Morning appeal. [volume] (Carson City, Nev.) 1877-1906, 1886-04-11
JAMES FRAZER'S DEATH
Some Mysterious Circumstances
Attending 1t.

attendant upon his death whicl
have meyer been satisfactoril
cleared up. While he was eve
held IN the estimation of the com
munity as a man with whom un
counted money could be left, it wa
found after his death that tn
money in the county safe was shor
several thousand dollars. Hi
bondsmen were compelled to maxi
good this amount, and it is nov
generally believed in this city tina
he was defaulter, and that hi.
friends had been grossly deceived
IN his honesty. 1t was even hintcC
that he was driven to suicide by &
knowledge of his defalcation. This
rumor Of suicide has heen recently
circulated in Carson. 1t is the
opinion of many persons in this
city that James Frazer was not a
defaulter, and scarcely anyone be-
| lieves that he was suicide.
AS to the suicide theory it is ut
terly untenablc from the following
reasons: DR.. White his attending
| ply stefan, discovered when Mr..
| Frazer was taken with his last
sickness, that his heart was dis,
eased, and told several persons that
his death was certain inside Of ten
| days.
Mr.. Frazer, believing that his
troubles We're purely Of a rheumatic
nature, did not seem to realize that
his end was near, and the doctor
was loathe to break the news as he
seemed in such cheerful spirits.
He suggested, however, that it
might be a good idea to have him
appoint a deputy to act while be was
sick, that in case Of sudden death
the affairs of the County Treasury
might be uninterrupted. He was
persuaded to do this, and said that
be would appoint deputy and give
him the mbination of the safe.
He died soon after of non-actlon of
the heart, just as DR.. White had
predicted several days before.
Now let US examine into the con-
dition in which the safe was at the
time of his leaving it. Not long
. before he left it the County Com
missioners counted the money III
compliance with the law and found
the amount Of cash on hand cor
rect to a dollar They also found
another bag which they started to
count, but Frazer said:
THAT is my private bag and
there is twelve hundred dollars in
it.
They found the required amount
of cash on hand without this ST.
200.
The day he was taken sick, Far
nest Hawley went to him and drew
out Of a special deposit of the Red
Oak Mining Company several hun
dred dollars. Mr.. Frazer handed
him the sack and he took out all
but 500 and handed it back after
counting it and finding it correct.
Frazer then tossed it back into the
safe and closed the door. Inside
of an hour he was taken home sick,
and never left his bed alive.
At tie time Of his death no one
knew of the combination of the
safe. and his bondsmen neglected !
to put seal on the safe as is usual
under such circumstances.
Several weeks elapsed before the |
safe was finally opened by Ensign,
the San Francisco expert. and it
was found that the $500 of the Red
Oak Mining Company, Frazers de-
post of $1,000 and several thou
sand dollars of county money was
The only way the disappearance
of so large an amount Of money can
Enthusiastically accounted foris that
the safe was robbed between the
time of his death and the opening
Of the safe by the expert.
The book containing the conbl-
nation lay in the drawer and might
have been extracted and studied
3ut.
Only few dollars were found in
his room after his death, and if he
.ook the $500 from the Red Oak
Company's deposit, what
lid lie do with it in that hour be-
tween that time and his sickness?