The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1895-09-13
ELRAKER BETRAYED.
TELLS ABOUT HIS lNSUR-
ANCE SWlNDLE.

ii
0snles That He Fxpected 100000 From
His Hoirs--Talks Very Freely Abou,
He Mysterious Dlsappsarance-Execu
tors Enjoined.
81. JOSEPH, Mo. Sept IA reporter
met Or. Fraker, the insurance swim
dler captured Sunday in the woods OF
Northern Minnesota, and his captors,
Attorney Robert Herrick and Chief OF
Police Wilkerson of Topeka, at Tai.
mage, Iowa, on the Chicago Great
Western railway at 8 o'clock this
morning, Between Talmage and st.
Joseph, which was reached at 1850
o'clock this afternoon, the reporter
talked with Fraker and the others and
obtained the complete story of the
chase and capture, now published for
the first time.
Speaking Of the capture, Mr.. Her.
rick said: "Wilkerson deserves great
credit for his part OF the work. For
myself, ! nm the company's lawyer,
and it is my duty to protect the COM
pany from any injustice through the
courts. OF course, / shall get = good.
Zee for this work and W1lkerson will
get enough to justify him in making
the trip. There is no stated reward
out. All offers of reward have been
ssithdrawn.
1.-The other clues have generally been
fakes and we did not get Fraker until
we found some n who knew him and
knew where to get him. 1t is useless
to ask who that person is, because I
shall never tell"
The man under arrest is DR.. G. w.
Fraker, by his own confession and by
the positive Identification Of Judge Nj.
w. Sullivan of Excelsior Springs.
Any stranger who had never seen
him before, but had seen his picture.
would be struck with the resemblance
to the pictures, though he now wears
short burnsides with a short mus.
tache, a mixture Of red and yellow.
His trousers are patched, his brown
20 shirt shows evidences of wear
and his slouched hat has seen long and
rough service. In short, he looks very
much q hermit, who had lived a long
time in the woods.
When asked to tell the story of his
wanderings, DR.. Fraker said there was
not much to tell.
Ibid fall into the river the night
we were fishing" he said, ..and came
very near being drowned. However.
there was driftwood floating in the
stream and ] caughta log and foated
down the river for a considerable dis.
lance. Finally l found a place where
! could touch bottom and waded ont
on the land. | laid there all that night
and all the next day"
When reminded that the current at
the point where he disappeared formed
q whirlpool where the best of swim.
mers would mot think of y~enturing,
he said he knew it was a terribly dan
gerous place and considered his es-
cape from drowning a miracle.
Nc amount of questioning or argu-
ment could make him change this part
of the story in the least.
II don't know just when it W as,' he
continued, that l left the river, but
with my clothing muddy and bedrap-
gled, my hat lost my hair full of sand,
was in no condition to 20 back to
1he Springs, and accordingly l came
TO Kansas City. I had formerly stopped
at frst-class hotels, but this time, be.
cause of my appearance did not want
to go to n of them, and so went to a
rooming house on Grand avenue south
of Fifth street, almost diagonally across
from the ~Centropolis. 1 stayed there
four days. On the second day / went
to Twelfth street near Walnut street,
and bought a razor, and then I shaved
of all my beard, and if anyone in
Kansas City who knew me had seen me
on the streets he did not recognize me.
the rooming house no one asked
my name, and I did not volunteer to
tell it. Then / went to Chicago.
While there ] think / saw DR.. !. N.
Love OF st. Louis, but he was talking
70 some Indies and I did not approach
him. From Chicago / went to Milwau-
kee and stayed most of the fall Of that
year. By that time the name OF Fra
had been too much advertised, and
] told Q roommate that / was from
Denver and that my name was William
Schnell. I went by the name Of
6chnell from that time on,
How about your being called
Qnick?" was asked.
"You don't understand German,
then2" he replied. stSchnell Is the
German for Quick, and q few people
used the English word for it, that Is
ALL
II lived il Wisconsin and Mime
sofa ever since"
Were you in the timber or the
towns?n
81 stayed most Of the time in towns.
There are nc big towns outside Of Mil
snaukee in that country. I went from
one place to another. No, I won't tell