The Caledonian-record. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1920-current, 1920-07-03
BAILEY, ALIAS
BANCROFT, FOUND
IN JERSEY CITY
Nationwide Chase Lands
Bailey, Alias Bancroft,
In City Jail

Wilfred A. Bailey, alias Russell G.
Bancroft, the higl financier\ who
is under arrest on a charge he
swindled Orleans county people in
the Camp Westmore proposition was
arrested in Jersey City this week on
a charge of obtaining money under
false pretences. The arrest was made
upon a warrant issued on information
from Frank c. Archibald, Vermont's
attorney general, and Frank d,
Thompson of Barton, states attorney
for Orleans county. His trial will be
in Orleans county court.
Bailey, who admitted his identity,
described himself as SO years old,
born near Calais, Me-, and said he had
wife and two children. The New
York city police discovered that the
address he gave las his residence on
Forty Second street was fictitious.
The arrest of Bancroft, whose right
name is said to be Bailey, was the
result of countrywide search by
Boston detectives and was made by
Superintendent Edwin c. Brown of
the James r. Wood Detective Agency
of Boston, assisted by city detectives.
Five New England states are said
to have been victims of stock invest
ments of this promoter who first op-
Grated under the name of William
/ Wilfred A. Bailev Hk changed his
name to Russell G. Bancroft after
he had served term of imprison-
ment in the Worcester county jail
for forgery and an additional time
for perjury This was in 1908 and
he was charged at this time with for
gerry to the amount of $4,000. In his
! early life he was a substantial citizen
of Worcester and one of the original
stockholders in the Shredded
Wheat" and made small fortune
when that company removed to
|, Niagara Falls and enlarged its cap
ital. In Worcester he was prominent
in fraternal, church and social
circles. While imprisoned in Wor-
cester he continued Lis stock brok
erage and Jail scandal and a legis-
lative inquiry Followed. His opera
tions in Worcester included the ex-
ploitation of a street railway. a no.
tel. Maine pulp mill.
Bailey apparently played no fav-
orites. College professors, stock
brokers, judges, lawyers, widows,
and even relatives are said to have
been swayed by his ARGUMENTS and it
is estimated that he Cleaned up a
round million" after he left Jail in
Worcester and set out to "live down
the past"
The specific complaint against him
when he was taken into custody was
that he procured $4,000 from the
Newport National bank by false pre-
tense in representing that he possess
sed stock valued at more than $1,000
| when he knew the stock was value
less. When Mr. Thompson was in
vestigatino his alleged criminal ac-
tions Bailey was corresponding with
the prosecutor and trying to per-
suade him to become his lawyer in
| other matters.
The financial losses of investors
and Barton and Newnort storekeepers
in the Camp Westmorc proposition
are fresh in the minds of the readers
of this paper. The property was
financed by Bailey and went into
bankruptcy for about 100000. The
promoter in the meantime had skipp-
ed to a small hamlet in New Jersey.
At one time in his palmv days
Bailey lived on the nost road between
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