Arkansas City Traveler Archives

TRAVELER, JANUARY 10, 1877 - FRONT PAGE.

The Younger Boys in Wichita.

"There is many a slip between the cup and the lip," and a fair tally of the number would probably show as many lucky slips as disastrous ones. What the true character of the slip that saved Wichita from, or defrauded her of, the notoriety of Northfield, Minnesota, we must leave our readers to settle.

That Wichita was chosen by the Younger and James Brothers as the theatre for the bold robbery committed and terrible tragedy afterward enacted at Northfield, we have the most satisfactory evidence.

To the failure of the First National Bank are we indebted, alone, for an escape from robbery if not bloodshed.

We believe it is not known to our City Marshal or police, to this day, that Cole Younger and a portion of the Younger and James gangs, consisting of three afterwards hung, and the two now in the penitentiary, were in Wichita at the time of the failure of the First National Bank, for the sole purpose of going through that institution. The fact of the large amount of money necessary to move the Texas cattle and the vast amount of grain that found a market here, no doubt convinced them that Wichita was the most favorable point for the nefarious job.

They were in our place between two and three weeks. One of the party was very genteely dressed, and acted and talked like an intelligent businessman, and he posted himself as to the ins and outs of all our banks. Another of the party was genteel shabby--a man at least forty-five years old, whom one would have judged to have seen better days. The latter wanted land, but was not averse to taking a drink with the boys. The others we know nothing about, and don't know that we ever saw them. They were at no time together. Their arrangements, so far as known, were to have gone through the National Bank in daylight, upon the programme carried out at Nortfield, where it will be remembered, a portion of the gang rode up and down the street, yelling like demons and shooting off their pistols, playing drunk, while others, during the street excitement, entered the bank and robbed its vault and killed the cashier.

We venture the assertion that it was a good thing for them that the bank busted, while it might have been a good thing for the bank's stockholders and officers had they succeeded. Upon the one hand, our officers and people would not have been panic stricken or stood, for a moment, any such nonsense as shooting revolvers on the open street, while on the other hand, the bank, just before closing, was very short of money, and had the robbers went through it, nobody but themselves and officers would have known how much they got.

We are not permitted this time to give the source of our information, but we assure our readers that it is perfectly reliable. In truth, the whole matter was known to a few immediately after the failure of the First National Bank. Eagle.

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[MR. J. C. FRAKER, LATE PRESIDENT, FIRST NATIONAL BANK, WICHITA]

TRAVELER, JANUARY 31, 1877.

MR. J. C. FRAKER, late President of the defunct First National Bank of Wichita, has "gone where the woodbine twineth and the moon ceaseth to shine;" gone in search of

"______ a lodge in some vast wilderness;

Some boundless contiguity of shade,

Where rumors of oppression and deceit"

will not be annoying his over-sensitive nature, which has received a severe shock in the past few months. From the Emporia News, we learn that Mr. Fraker commenced his western career as a Methodist minister in Emporia, in 1850, but afterward became a carpenter and "j'iner;" then county treasurer, dealing at the same time in such outside business as old clothes and Texas steers. He soon turned the finances of Lyon county "topsy-turvy." He then went to Eldorado, and finally to Wichita, where he opened a bank on a borrowed capital of $1,200, and ran the concern until it broke, carrying down to ruin many of the ex-Reverend's ministerial friends. That dog has had his day, and the sooner he is placed where he will do the most good, the better it will be for the community at large.

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On Sunday, January 21, Deputy U. S. Marshal Jones arrested Messrs. W. A. Thomas, E. G. Wright, and J. W. Eldridge, formerly of the First National Bank of Wichita, on suspicion of being in conspiracy with J. C. Fraker. Mr. Thomas was a director; Mr. Knight, bookkeeper; and Mr. Eldridge, cashier; and they have always been regarded (and are yet by those who know them) as men above suspicion. The "sculduggery" of Fraker is making it seriously inconvenient for all who were in any way connected with him.

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[LEAVENWORTH PAPER: ARRIVAL OF FRAKER, DEFAULTING BANKER.]

TRAVELER, JUNE 6, 1877.

The Arrival, Yesterday, of the Defaulting

Wichita First National Bank President,

Being Accompanied by a United States Detective,

And Adorned With a Pair of Steel Bracelets.

A DISTINGUISHED ARRIVAL.

Mr. Chas. Jones, a United States Deputy Marshal, of Wichita, arrived in the city yesterday at noon, accompanied by the very Rev. J. C. Faker, ex-clergyman and ex-President of the First National Bank, the funds of which, ably assisted by Eldridge, the cashier, and Wright, the teller, he succeeded in getting away with. Eldridge and Wright were indicted at the last session of the United States District Court at Topeka, but when the officers of the law cast their eyes about them in search of the festive and religious Fraker, no trace of him could be found, he having folded up his little tent and his carpet bag and gone off somewhere on a visit for the benefit of his health. But

THE LAW WAS NOT ASLEEP.

The ubiquitous United States detective smelled him out and found that the devout defaulter was on his way to the friendly land of Mexico, that paradise of defaulters and criminals generally. Fraker played it sharp. He didn't disguise himself as a tramp, or pass himself off as an Italian count. He changed his name to James Franks, and represented himself as

AN EASTERN LAND BUYER,

with $35,000 cash, wanted to buy some of the fertile woodlands and prairies of Texas. He shaved off his whiskers, and except to an intimate acquaintance, he couldn't have been recognized by any photograph in existence. And that's they way the managed it. They sent a intimate acquaintance in the shape and form of the United States Deputy Marshal, Charles Jones, who followed him with steady pertinacity and stealthy persistence until he finally had the pleasure of turning over his man to the tender mercies of the United States Marshal in this city, yesterday. They didn't have the easiest time imaginable in capturing the revered rogue, as he was nervy and

POSSESSED OF PLUCK

sufficient to shoot his revolver a few times before being taken. The scene of his capture was El Paso county, Texas, near Isletia, about two weeks ago. He is under bonds of $9,000, and it is understood that the U. S. District Attorney Peck will endeavor to have it raised. In the meantime the revered gentleman is occupying his time between meals in playing checkers with his nose, which, although probably a more pleasant recreation, is hardly as profitable as robbing National Banks. Leavenworth Times.