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some of the bank’s money. The very next day I noticed this man’s mail came from Minnesota. He told me his name was S. L. Edwin and his mail came addressed that way. That gave me a hunch. I just allowed, maybe he had changed his name from Edwin L. Sylvester to Sylvester L. Edwin. I wrote the Burns Detective Agency in Minnesota and asked them about this man Sylvester they were hunting. "Before I got any reply, the man left my truck farm and went into the pine woods north of here to work. He didn’t stay very long. When he came back I got him a job as a fireman in the hotel. Then I got one of those circulars with Sylvester’s picture and description and I knew he was the banker. I told the sheriff and they arrested him," (NOTE: End of clipping.)
February 4, 1926– Rochester Daily Bulletin In Chicago Cell With Convicted Murderer Today Still Bitter Against Many Who Played "Judas" for Reward Poses for Photos in Chicago Today Looks Seedy and Shabby – Glad to Return to Wabasha Chicago, Ill. Feb. 4 – Lodged in a cell with a convicted murderer, E. L. Sylvester of Plainview today talked freely of his experiences in the South and expressed satisfaction that he is to return tomorrow to the scene of his life’s success and failure. As he stepped off the train at noon, his first question was concerning his family. He was handcuffed to Deputy Sheriff Ed Fitzgerald and posed for photographs as he greeted the crowd at the Illinois Central depot. He looked seedy and shabby, and had a two day growth of beard. He was friendly and apparently glad to get back to Wabasha county to get it over with. He shook hands with the jailer at the county jail who assured him good treatment. He spoke in bitter terms of the man who played "Judas." Sylvester inquired as to the feeling of the people of Plainview. Before reaching Chicago Sylvester broke down and cried several times. This is the first time since his arrest that tears have bathed his sorrow. Sylvester felt like a "scared rabbit" when he hurriedly left Plainview last March with $443 in his pockets and he did not know where he was going when he got on the train that memorable night nearly a year ago, he told County Attorney John R. Foley as the train stopped at Memphis last night. His family knew his plans for the get-away and communicated with him through White Brothers. Inquiry did not reveal the identity of White Brothers, but it is presumed they are not in the Plainview territory (NOTE: Later found to be White Bear, Minnesota.) Defalcation at the Plainview bank began more than twenty years ago, before the institution was organized as a state bank, he revealed for the first time today. He is beginning to discuss bank affairs. Mr. Foley has just found a secret memo in Sylvester’s personal effects. In addition to showing that he had $443 when he left Plainview, it reveals expenditures from February 28 to May 6. It shows the receipt of 12 letters and he sent eight. After notations of sending letters appear the initials "W. B." evidently White Brothers and he does not deny that the letters to members of his family were sent through White Brothers. The letters were received in two batches and the memorandum shows that he now has about ninety dollars. Sylvester repeatedly shows his bitterness against George W. Hoffstetter, the farmer of Gulfport, Mississippi, who "betrayed him like Judas" for the $100 reward.
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* SOURCE: Manzow, Ron (compiler), "The Sylvester Family of Plainview, Minnesota - a collection of information taken from the Plainview News, other newspapers, letters, and diaries beginning in 1884": Plainview Area History Center, 40 4th St. S.W., Plainview, MN 55964. Compiled in 2001.
NOTE: from Ron Manzow, December 2001: "Feel free to reproduce the pages for anyone who wants a copy. It was
compiled to be shared... All I ask is that they consider sending a check to the [Plainview Area] History Center to help us out. That
should be enough."
Howder; © 1995-2011 All Rights Reserved. Last Updated February 14, 2011.