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About Herald and news. (Klamath Falls, Or.) 1942-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 21, 1949)
jWEDNESDAY. DEC. 21, 194 HERALD AND NEWS, KLAMATH FALLS, OREGON PAGE SEVENTEEN 'a . a mm mm. ft a at Veteran icribe Recalls now Nationally Known Swindler Was Tripped Up In Klamath Long Ago iWhM ana alary nf th. old Klamath rounly Hand waa pulill.liad: in lha liar- Id n4 Naws ao'lta waaaa a Mra, flank Ira Whll. rallarl ma linnuxllatply tu lall nia Kuw nflan all. hail ItaaHl har hua liand ral.la tha alor of lha rlavvr wlndlar who atl ftaarlv Irlmltiad a lcal hank. ah. alan ratlad riank Janklna whir a.aad lor ain'lltar almv rir In formation In lha arm la whlrh fnllnwa all llianat mrm dua Mr. Ham Walkar. sirs Ira Whtta, Mr ih.n J umwall. tn (Itarll. IM-an ftr hla pallant-a and rmirlaay In rjiafln lip lha old mil, I rrrmrii. and la Tha Herald tr Ih. uaa ( iu old I"" I u n i Br IDA KIIMVIR OIIM.L From Ih atat of K'nlurk) to tha laid of WuiiliiKton. from Urmliii clly to (oaslpy villa, ha twlnrllrd hit war merrily across lh contl unit, llila man whn call-rj himself Kranlc B. lluiKlnn. wllh a aliip over In Klamath Talla which provrd hit uiidolnf. At luck would hav It, whm Thad. dua 1 York, alia Prank B Holla ton. hit Xlamath Falls, 'hliii! wr txillliif around that place. With llirr court houars. 'two beautiful and unuarii. on oU. rlwrfplt. and hiimmlrm with activity i Mr. York landed wllh bv.h ft, or a, Iraat wllh one foot and a cork leg. Mailt I the middle of the court houe fluhl and of the MOO COM1IINE. Under tint fantastic nomcnelnttir were claulfled all L'los who wished tha "mil inure to remain on Main street between 3rd and 4th. by all thou who were Irylni to move It lo tha present alt of tha Xlamnth Union iillh arhnol. And the cork lei. tnirlher with an una tn take a bath, furnished lha clue which finally trxtk Mr. York to a town hitherto unvtaited by him. our State Capital. Salem. Ore. A trim In KF With a career likened by the Port land Telegram to that of the then famoua rharacter In fiction. J. Hu tu Walllngfnrd. Mr. York arrived In Klamath fall" In March of 1010. reiuterlm at tha old Lakealde Inn under the name of Prank H Hous ton. And there let us leave him for a while, and sketch briefly hln rent ing past an reronMrurted from newspaper arcounta printed after hi capture. York was rnmidered one of the cleverest swindlers In lha country, and buncoed big concern for many Ihmisand nf dollar, bought tracta of land in Oregon and Washington, buvln' outright an entire township In Waahlngtnn. He extended hla op eration! over the Pacific Coast and the aouthern atatei. He waa dencrlb ed by tha Telegram aa an ex-convict with eaiertenre ai era tor. mmm-mfrwmfV Ma ll'H W ' a, i a.aiain.a a,aiii)iia 'f-i'.vi''1 ' " ';i t- - . a...!..a- .-.,... ...k..rw "j,JJ MR. FRANK IRA WHITE eaerclaed durU'.f a brief ttay In To nnpah, Ner to uaf tor h I a own benefit lha meiangca on the horxe race a they came In. Wllh Ihla ad vance infririuation he ttung the pool rooma of that city. Mr. York waa o highly pleaaed at thla prank on hla part that he boanlcd ol It to a Klamath Palli biulnea man later. Secured Hlanka Somehow York at one time ae Truat company nf that place padded York a roll wllh 11330 of their mon ey. In Portland, under the name of J. A. Rou he cleaned up $2500. And now back to Klamath Pali. In Han Prancuco York visited a firm by the name of the Klamath Palla Investment company and In formed them that he had a large amount of money to Invest. Well, of course they recommended him to go atraignt to Klamath Palls, a rap- code aa It came over the wirea waa cured M blank money nrrler. from My growing town on a newly open J . , . L. c l n . . . ru a,ui , inr Duumrrii ractllc. Thus did Mr. York land In the mid le of the Hog Combine. With three highly Interesting pieces of paper in his pocket, one a Time Certificate of Deposit for $13. S60: one for 130.000: and still an other for MO.C'M. Mr. York wa In traduced by a local real estate brok er to the American Bank and Trust company. At that Instl'.utlon he parted with hla time certificate which had a legend on IU face show. the Northern Kpress company and by means of these added 110.000 to Ins worldly wealth. In IIKib he part ed one James Btone. a Chlcagoan, from tvoo of the latter a funds. In dividuals and banks alike were hit game and In Chicago he touched the State Bank of that city for IMOO. He operated extensively In Ken tucky and swung north to Belling ham, Wash., where tn May hla per- telegraph op- i tuaslve personality swindled a bank Hla skill In reading Mors out of 13200. Seattle did not escape land tha American Having! ft SPORT 7 j I SHIRTS R&i!w 1 and i Ing It bore Interest at I per cent If left for one year. By being allowed th privilege of using tha money aa h needed It ha generously gave th bank whatever Interest had ac crued or might accrue. Mr. York 'aa Houston) represented himself aa being greatly Impressed by the little city and wished to Identify himself with IU future. Of court there were tome things which a man of th