This Date in Wells Fargo History

Fri, 03 Feb 2012

February 3, 1893. San Franciscans talked about Wells Fargo's historical exhibit which would appear at the World's Fair in Chicago honoring Christopher Columbus. "The best relics and curiosities of those old, but still vividly remembered times," an Examiner reporter gushed, "are being gathered together, dug from the hiding places in which the rapid years had almost effectually obscured them." The only saving grace from such flowery writing was the reporter's conclusion: "They will form a collection that the world could not duplicate." One of the items was the iron safe that robber Charles P. Weibache attacked in a stage near the railhead of Milton, California, in 1881. For ninety minutes, he "tried in vain to chop the heavy iron hasp in two with an axe." With wry humor, the reporter noted, "He not only spoiled his good ax, but directed his efforts to robbing the United States mail and was captured."