The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1902-07-17
FRED LEE RICE
TO BE- EXECUTED
Canadian Desperate Must
Pay Penalty For
Many Crimes
tBy Associated Press.l

Toronto, onss July 1.-THE cabinet
having declined to interfere, Fred Lee
Rice, one of the most desperate Grim
inals with which the Canadian author
tiles have had to deal in many years,
will pay the penalty Of kis misdeeis
on the gallows tomorrow. The con-
demned criminal is an Illinois man, a
former resident of Champaign and e.
student Of the University OF Illinois.
The crime for which he is 30 be ex-
ecuted was the outgrowth of a less
heinous offense, the robbery OF bank,
for which Rice and trhee confederates
had received sentences of 21 years
imprisonment Rice and his coinpan-
ions formed a gang of the most motor
ious and daring porch climbers on the
continent. Their field OF operations
was co-extensIve with the continent.
Whenever there was opportunity for
plunder they went They did not con-
fine thei roperations to porch climbing.
Highway robbery, burglary and forg-
cry were among their accomplish
ments,, ard for many years they baf-
fed the efforts of the police to effect
thei rcapture. Originally the gang
was composed of Rice. Frank Rutl-
edge, a Canadian, and Frank Stewart.
All were desperate characters, shrewd
in their methods. skilled in the arts of
the confidence man and utterly with
out fear They made their headquart-
ers in Chicago, but conducted their
Operations principally IN other cities,
returning to Chicago to dispose of and
divide their plunder at stated inter
walls.
Rice was reared on a farm in the
vicinity of Champaign and when he
arts of the University of Illinois. in
1883. he was quiet, retired, coun-
try boy whose refined manners and
handsome face made him popular
among the co-eds. Like many coun-
TRY boys, freedom from parental re-
straint, which he enjoyed at the uni
versity for the first time had a ser.
ious effect on his morals and in his
second year he was known as one OF
the widest men in the university
His evident large heartedness and
kindly disposition made him friends
among both faculty and students and
It was long tiIte before formal no
tice was taken of his actions by the
board Of administration. Finally
however, it was found necessary tc
eXpell him.
Soon after he left the university he
became associated with the gang ol
which he is now the only survivor
He was the cleverest of the lot and
in most cases the leader in criminal
exploits. He was called the forger, the
scholar, the poet" of the nefariou;
r aggregation. He looked like a clergy
!. man and had gift of eloquence that
astonished many a pleader. It was
characteristic Of him that he was the
only one OF the gang that ever at
tempted diplomacy Cornered, he
never offered to kill. but, preferrinl
soft words, secured for himself the
best of treatment in an extremity.
Frank Stewart, well known as q
Chicago thief, was the first of the
gang 10 die. He was killed in an at
: tempt to escape after a Chicago holC
mp. Jones was the next to pay th'
price RuHedgel committel4 suicide
by dashing himself from the gallery
OF the Toronto jail to the stone pavet
court thirty feet below The crime
for which the gang was arrested ano
convicted was the robbery of a banl
at Aurora, Ont, from which they Sc
cured about $4,000. On information
received from the Toronto police ih'
entire gang were arrested in Chicago
Extradition proceedings We're stub
bornly fought in the courts, but tn
culprits eventually we're brought u
Canada, where, after trial, they wer
sentenced to 21 years Imprisonment
.-----------------------.-