Arrest Causes Surprise Here

Marietta Daily Times, December 12, 1924

Hearing of Hunter Set for December 16

Refusing to discuss his activities of the past eight years, during which he has been a fugitive from justice, George W. Hunter, missing Williamstown bank cashier, is in the district jail at Washington, D.C., where he is held for a preliminary hearing on Tuesday, December 16. Following his arrest on Wednesday evening, he was brought before a federal commissioner, where he declined to talk, even refusing to admit his name. His bond was fixed at $15,000.

During the greater part of the eight years that Hunter has been a fugitive, there has been a general belief here that he was living either in or near Washington, and there has been speculation as to why he was not arrested long ago. Different Marietta people have seen and talked with Mrs. Hunter in Washington at different times, and some of them have understood that Hunter was "staying nearby." This condition had prevailed for so long that it had come to be the generally accepted belief that no one cared to prosecute him, hence the surprise occasioned when federal agents arrested him.

Shadowed Mrs. Hunter

Washington reports indicate that department of justice agents shadowed Mrs. Hunter on the streets of Washington and in this way came upon and arrested her husband. He was taken into custody in one of the residential districts of the national capital. It is said that following his arrest he denied that he had spent any part of the past eight years roaming over the country, and further denied that he ever had been on the Pacific coast, in which section friends reported having seen him a few years ago.

Following Hunter's arrest on Wednesday evening, he got in touch with some of his former associates at Williamstown and Parkersburg, it is said, and arrangements were begun to provide counsel for him. It is understood that an effort will be made in Washington next week to secure a reduction in his bond. Then it is expected the case will be sent back to the northern West Virginia district for trail, possibly at Parkersburg.

Indicted After Disappearance

Hunter was indicted at the Wheeling term of federal court following his disappearance in 1916, and he is charged with appropriating to his own use $3,629.53 of the Williamstown National Bank's money. He is further charged with making false entries in the bank's books, which aggregate $2,073.21.

The alleged misappropriation of the bank's funds, according to the first of twelve counts in the indictment, occurred on or about June 16, 1914, at which time Hunter is alleged to have taken $454.29.