page_title: Thomas Hamilton Blanck
section_title: Confessions made
hierarchical_section_title: Thomas Hamilton Blanck / Confessions made
caption_attribution_description: English: Portrait of outlaw Thomas Blanck from the Seattle Post Intelligencer
context_page_description: Thomas Hamilton Blanck was an Old West criminal operating in the Pacific Northwest between 1891 and his death in 1895 following a prison break. He was also known as "Crazy Mike."
context_section_description: Blank admitted to having committed an 1890 burglary in Fairhaven, Washington, in which he had been pursued by a policeman, Peter Brugh.  Blanck claims he shot Brugh twice while making good his escape.   Blanck had also shot and killed a friend during a poker game that year, in Weiser, Idaho.
  Blanck claimed that in January, 1891, he and a partner robbed a stage coach in Nelson, British Columbia.  Blanck stated that they had murdered the driver, while stealing $4500.  Blanck further stated that in February, 1891, he had committed a burglary in Kalama, Washington, for which he was arrested, but from which he had subsequently escaped from jail.
  On April 10, 1894, Blanck killed officer John Flynn in Helena, Montana. That same month Blanck stated he had killed a Northern Pacific agent, William Ogle, in Belgrade, Montana.
  Blanck finished his confessions by admitting to the more recent crimes for which he was responsible.  He acknowledged the robbery of several people in the barroom of the Broadwater Hotel in Helena, Montana (which had occurred August 18, 1894) committed by him; while the following month, in Meaderville, Montana, he had shot and killed a bartender named Steve Gross, and killed the deputy sheriff who was pursuing him for that crime.  (On September 20, 1894, in the Meeker Station railroad crossing near Puyallup, Washington, a Constable William Jeffery had come across two men running from a boxcar, and one of the men dropped a bundle, subsequently found to contain a gun.  While the officer asked the men if they could identify the pistol, one of the men said yes and claimed his initials were on it.  While the office checked the gun for the marks, the man—Blanck—shot and killed him with a hidden pistol. Following this, the two men robbed a farmer of his horse and wagon and fled the scene.)
  The following day, Deputy Sheriffs Harry Moore and John Ball investigated a suspicious man seen near McMillian, Washington.  When the officers ordered the stranger to halt, he shot at and wounded Moore in the breast and escaped.  On September 22, after buying a large amount of provisions, a Frank Murphy, age 16, was arrested in South Prairie, Washington because he fit the description of the accomplice of the man who had killed Officer Jeffrey.  After being arrested, Murphy admitted he had been with "Hamilton" (Blanck's alias), but claimed that they had parted company.
caption: Newspaper portrait of Thomas Blanck during his trial for the killing of Charles Birdwell, Sept 17, 1894
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