world Ilk himself might help cor rect. In other worda h felt that he would toon atari to make the place over more nearly to hla heart's de sire by building a hotel which would be a credit Ut the town and him self, and definitely by remedying Ih deplorable newspaper situation. Clever Mr. York. Two Project With hla nose for opportunity and ear for local gossip he had hit on th two project most open for fi nancing by the bank, which waa smarting under frank attack by the Evening Herald which had coined the name nf Hog Combine and Iden tified member! of the banking fami ly with aald combine. Also the faction which caught up this pictur esque term to describe their oppo nent were most elated over the plana underway ai that time for the construction of the White Pell can hotel for which ground had al ready been broken on the corner now occupied br the Balslger Oa rage. The 100,000 modern hostelry proposed by Mr. York aounded like an answer to prayer to those an lous to hold the center of the town static. Mr. York'a plans for a newt, paper also toothed tome very wounded feelings for he proposed. no less, the purchase of The Eve ning Herald, neglleently overlook ing the necessity of obtaining the consent of The Herald. Il appear that newspaper report ing In those day wa somewhat different from the present time. Vit riolic article! were rpread all over the first page! of the paper If the reporter taw fit. The word "Al leged" behind which a reporter could dash for safety had not as yet been dug out of the dictionary. Statement were simply and frankly made as for Instance when the death of Mrt. Hemenway occurred, there iu no anftentng statement Just a flat: "Mm. Hemenway. an addict to the use of drugs died this morning from an overdose." Mr. York wa expansive and gen erous In the plan he outlined for spending those fund he to confi dently expected to acquire by hla pleasing personality. It I recorded that, as the Portland Telegram phrased It: "Having established himself a a promoter, a good fel low and a high liver. York bought HUM worth of Jewelry from H. J. wintcra, tn Klamath Palla Jeweler, and gave a worthies check In pay ment. Thla Jewelry, explained York, wa presented to various people In Klamath Palla a token of hla es teem and regard. J. Rufua Walling ford could not hav worked th gam on a larger teal nor mad a better Impression." He entertained lavishly, giving big dinners and Joy rldea to various wil ling new acqualntencea. Representing the need of funda to make th down payment on the newspaper he drew an additional $6000, making total now received on hla time certificate of $11600. Then Mr. York, or Houston, faded from th scene. When hi absenc became pro longed enough to excite comment and wnen the bank began to exhibit anxiety a to hla whereabout tome local Investigation aUrted. Account from hereon ary but It I believed that the following I essentially cor rect Mr. Houston wanted Mr. York to take a bath. And he found hit key for hla cork leg wax worn and un usable. And. a an aside. It waa found out later that when he ob tained hla cork leg at a price of $160 he allowed payment of $100 of the amount to slip hi minci. John Peck and a man named Ber ry had a foundry on Walnut atreet across from the residence of the lo cal policeman and deputy sheriff. Sam Walker. In his goings and com ings from home Mr. Walker, who had eye and ears that brought many criminal to Justice, had no ticed Houston visiting the foundry several limes. When Houston was .... J e. ,n etm mit what business he had had with the foundry and wa told that the key ! for the famed cork leg wai defective i and they had been asked to dupll I ca It. which 'her did exactly. New Key Houston brought back the new key and aald It wa no better than the old. which the foundry explain ed br the fact of hi having left a defective key for a pattern. Mr. Houston eat down and let the foun- Idry make key pattern right then and there. The key made from tni pcttern proved most satisfactory and he departed with it. Mr. Walk er'! memory b that he asked If the I original key had been taken by I Houston and John Peck reached up j to a ledge In the shop, and brought aown me original aer. Mr. Prank Ira White's memory of the atory as often related to her bv her late husband. Prank Ira White, wa that he. Prank Ira. had dropped In to have tome work done at the foundry and the conversation naturally wax all about York, the Hog Combine, and other Juicy bit, and he suggested taking the key to 1 . i "I jk''" f a . . v a f ' , Zf MR. SAM WALKER the bank which would be able from the number on the original key to trace the wearer of the artificial limb. Both Sam Walker and Prank ! Ira White were lnveatlffators of far ' above the average Intelligence and It I impossible at thla late day to entirely reconstruct the clever de tective work which landed York back In Klamath Falls. Mr. White, as a reporter on the Denver Post, had been Instrumental in bringing to Justice more than one criminal of highly dangerous char acter. Mr. Walker 1 famed through out Klamath county for hi Intrepid and clever trapping of murderer, horse thieves and cattle thieves. 