The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1908-08-12
FUGITIVE WALKER
BACK FROM MEXICO
New Britain Bank Defaulter
Landed in San Diego, Cal.
WAS PENNILESS WHEN CAUGHT
Charged With Taking S541,SS2, the
Aged Financier Now Declares
That He is Innocent-Story of
His Crimes and Wanderings.

San Diego, Cal.-Penniless and In
well-worn but well-kept clothes, Will
lam F. Walker, who disappeared
from New Britain, Conn, February
10, 1907, leaving, as treasurer of the
New Britain Savings Bank, a short
age of over a half million dollars,
was landed here from the steamer st.
Denis. His long fight to prevent ex-
tradition from Mexico thus came to
an end.
Walker was brought from Esen-
aga Lower California, by T. F. Egan.
Superintendent of the State Police OF
Connecticut, and Detective Norman
of the Pinkertons.
A large crowd gathered at the pier
to see the prisoner landed, and there
were many cameras pointed at the
gangplank when he started ashore.
But he kept his face hidden Inc was
hurried into a cab by his two guards.
He was driven to a restaurant, FOL
lowed by the crowd.
Walker shows the heavy marks OF
hi long Incarceration. His hair and
beard of yellow-gray are stragSiy,
and his face is pasty white and heav-
ily scanned. He had not a penny.
When he was captured in the mount
aims Of Lower California he had only
s1.O1 in his clothes, and this has
been spent.
After frequently declaring that he
would have nothing to say to h
newspapers, he finally made this
statement:
THE fight is not yet over. 1 am
an innocent a I did not like my
treatment in Mexico. All the money
with which I left New Britain was
my own. I have none left
After leaving New Britain and
sending a message to his wife that
he had been killed in a trolley accl-
dent, signing a false name to the tel
egram, Walker went to Rhyollte,
New. where, it is understood, he
bought some property. He then came
to San Diego, and from here went to
Lower California, in Mexico.
The route for the trip East has not
been decided on by Walkers guards.
They expect, however, to have him IN
New Britain at the end of the week.
Story Of Walkers Crimes.
At the time of Walkers disappear
ance the books of the New Britain
bank were being examined by the
State Banking Department.. His
shortage was first estimated at $780,
900, but this figure was afterward re-
duced to $541,SS2. This included
the funds of the Baptist Convention
of Connecticut, amounting to $780,
900.
Walker, while a fugitive, sent a
confession to the president of his
bank, in which he said that the loss
was occasioned by a bond sWlndle
into which he had been inveigled by
a former employe of a Wall Street
firm of brokers. The swindlers, he
alleged, got $4,000 in cash at n
time, and $4,000 at another time.
It was also reported that he had been
victimized by a gang of wire-tappers
in New York City, who took several
thousands from him.
When captured on the other side
of the Mexican boundary line Walker
put up a stiff legal fight to prevent
his extradition, and his case went to
the highest courts of Mexico, the final
decision being that he should be
turned over CO the United States and
Connecticut authorities.
Hartford, Conn.-Wm. F. Walker,
the defnuiting treasurer Of the Saw
ings Bank of New Britain, who is
~eyDectsd to arrive here within a week,
will probable spend the remainder
of the summer in Jail, after being
taken before a Judge of the Superior
Court on a bench warrant and made
to- plead. 1t is not expected that he
will be tried before fall.