A Bad Officer - W. A. Fairbanks 1897

FERTIG, FAIRBANKS

Posted By: Cheryl Locher Moonen (email)
Date: 12/2/2016 at 13:07:03

The Dubuque Herald, Tuesday, January 12, 1897

A BAD OFFICER
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Sherriff Fairbanks, of Charles City,
Here and They Leave with $1,300
of Mr. Fertig’s Money
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A woman stepped off the Milwaukee train from the north here Friday night and went to a hotel. When the Milwaukee train from the north arrived here at 3 o’clock Saturday morning, a man with whiskers alighted, went to the same hotel and inquired for the woman, who soon joined him. They went across the river in a hack and left on a train for the east. The man was Sherriff W. A. Fairbanks, of Floyd County, and the woman was the wife of George Fertig, of Charles City, Floyd County. The sheriff was disguised.

Saturday morning’s late train from the north brought Mr. Fertig to the city and he began inquiries of the couple. He claims his wife had taken $1,300 of his money with her, and the probabilities are that it is the money that he wants more than the woman, who, it is reported, has taken similar excursions before. Mr. Fertig went to Chicago but was unable to locate the couple there. Fairbanks is about 50 years old and married and the woman about 35 years.

A report from Charles City says that the board of supervisors of that county will meet and declare the office of sheriff vacant and appoint a successor to Fairbanks. The escapade can hardly be called an elopement because, if reports are true, they have tried the game before and Fairbanks undoubtedly expected this time to return home in a day or two as he has done on previous occasions. Mrs. Fertig, when she left home bought a ticket for Madison, Wis., and left ostensibly to visit that city.