's family when struck down by his prisoner. On another slab, less than four feet distant, the body of J. L. Ragsdale, of Lake creek, the murderer, beshaven of his long Tolstoian beard, and wearing only his blond mustache for facial adornment, rests. Ragsdale committed suicide late Tuesday afternoon, while being surrounded by Sheriff Jennings at the head of a posse of 10, and by about five squads detailed from I company. Ragsdale is believed to have been 53 years of age. It is not accurately known yet whether Basye or Ragsdale died first. It will not be necessary to hold an inquest over the remains of either man, declares Undertaker Perl. Ragsdale killed himself with a bullet from a .38 calibre Smith & Wesson revolver stolen from Jailer Basye, which entered the right temple, passed almost directly thru the brain, and came out at the left temple. The wound is a particularly clean one. The revolver had evidently been held close to the head when fired. Undertaker Perl is awaiting instructions from Mrs. Ragsdale as to funeral arrangements for the body of the man to whom she had borne a large family of children, and against whom she only recently brought suit for divorce. Ragsdale soon was to have begun serving a 20 years sentence at Salem penitentiary for criminal assault on Bessie Downing, his stepdaughter, for which he had just been sentenced. Basye's wounds, ghastly and gruesome, consist of seven separate gashes on left forehead, one deep cut above on left forehead; one deep cut above right ear; the skull crushed in above right eye; four separate cuts at point where skull crushed in; and one and a half inches above right eye, skull again crushed in. The flat iron with which Basye was killed was without a handle, and had been used by prisoners for the purpose of pressing their clothes. Ragsdale must have "clubbed" or "palmed" the article while attacking the jailer. Basye, who was a blacksmith by trade, had resided in Jackson county since 1862 and in Jacksonville since 1894. His precise age is not known, but it is believed he was near 60. He is survived by two daughters Cora, a nurse in Willamette sanitarium, Salem, and Zepha, of Portland; a brother, Luch Basye, of Applegate, and a sister, Mrs. James Cook, Applegate. Basye was a member of the Jacksonville lodge of Odd Fellows and the Yreka, Cal., aerie of Eagles. Funeral services will be held on Sunday and will be in charge of the Odd Fellows, and interment will be at Missouri Flat cemetery, where the services will be held at the grove at 2 o'clock. The funeral party will leave Perl's chapel at 12 o'clock noon. Rev. Badger of Murphy, Ore., will preach at the grove service. The first alarm concerning the jail break was given by Bert Rippey, a prisoner who called thru his cell window. Employes of the court house rushed to the jail and found Basye lying in a pool of blood. County Recorder Florey and Carl Newbury jumped into an auto and started down the road to Medford in pursuit armed with a 30-30 rifle. J. A. Norris, court house janitor, also started, armed with an automatic revolver. W. J. Kauffman of Forest creek, who saw the escaping prisoners, directed the pursuers. A band of small boys, Archie Rock, Angus Walsh, Rulard Hartman and Clyde Walsh followed the escaping prisoners, and directed Newbury and Florey to them as they were crossing a field into the brush on Jackson creek. Newbury stopped the car so suddenly that it threw Florey out. He fell upon his head and did not recover consciousness until late Tuesday evening, but is on the road to recovery today. Newbury covered one of the prisoners, who proved to be Irving Oehler, the convicted forger, who promptly surrendered. He claimed he had been forced at the point of a gun to accompany Ragsdale. Oehler was returned to the jail with Norris, while Deputy Sheriff Leslie Stansell and Sheriff Jennings summoned a posse and went in pursuit. Ragsdale's body was found in the brush near where he disappeared. Both Oehler and Ragsdale had attempted suicide ten days before, the former by poison and the latter by cutting his wrists. The authorities are of the opinion that it was J. L. Ragsdale's intention to break jail, force Irving Oehler to drive him to his home in Lake creek, and there kill the members of his family and himself. There is abundant evidence of this intention. Ragsdale had repeatedly threatened to kill his family and it was largely because of fear for their lives that led to his initial arrest on an insanity charge. It is also known that when Ragsdale returned to jail he told the jailor that there was only one thing he wanted before being taken to Salem and that was to see his family again. He repeated this request several times and it is believed that it was his entreaty to be allowed to speak to his family over the telephone that led to the tragedy. Ragsdale leaves a family of seven children of his own, six boys and one girl and his stepchild, Bessie Ragsdale, who was the complaining witness in his recent trial. The children include Thomas, 16 years old, the eldest, Tyranaho, named after the Alaskan Indian chief, Marvin, Raymond, Nannie, Wallace and Rodney. Rodney, the youngest, is three years old.