The Escape of Frank Grigware from Leavenworth Penitentiary

Frank Grigware was a man who was a huge part of American prison system history. The story of Frank Grigware is something that is not ideally known about in history books but was a man who helped shape the FBI into what it is today. Grigware was arrested for robbing a mail train in 1909. He and four of his close friends were arrested and were sentenced to life in prison for their crime. In that same year Grigware and his friends made a plan to escape. Grigware was the only successful one and he never returned to the Leavenworth penitentiary.

Frank Grigware went down in American history, but not in the way he had initially presumed he would. In Grigware's early twenties, he was one of the first people on the Spokane, Washington minor league baseball team. His ambition and adventurous personality changed the shape of his future. He traveled to several states and found other Spokane players that he became acquainted. A man named Wiliam Mathews devised a plan with four other players, including Grigware, in 1908 to rob a train at gunpoint (Price, 2014). Their goal was successful, but their sloppy execution eventually got them caught. They stole seven sacks of registered mail from Omaha, Nebraska, which only amounted to 700 dollars. James Schroeder was a pivotal witness in pinpointing the gun to Grigware. He sold a revolver to Grigware in 1908 that matched the conductor's description (Humanities). Grigware and his fellow four baseball players were convicted to serve life in prison on November 18, 1909. 

A new federal prison was in the process of being built in Leavenworth, Kansas. Grigware was being sent there to serve his sentence. Frank wasn't happy with his living conditions nor his prison sentence, but the federal government wanted to make a statement with all five of them. The prison was under construction, and the prisoners were the ones tasked with building it. Grigware's day would consist of an early wakeup call followed by marching the convicts to the construction site where they would build the prison, they would soon live in. This march was a six-mile round trip every day. The journey each day gave Grigware plenty of time to figure out how the day-to-day operations at the prison worked (J.H Johnston, 2005). He was only in prison for five months when a supply train and a flatcar backed into their yard, and all five men escaped by carving a piece of wood into the shape of a revolver and smashing through the gate. Grigware was the only one who managed to escape truly. His life from here changed forever. 

Grigware made his way from Leavenworth, Kansas, to Alberta, Canada and during the time he was a fugitive, the warrant for his recapture went from $50 to $30,000 (which is equivalent to 750,000 dollars in 2022). His new life was completely different than the last. In Alberta, he ran a confectionary store, built homes, and became active in his church (The five-decade, 2015). By 1915 he was elected mayor and was married with a family of his own. In the United States, the investigation effort to locate him had dried up as the United States became involved in World War I. In 1928, a sighting of him in Canada was reported to the US government. In response, law enforcement officials sent fingerprints and pictures to the Canadian government but had no such luck on finding him. When he was found poaching in his town, he was identified as Frank instead of his cover name, Jim Fahey. After being brought back to the United States, residents from his Canadian hometown raised $10,000 for his bail. They believed that he was innocent of all charges (Price, 2014). Almost the whole town came together to protest for Frank. They flooded Ottawa and Washington D.C. in person to protest for him to be able to continue his residency in Canada. The United States called off the extradition proceedings but never pardoned him. 

Over the course of 24 years, Frank Grigware showed the United States Government how easy it could be to escape from federal prison. During Grigware's time, only a select few federal prisons were up and running. He helped the government to see that they needed more protocols in place for the prison system. These protocols included better facilities for prisoners, better working conditions and hours for guards, and a more security in and around the prison. Grigware went down in history as one of the longest-running fugitives in the United States.

References

Humanities, National Endowment for the. 1909. “Omaha Daily Bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, November 06, 1909, NEWS SECTION, Image 2.” Chroniclingamerica.loc.gov, November 6, 1909. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn99021999/1909-11-06/ed-1/seq-2/#date1=1777&index=4&rows=20&words=Frank+Grigware&searchType=basic&sequence=0&state=&date2=1963&proxtext=%22frank+grigware%22&y=0&x=0&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1.

J.H. Johnston III, Leavenworth Penitentiary (Leavenworth Kansas, 2005)

Price, J. (2014) Auction shines light on former Spokane ballplayer-turned train robber, Spokesman.com. The Spokesman-Review. Available at: https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2014/jan/12/auction-shines-light-on-former-spokane-ball/#:~:text=John%20Francis%20Grigware%20was%20the%20second%20of%20four,League%2C%20the%20region%E2%80%99s%20first%20important%20semipro%20baseball%20organization. (Accessed: November 2, 2022). 

The five-Decade fugitive chase (2014) FBI. FBI. Available at: https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/the-five-decade-fugitive-chase (Accessed: November 2, 2022). 

Price, J. (2014) Auction shines light on former Spokane ballplayer-turned train robber, Spokesman.com. The Spokesman-Review. Available at: https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2014/jan/12/auction-shines-light-on-former-spokane-ball/#:~:text=John%20Francis%20Grigware%20was%20the%20second%20of%20four,League%2C%20the%20region%E2%80%99s%20first%20important%20semipro%20baseball%20organization. (Accessed: November 2, 2022). 

The five-Decade fugitive chase (2014) FBI. FBI. Available at: https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/the-five-decade-fugitive-chase (Accessed: November 2, 2022).