8o it would teem only fair at this dis tant time to split the credit between them. Vivid Memory Mr. Walker' memory of hi con versation with Mr. Peck I most vivid. The bank after getting the number of the key wrote to the factory to ascertain to whom the artificial limb had been sold and a reply came that only two leg of that description had been made, one for a man In the Eastern states and one for a man named York of Los Angeles, and they were able to supply the address of the apartment in which this York lived with his mother. The American Bank and Trust company then placed the matter in the hands of Pinkerton's Detective agency who planted a woman op erative In an apartment near York's mother with Instruction to culti vate the latter friendship. This wa not hard to do, and before long Pinkerton's waa able to wire the bank that York' mother wa leaving on the steamer President running from Los Angeles to Seat tle to meet her son. Sheriff Billy Barnes and depu tized sheriff, Claude Daggett, 1 member of the official family of the bank went to San Francisco, met the boat, and rode, unknown to Mrs. York, to Seattle with her. There she was met by her notorious son, and he was promptly taken Into custody by Billy and Claud. If you picture Mr. York rs being crushed by the turn event had taken I have drawn but a weak description of our hero's Indomita ble character. Indeed he was the most unconcerned of all the parties tn the transaction. On July 1, 1910, the three men boarded a train bound for Klamath Falls (via Weed . The Portland Telegram reported: "Houston still refuses to talk. Sher iff Barnes and Claud Daggett who have in charge T. E. York, alias P. B. Houston, who Is wanted In Klamath Falls for swindling the American Bank and Trust compa ny, left here for there last eve ning." The Herald speculated: "There will doubtless be a large crowd In waiting In the station to greet this famoua awlndler but It I unlikely that they will get a glimpse of him. It I mor likely that th sheriff will take him from th train al torn point before th city la reached and whisk him orr to Jail tn an auto. Sheriff Barn has no dealr to do th spectacular and tha probability Is he will do what he can to land hta man In Jail without running th gauntlet of curiosity seekers." Prom th Urn of hi aarlval un til he entered hta plea In court th Herald broke out In a rash of headllnet. for. making no effort to conceal Its own tore toot over th would be purchase of th paper, II took full occasion to prick th tore spot of at least on of th bank official! July 1 "Unci Bam Is After Houston" July ("Houston Jokes Former Friend" July 6 again not even setting new type, "Uncle Sam Is Alter Houston July T "Houston May Writ a Book" July t "Houston Olves up All" Under the headline that Unci Sam la after Houston an account was given of a wire received from a U. 8 marshal asking Sheriff Bames to hold Houston. Barcastls comments follow: "There Is no likelihood of Sheriff Bames releasing Houston on hla own recognizance. Thla telegram ha caused much amusement here foi there la no probability that tha sheriff la going to throw open the doors of his boarding house and tell Mr. Houston to hike." No Indeed. Mr. York waa ours and we were going to keep him. Under the headline "Houston Jokes Former Friend" the paper printed: "Thaddeua E. Yorke. or the man who bought The Herald for th Hog Combine la back among hla friends." followed by a skin remov ing article on said friends. Through It all York was self possessed and exercised his own particular brand of humor, greet ing the official family of the Ameri can Bank and Trust company who visited him in Jail, with "Well It takes all kind of people to make a world" and when they expressed regret at seeing him In such a po sition told them to hold their sym pathy "It is all a case of graft In this world. You see I was un fortunate enough to get caught. You are fortunate so you see you had better save your sympathy." This delighted the newspaper with Its implication of graft against Hous ton's "friend." One ponders on ho the reporter, avowedly unfriendly to) the bank's officers, was able to re produce with such fidelity a conver sation held between the swindler and the swindled in the privacy of bis cell. Could there have been any (Continued on Page 22) THI OREGON WOOLEN STORE WILL BE OPEN TILL 9;00 f. M. FRIDAY! Remember too . . . Friday Is DOUBLE GREEN STAMP DAY Will mire n mm MAKE IT A MERRY CHRISTMAS FOR HIM iSr 17 Dress Shirts Wiliee. 'ire. w Tru-Vel tnr 2.25 3.95 Neckwear Hundreds ! Colorful Tioi 1.50 to 2.00 Pajamas FLANNEL w RAYON IROADCLOTH Coat r Slip-On Styles 2.50 to 5.95 Boxed Handkerchiefs PLAIN WHITIS FANCY BORDERS w INITIALED LAWN OR LINEN USE 1.00 J. 95 Colwmbwknii SWEATERS slip-on or coat styles ft ALL COLORS 6.95 to 10.95 TWEEDS WORSTEDS GABARDINES Longi Shorts Stout. Regulars Sizes 35 to 50 3950 600 Topcoats Ont Hundred Per Cent Wool. fc Coverts Gabardine 29S0,5000 Many Colors Sites to 46 Mallory Hats Use a Gift Certificate. 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