The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1912-12-06
BAILEY KEPT ON MOVE,
TRA|LfD BY A SlEUTH
From Mondays Daily.

From Mondays Daily.
James ". Bailey, member oil
Camp No. ,3005, Modern Woodmer
of America, Wapello, Iowa, is the
leading figure in what will perhaps
rank as dthe best detective story
this society of more than 1000, 600
members ihas turned out in it's ex
perience Off nearly thirty years.
Bailey was born September %
1854, and took out benefit Ger
Iificate for, $4,000 in favor of his
wife, Alice, Bailey, at WapellO, on
May %, 1899 He was stationary
engineer yby profession, though in
habit he appears to have been any
thing but stationary.
In 1902, Bailey disappeared from
Horton, Kan, where he had been
employed fOr some time. From the
history of his wanderings, as now
revealed by. the slueths of the Mod
ern Woodmen society. it appears
that after leaving Horton he OBJ.
tanned employment in a sawmill in
Colorado. T Then he went to Califor-
mia, where @he was employed for a
time by alumber company. In 1904
he returned home to spend Christ
mas i'm the bosom of his family and
had a reception not appreciably
warmer than that experienced by
Enoch Arden on historic occasion.
OF the fact of his return home at
that time the society was ignorant
until recently. Failing to persuade
his wife tooreturn to California with
him, Bailey went alone. In 1905,
he obtained employment with the
Pacific Steam Ship company as an
electrician. This occupation carried
him to Honolulu and Japan. Then
he was transferred to another ship,
the Alice Dollar" r
During the RusSo-Japanese war,
this vessel in pursuance of a con-
tract between the steam ship COM
pany and the Russian government
was rechristened the "Fagland" and
loaded with ammunition, surgical
supplies and other contraband goods
Destination Was Unknown.
The Fagland set out from San
Francisco,b destination unknown, but
on the voyage ii became understood
that VladiyOStOk was the port in
view and Hthat object of the voyage
was TO provision the garrison there
While Thea Fagland was at sea,
Port Arthur fell and the vessel
laden with contraband goods was
captured by! the Japanese 500 miles
off the coast and towed to Port
Arthur where the crew was kept
six weeks land then sent to Nagasa-
Xxi. Later1 the crew was patched
on the steamer Nevada to San Fran
cisco
Went Down to Panama.
Up the Yukon on the steamer
HeSperus was the next experience
of the adventurous Bailey. In that
distant land he obtained employ
ment under Uncle Sam and was
sent down to the canal zone on the
government transport Sherman, where
for eighteen months he operated a
steam shovel engaged in digging the
big ditch. In 1907 he left Panama
for San Francisco on the government
transport Hancock. From San Fran.
cisco he took passage on the steam
er Minnesota and Voyaged to New
York around Cape Horn. Then an
impulse to visit the scene of his
former domestic felicity overcame
him and he journeyed by rail half
way across the continent
At Burlington, Iowa, as he sat
in the coach on a Chicago, Burling-
ton and Quincy train, he observed
an old friend sitting on the plat
form. but he was not recognized
and he did not make himself known
AS to his record from 1907 to
1912, Bailey has little to say, which
may be attributed to the circum-
stance thatEhe was married in the
interim without authority of law.
The agents OF the society recently
located him in Colorado, and, when
he had been visited by two of his
children, bhe claim arising from his
disappearance, which had been pre-
ferred to the society, but not brought
into court, was withdrawn.
Owatonnay Mimi, Dec. Mrs.
William Schelle, one of the best
known women of this city, ended
her life. Mr.. Schelle found the
body of his wife hanging by the
neck froml the stairway banister
She is survived by several chill
dren.
Mrs Anna Grove, daughter of a
we'll known farmer of Steel county
committed suicide by shooting her
lacnnnlant