Los Angeles daily herald., 1889-08-24
r. L. BAILEY'S SUICIDE.
A Chico Blood Commits For
gerry and Skips.
ARRESTED IN LOS ANGELES
Through q Blunder He Escapes and
Gets Away for a New Field
of Operations.

morning papers a short Associated Press
dispatch from Chico in reference to a
young blood formerly of that place named
Frank L. Bailey. Thursday, HERALD
reporter made an excursion among the
detectives to see If he could learn any
thing of the man, as the dispatch stated
he had been arrested here by Los An
geles detective. In the Office of the Los
Angeles Detective Agency, and in the
person OF Thomas Mccarthy, the bright
chief detective of the Office, the object of
the quest was found.
1t appears that Bailey was stock
broker, and that while his headquarters
were in San Francisco he made fire.
quent expeditions to Los An
geles and other places. Chico
was his home years ago. and there he
had many friends. He did not use his
friends we'll, for he was liberal bor-
rover of funds from them, which he gen.
orally, if not invariably, forgot to pay
back.
Bailey at times made great deal of
money, which he spent recklessly. He
was seven or eight years ago in the en-
ploy of General Bidwell. Later he was
the general manager of the Chico Cash
Store. Then he went to San Francisco
and opened an office as broker. Here
Anthony Sweeney, bartender at the Lick
House, entrusted Bailey with block Of
stocks. On these he raised So 900, and
ran away. He left the following letter:
LICK House,
SAN FRANCISCO, July, 16, 1891
DEAR ANTHoNY-By the time this note
reaches you will have paid my debt in
full to you and nature. In 30 far as lies
in my power, shall pay you what can.
Inclosed please find the 1,750 shares,
properly endorsed to you. My jewelry l
have forwarded to my mother. My
trunk 1 wish to have sent to my father,
as it contains nothing of particular value
to any one else. His address is Lake.
side, San Diego County, Cal,
For a month back have half antici-
pated this denouement, and now that it
has come face my destined fate with.
out fear.
shall not put the Coroner or under
taker to any trouble or expense. A
couple of heavy weights attached to my
body will keep it down 30 securely that
neither drag-nets nor fishes will bring
me to the surface. 1 have striven against
adverse fate until my brain and heart
can no longer withstand the strain.
There is no terror to face in dying half
80 great to me as in living. l have had
30 much of hell and so little of heaven
during the past few years that escape ap-
pears grateful. Broken in health and
finances 1 seem to have lived only to in
jure those whom l would have helped
most l seem to be so nearly being good
for nothing that l take my life away as
benefit to everybody else. Please don't
make this sensational, for 1 suppose the
pewenapers will want to do 80. I'm gone,
and let that fact eetle curiosity as well
as me.
Good.by, old friend My best wishes
are that your life here may be hereafter
an unbroken strand of health and pros
perity. Again, good-by
Here indeed was story with all the
trimmings on it. This was no bold and
unconvincing narrative. All the details
to give the story verisimilitude are here.
But even this effort did not exhaust the
fertility of Bailey's imagination. On the
same morning the following letter was
received by the landlord of the Lick
House, with an enclosure of $50, the bal
ance of his hotel bill:
LICK HOUSE,
San Francisco, July 16, 1889.
Mr.. Charles Clafey, Proprietor Lick
House, S. F.: DEAR SIR-Please deliver
to A. Sweeney whatever effects l may
leave in room 22S other than my trunk.
Yours truly, F. L. BAILEY.
After indulging in these pleasures of
the imagination Bailey went to San Diego
and roamed about that country for
short time. Then he came
up here, shaved off his beard, and
sailed safely under the false colors of an
alias. An old resident of Chico, who
knew of the festive Franks innocent
pranks, happened to see him enter
barber's shop the day he arrived in Los
Angeles, and afterwards learned that he
was not being introduced to his friends
as Frank Lawson Bailey, formerly of
Chico, but as some other man from some
other place. Detective Mccarthy learned
of Franks queer doings and "shadowed"
him. He wrote to Chico to the Mar
shal, who replied that Bailey was not
"wanted there" in the detective sense
of the term, but he thought Sweeney, of
the Lick house bar, would be glad to
know of his whereabouts. Mccarthy. then
wired to Sweeney, but got no answer
to the dispatch. The HERALD withheld
the story, 80 that if any reply came last
night the officers might have chance to
arrest the man. 1t is probable that by
this time he has seen some of the items
in the papers, and has "ducked"
Frank Lawson Bailey was a native of
New York, and is Al years OF age, but
looks much younger. He is over six
feet in height, and large fra ned. He
was married prior to his coming to Chico
in 1881, but his married life was not a
happy one. His wife, becoming insane,
was taken to an asylum at Stockton,
where she afterwards died.
A letter from Alamitos Bay.
EDITORS HERALD-Alamitos bay is a
point Of great interest. 1t is the natural
suburb of Long Beach, and great many
people visit this place on account of its
many attractions. There is the beach
for a drive, the bay for boating and
bathing. Shellfish abound here in great
profusion-oysters, CLAIMS, cookies and
scollops. This is the place where the
pleasure-seeker reaches the extreme
height of seaside enjoyment. There has
been goodly number of campers here
&I,;s a,,noy,oar bo;I;u0 froro oil eaotiopa of