Forgotten Felonies
Forgotten Felonies revisits historical crimes that were forgotten—or remembered incorrectly. It’s tempting, looking backward, to fill in the gaps with conclusions that feel obvious now. But that isn’t how history works. Through original newspaper reporting, period advertisements from the years the crimes occurred, and a blend of forensic psychology and genealogical research, each episode restores context to cases history left behind—asking not only what happened, but why.
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Forgotten Felonies
Ellsworth Kelley and the Jones-Murray Gang - Part 2
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By 1925, the Jones Brothers Gang had changed. Dewey Jones was no longer part of the outlaw life, Milam Jones had vanished, and Oregon Jones was back in the Oregon State Penitentiary ready to cause more trouble. After the deadly prison break that would make headlines across the Pacific Northwest, newspapers began calling the group the Jones-Murray Gang—a nod to the growing influence of escape artist Tom Murray, who had become the mastermind behind their latest plan.
In Part Two, Ellsworth Kelley, Tom Murray, James Willos, and Oregon Jones put their most ambitious escape attempt into motion at the Oregon State Penitentiary. Within minutes, two guards were dead, another was gravely wounded, and one of the escapees lay dying beneath the prison wall.
This episode follows the deadly prison break, the desperate manhunt that stretched across Oregon and Washington, the capture of the fugitives, and the courtroom battles that would ultimately send two men to the gallows. Along the way, a more complicated story emerges—one involving brutal prison conditions, conflicting testimony, loyalty, desperation, and young men willing to risk everything for a chance at freedom.
