A BEDOTT CLUE FOR THE DENISON REVIEW
Continued from: Barney Bedott Writes Again
Denison Bulletin – November 8, 1905
SID GREEN JOINS DOWIE
(The Dowie Plantation was a spiritual compound in Mexico established by a quackish faith healer named John Alexandar Dowie. Another of Barney Bedott's concocted locations)
Dow City Man Writes Another Letter to Him
Dow City, Iowa, U.S.A.
Middle October, 1905
HONORABLE SID GREEN,
Tuxpan, Mexico
My Dear Sid:
You took a long time to it telling me that you didn't take much stock in my last letter, which makes me think, Sid, that maybe you are fergittin' yer old home ties and don't care so much fer the news from home as you ust to, bein's what I told you was the truth old man, but if it wasn't the hull of the truth you ought to be here and know why. I'll tell ye why it is better fer me to say a little at a time to you then to say a hull lot and git you into trouble, fer the officers have got their windows open fer you agin Sid, and they is why I can't write you everything to once. You see it is this way, my friend's friend what is a friend to a friend of the county attorney piped the news to me that they was goin to try fer you agin since they learned you was down in old Mexico sunnin' yerself with the Greasers. The officers will be wantin' of another outin' at state expense and you might fall in the net unless I go careful and stand in with the gang that don't want you back here where they'll have to put up a lot of money to go yer bail. I'm standin' in all right and the news'll be broke to you quicker than a beef trust freight train when they git ready to chase you down Dowie's pike.
And say, Sid, tell me how in the name of the devil did you ever come to plunk yerself down there on Dowie's plantation? Forgive me, old man, fer sayin' in my last letter that I believed you was losin' of yer cunning, because you have got it all back agin with interest, and I can see that you are still as smooth and about as sensible as a new crash towel. Certainly the officers'll never think of yer bein' down there among those crazy saints, and the chances be that in workin' the Dowie right you may git enuff money in a short while to pay back all the poor widdows and childern that mourn you here. Sure it is, Sid, that none of yer friends will ever see you hidin' in that crowd of faith guzzlers and I bid you stay there if you want to, but don't you see as fer as Dow City to Arion? It wouldn't be no trick at all fer the officers to locate ye there if once they smelt yer bein' there, and if the price is in sight some of these 40 below zero days when it is uncomfortable living up here you might be surprised like the other bank cashiers what are bein' caught short these days in the east.
I'm just hintin' of this to you now and tellin' of you to keep movin'. Don't you stay in Dowie's new paradise too long unless you want to git a free ride home at government expense, but if you can grab a few miles of the land and hold it on the quiet till the victims begin to pass the shadows of the Keys on their way down there to bit you'll be doin' the Lord's work and putting back the butter and bread you had to steal from yer friends here at home.
Well, since you askt me to tell you the truth about it old man I might as well say it. There still be plenty of these bloodthirsty demons of evilization what think you ought to be prosecuted to the tar and feathers of ignominy and disgrace and I can't see as they would be willin' fer you to come here to meet yer wife and family in peace and plenty as the Lord knows you ought to, but would tell all they know if they had a chance while yer friends are just as determined as ever to swear you thought it if you ever come back. It's worth something to have friends, Sid, even if you can't see them the rest of your life, and I say good by and be good, fer I'll git you better news in the sweet by and by.
From your old tool and pal,
Barney Bedott.
p.s. Address me at Arion or Kenwood as before fer the spies are not frost bit up here yit.
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Denison Bulletin – November 15, 1905
The cases of Theo. Kuhl v. E.N. Chamberlain and Robert Bell of Dow City was called up for trial. This case in one of the many unfortunate results of the failure of the Dow City Exchange Bank and H.S. Green and is greatly regretted by all who know the parties and the circumstances.
It has been the custom in years gone by for the treasurer to permit the Dow City bank to collect taxes at that place and hold the collections as county deposits. It seems that two or three years ago, however, the board of supervisors found it advisable to designate the banks in the county in which the treasurer should deposit the county money and require regulation bonds from such banks to secure the county against loss.
It is claimed the Dow City Exchange Bank was not so designated by the board at that time, nor since, but the treasurer, Mr. Kuhl made the regular arrangement with the bank to collect the taxes and hold them as deposits, taking from the bank a bond signed by Messrs. Chamberlain and Bell as security for such funds. Then the bank failed and there was a sum equal to more than $2,300 in the bank, although Mr. Kuhl had drawn a check on the bank the day before for $1,500 which was marked paid and hanging there on file. He afterward made up this sum to the county and proceeded with his suit on the bond.
The defendants are resisting payment on the ground that the bank was not a legal depository for the county money, not having been designated by the board and the bond not having been accepted by that body.
The question is a hard one to solve, and we understand it will go to the supreme court whichever side winds in this court.
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Denison Bulletin - March 8, 1906
Dow City Section
A Dow City businessman offers to produce Sid Green for one hundred dollars. This would be cheaper than sending the officers to California or Mexico to get him. Let the fellow have the job.
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Denison Review – September 27, 1906
To our friends in Union township we would say County Attorney Klinker did everything that any attorney could have done to capture and try Sid Green. The fault lays with the democratic board that would not vote one cent for the purpose of hunting him down. It could not be expected that Mr. Klinker would put his hand in his own pocket when the board of supervisors refused to vote a single cent. If blame is to be attached to anyone in this case let if fall where it belongs, not on Mr. Klinker who was handicapped from the start by the action of the board.
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Denison Bulletin – April 11, 1907
McAHREN REIMBURSED
Last Friday the Iowa state legislature finally passed the bill giving to W.J. McAhren of Denison the $151.90 he spent in trying to capture H. S. Green in California.
This case has been one of a very uncertain quantity for some time. The bill was up before the last legislature and failed of passage but this time the bill was taken up on the senate by Hon. Chas. Saunders of Council Bluffs who happened to have the whip hand in that body this year, and with some good help in the house it went through with but one vote against it.
It will be remembered that McAhren was sent to California to arrest Sid Green, the Dow City banker who had failed and decamped. He was located in California and an officer there was wired to arrest him, which was done. McAhren started for California to get him when the arrest had been made, but on getting to the place found that Green had smoothly eluded the officer having him in charge and had disappeared.
From that day to this Green has never been officially seen by anybody. There are rumors that he has been often in the little California town where his family lives and runs a hotel, but he evidently does not stay there long enough to be captured. There is also a rumor well in circulation in Dow City where there are people who hear from Green's family that Mr. Green has consumption bad and cannot live long.
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Denison Review – May 29, 1907
SID GREEN IS HEARD FROM
It is reported on good authority that Sid Green is returning some of the money lost by depositors in the Dow City Bank failure. As the checks come unannounced the Dow City post office will doubtless be filled with anxious ones waiting to be next. After all there is a question as to whether it would be better to have Green confined in the penitentiary paying the penalty of his guilt, or at large, earning money to repay the losers. At present the recipients are glad that Green is at large and probably the majority of the other depositors will be if there is a show to get their money back. While it is no more than right that this money should be restored, the exiled banker must certainly be given credit for his attempts at restoration. It is possible that Green's whereabouts might now be located, but Dow City people would hardly encourage such an effort so long as the checks keep coming.
To Be Continued: Cashier Caught & Sid Green Returns
