The Treasurer Who Vanished, Then Wrote Home From Puget Sound

Frank E. Thompson of Leon, Iowa, son of the late Dr. C. S. Thompson, and Thomas W. Silvers, the doctor’s son-in-law, are at the Olympia Hotel, and will remain in the city in order to settle up Dr. Thompson’s estate. By the will his son Frank and Edward Pitman, an old friend who alone knew of his whereabouts, were appointed administrators, but in the failure of either to qualify, Mr. Silvers was to act with the other.

The only cause of the doctor’s disappearance as treasurer of Decatur County some 20 years ago was his uncontrollable disposition to comply with requests of friends. While in his will he alludes to his financial embarrassment as a defalcation, it was not so looked upon by people in Decatur County, and every one of his bondsmen have since assured the doctor’s son of their faith in his integrity. Even his successor in office, who differed from him politically, commended him for the manner in which the affairs of his office had been administered. When he disappeared he left a memorandum, stating where every cent of the missing money was, and also left directions for the disposition of his property to cover all deficits.

He had placed the county’s money in the People’s Bank of Leon, Iowa, which failed, the banker going into bankruptcy. He had also loaned small sums to friends, the greater number of whom paid up when called upon, but the bank failure left him short in the neighborhood of $1,500. It is evident enough from this that the shortness in the county’s funds did not accrue to his benefit by any means, and his only desire, as is apparent through all his letters and his will, was to make restitution to those who suffered loss.

Mr. Churchill and Mr. Johnson, of Tumwater, old Texas friends of the doctor, conferred with the executors this morning.

Ed Pitman, probably the only person who ever knew of the whereabouts of Dr. Thompson, makes a statement in an Iowa paper in which he says that “two years ago the fact of Dr. Thompson still being in existence was discovered by the merest accident, and after much correspondence and assurance of secrecy and fair treatment, he did not hesitate to become more communicative. He was informed from time to time of everybody and everything for the last twenty years; at all events, of everything of interest to him.

“From the very first he wanted to know all about his shortage and how much it amounted to, and manifested the greatest solicitude for ‘those I have wronged,’ as he expressed it frequently. His family concerned him to an exceeding degree. Then all his old friends, mentioning nearly every one by name.

“It is a fact well known to many that he was a man of good mind and versatile attainments, and was capable of handling nearly all the prominent themes of thought and investigation from the higher criticisms all the way down through philosophy, heavy literature, the sciences and medicine. And in his much writing he touched them all without intending it. A man of the most noble sentiments, just and generous to the finest points. To young men starting out in life’s meanderings it might be well to say that the only quality he lacked of being a model man was the power and will to say ‘no’ and check the unreasonable demands of pretended or seeming friends. From this lack grew his troubles. Many, very many, hold rigidly to the belief that he was at no time an intentional wrong-doer.

The doctor’s last letter to Mr. Pitman is touching and is full of the noble and thoughtful spirit which marked the dead man’s life. After referring to matters of family interest, he says: “I do not suffer the slightest fear now of exposure; not half as I might if only one of you were in the mystery. I wonder if my own old pictures retain a place in that old album. But of course I presume not. Indeed, I almost feel that it is wicked presumption in me to expect or even think of being recognized as a man having any claims to a relationship with those dear children—stop and think a minute. Do you fully comprehend what is involved in that expression? Its full meaning, extent and horridness! Yes, horridness! If so, then can you form some faint idea of the manner of my internal life for the past 20 years. Yet these tender chords of love and sympathy for them, also mother as well, have never in the slightest ceased to vibrate and a kind of grim hope, so to speak, has sustained me until I have had the additional comfort of our blessed correspondence, which I value beyond all your reasonable comprehension. I do hope friend Clark will succeed in obtaining some pictures or other mementos, as it would add so much to my already extensive store of love’s recollections.

“I have had one of my quite severe spells of heart failure not long since, when out in the woods near my little ranch, and had it been as bad as one lately here in my room at night, I should not have survived it.

“I care not how soon this occurs—only we are having a great season of depression here all over the Sound country in real estate matters and everyone is sanguine that when the Union Pacific Railroad resumes work here again, everything at this place will go up on a high boom, and we have reliable news that this will be done next spring, in fact it is sure to come here in the near future, and by my holding on to the willows a little longer I may be able to place my property in shape to be that much better for those who are to have the benefit.

“This is all that gives me the slightest desire to stay here twenty-four hours, and were it not for the comfort derived from our correspondence I hardly see how I could endure to remain longer anyhow, though this is surely the pleasantest climate I ever saw and we have one of the prettiest little cities on the coast, with the inevitable prospects of one of the most prosperous and substantial, and almost everything to make it a pleasant, happy home.”