Frank Wheeler: "Ohio Fatty" Master Escape Artist

Frank Wheeler was born abt 1865 in Ohio, possible parents Albert F Wheeler (1843-1914 and Mary E (1848-. Know as "Ohio Fatty" and alias F. Steadman.


His earliest record was from 1884




Inmate #12913 Folsom and San Quentin (He kept this #)
He escaped 1 Oct 1888 and was returned 10 Jan 1895 to finish his 5 year sentence for burglary. 11 May 1897 was transferred from San Quentin to Folsom.  












Inmate #4092 Folsom Prison
Rec: 11 May 1897
Crime: Burg 1st degree
Term: 5 yrs
Age: 32
Discharged: 7 Jul 1899










I found some interesting newspaper clippings and a few more prisons he was in.






His photo was in the papers often.


FROM JAIL OR HID WITH Convict Frank Wheeler Is Wanted at San Quentin. 
RIGID SEARCH FOR HIM Several Squads Are Endeavoring to Locate the Missing Man. 
HE HAS ESCAPED BEFORE. Some of the Prison Officials Imagine He Is Concealed in the Jute Mill. Within the grim precincts of the State prison at San Quentin, and beyond its limits for a radius of fifteen or twenty miles, squads of searchers are busily at FRANK WHEELER, ALIAS "OHIO FATTY." work hunting for Henry Wheeler, a con', vict, who disappeared about 1 o'clock Monday evening.
Among the prison officials the prevailing opinion seems to be that Wheeler is concealed within the inclosure, and with this view in mind a thorough search of every nook and cranny in each of the buildings  is being made. 
Wheeler was employed in the jute mill,  where he bad passed about a year and a half hemming bags. His behavior is said to have been exemplary; but while his hands were busy with the needle his thoughts were evidently bent on the regaining of his liberity. During Sunday and Monday he seemed  somewhat more reticent than usual, though he had never been very communicative, and on Monday wtiile busy at his  appointed task seemed to be nervous and  restless. His work, however, was well  done, and as he made no complaint little notice was given to the slight alteration in his manner. At 4 o'clock Wheeler ceased to be visible,  As though the earth bad opened and swallowed him, he left no trace of him , having been in his accustomed place an instant before. Immediately the juto mill was in an uproar. By means of communication best  : known to themselves, the news of an disappearance spread among the convicts,  and eyes which bad boea dull and hopeless gleamed with mingled envy and satisfaction. "Wneeler's gone!" the intelligence traveled rapidly from man to man  the intelligence traveled rapidly from man to man, and the restlessness, usual when news of the escape gets abroad among the convicts. 
was becoming plainly evident to the practiced gaze of the guards and warders. The jute mill was cleared forthwith, and  the convicts there employed were placed  in their cells, in order to prevent them  from spreading the news of the supposed escape. Then a most minute and careful search of the mill buildings was instituted. The walls were tapped with hammers, the floors sounded, and wherever a loose plank was noticed it was straightway torn up, in the expectation that perhaps the  fugitive might be found hiding in some burrow or crevice. Upstairs and down the  bands of searchers labored, but without success.  
Darkness at length came on and all the lights in the mill were ordered turned on in their full strength. Each searcher was provided with a lantern and the jute mill j was soon ablaze with light. The search went on during the entire night, the manhunters working  return. The lights paled in lha radiance of the rising sun, and yet no Wheeler came to  view. But the search was not given over. The mill was strongly guarded within and without, and then the outer premises, parceled out into districts, were gone over  literally inch.
 Bit by bit the  radius of exploration was widened, until the outer limits of the prison domain were reached, when the entire ground wad covered over again, the second search within the jute mill being almost finical in its minuteness. Meanwhile telegrams had been sent in every direction and several squads of guards were scouring the country back of the prison. While most of the officers believed the missing man to be in ( biding,  there were others who thought it possible that he had in some manner evaded the vigilance of the wardens and escaped from the prison precincts. All day yesterday the search went on, but the one bunted fugitive who had stirred up all the ado declined to answer to bis name.
"Wheeler is a professional escaper," remarked Captain Birlen yesterday. The captain Beams sorely perplexed at the convict's disappearance and has shown much  Interest in the search now under way. "Yet," he resumed, "what this man Wheeler doesn't know about escaping isn't worth knowing. He is a thorough criminal and has a record as a burglar which many a more pretentious crook  might envy. And yet he is young, I don't believe he is over 35 years of age. . "He first escaped from this prison in 1888. He was serving his time for a burglary committed, I don't know where, and one day he vanished like a spirit.
A  great search was immediately instituted, but while the searchers were still at work Wheeler was flying eastward over the rails. "He fetched up in Chicago, where he remained some time in hiding. Then he recommenced his interrupted career of crookedness, and wound up in the penitentary at Joliet. He remained there only a short time, disappearing from the institution one dark night. All efforts to trace him proved vain, and for some time  his movements were unknown to the ofliicers of the law. "A little over a year ago he was seen and recognized in Los Angeles by a man who had known him here in San Quentin. He was straightway brought hither, and  when he escaped had still about four years to serve. His sentence was for five years,  the crime of which he was convicted being a burglary in the San Joaquin Valley,  which attracted considerable attention at the time. "Wheeler's behavior in pirson was always been exemplary. In fact, his only  infraction of prison rules has been in the way of escapes. Every effort is being put forth for his discovery and recapture. It is too early at present to compare the probabilities for and against his recovery  but if ever a man knew how to escape in style, Wheeler is that man." Sergeant Mahoney of the Harbor Police was ordered to have the City water front carefully watched. Accordingly, officers were detailed to keep a sharp lookout for Wheeler, whose photograph was sent to the sergeant to facilitate the man's identification.
Wheeler is known in criminal circles as "Chicago Fatty," and escaped from Sing Sing before his Joliet experience. His last committal to San Quentin was due to his own act in acknowledging his former escape from that place in order to keep out of the hands of the Sing Sing authorities, who, learning of his presence in Los Angeles, had issued a requisition for him. Meanwhile Wheeler keeps his whereabouts strictly to himself and, needless to  say, declines to be interviewed.



 The San Francisco Call, 03 Jun 1896, Wed, Page 8

(sorry about the edit, if I missed anything)


















Looks like he had some fights in his day, scars from knives and a bullet wound. I am not sure why his photo is missing.

I found no death records or a FAG for him, no wife or children, he was on the run and that would of made it harder to hide.

I wonder what happened to him, did he die in prison, or a saloon fight somewhere, or all alone in a room where he lived? 
Guess someday we may find out where "Ohio Fatty" is.



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