THE RISE AND FALL OF FRANK DE VILLIERS
~Compiled and written by Ferd Froeschle
About the time first buildings were going up in Hazen, Frank DeVilliers and Stanley C. Davis appeared with a gang of railroad workers, but they didn’t go to work on the railroad. Instead they chose brief but colorful careers as rural school teachers.
DeVilliers was the leader; Davis his follower. For some 60 days they flashed across the local firmament like a pair of meteorites, brightening the community’s midwinter social season and providing conversational material for months to follow.
The Star chronicled their activities with items such as this in the Dec. 26, 1913 issue:
“On Tuesday night of this week, a surprise was given all those who attended the Christmas entertainment given by Frank DeVilliers, who teaches the Mettler school. The interior was transformed thru the medium of panorama to represent an old colonial homestead. The tree was loaded down with gifts for the little ones; the antique mistletoe and holly decorated the fireplace, the leaded glass windows and doors were features. The program was short but enjoyable. Stanley C. Davis played the part of Santa Claus.”
A week later, in its first 1914 issue, the Star reported:
FINE PARTY AT STANTON
One of the most pleasing social events of the season occurred last Friday evening in Stanton at which Messrs. DeVilliers and Davis entertained a number of their friends at Cruden’s Hotel.
Entertainment included instrumental selections by Miss Gladys Slater and vocal selections by Miss Marie Morstad.
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DeVilliers and Davis were on the move. The two women who provided the musical talent for the Stanton party were their wives by the time the next issue of the Star came out:
DOUBLE WEDDING
Hazen Star, Jan. 9, 1914
Four of Mercer County’s popular school teachers spring a delightful surprise when they quietly went through the legal tangles that make two hearts beat as one. Joining Mr. Frank DeVilliers and Miss Marie Morstad in holy bonds of wedlock, and Mr. Stanley C. Davis and Miss Gladys Slater.
Mr. DeVillers and Mr. Davis are school chums from New York State and came to Mercer County to teach about the same time the ladies of their choice came here from Wisconsin on the same mission.
Their winning ways have gained them friends who join with the Star in best wishes for prosperity, happiness and long life of usefulness and good deeds. We hope they may stay among us.
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Frank DeVilliers joined Hazen’s newly formed Dramatic Society and continued to make a splash in the social scene, as reported in the Jan. 23, 1914, Star:
“Frank DeVilliers, who is numbered among the most competent and efficient school teachers Mercer County ever had, will entertain his friends and at the same time benefit his school by giving a big dance and basket social at the Keeley Opera House, Feb. 7. Proceeds will go for improvements of the Mettler school, which he is teaching.”
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According to the Feb. 13, 1914, issue of the Star, the party was a mixed success:
“The dance and basket social given in Hazen Saturday evening by Frank DeVilliers for the benefit of the Mettler school, though not a financial success, was one socially. Attendance was small owning to bitter cold, but a dozen or so baskets were sold.”
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Then on Feb. 20, 1914, the Star published a brief item that carried with it a sense of foreboding:
“Frank DeVilliers and Stanley C. Davis are reported to have given up their school and have left here and are reported to have gone to Minneapolis.”
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The tone of the next item indicated that the two men had lost their standing in the eyes of the Star, as well as the rest of the community:
DeVILLIERS-DAVIS MANIPULATION
Hazen Star, Mar. 13, 1914
Mr. W. S. Slater of Carter, Wis., a merchant and postmaster at that place, arrived at Hazen last week and took home his daughter, Gladys, now Mrs. Stanley C. Davis, and Mrs. F. J. DeVilliers, nee Marie Morstad. The young ladies came here last fall to teach school near Expansion and during their sojourn in Mercer County became infatuated with DeVilliers and Davis, who also drooped into the county about the same time, shipping here with a bunch of railroaders but taking schools to teach instead of jobs on the railroad grade. The couples were married in January and all went well until some three weeks ago when the boys suddenly departed, leaving a whole lot of unpaid bills and the girls destitute in Hazen.
The next heard of them was when Mr. Slater arrived here to take the girls home, the boys having been arrested in Milwaukee for forgery and in jail awaiting trial. De Villiers is thought to be responsible for the undoing of Davis, who comes from a wealthy and prominent Georgia family. DeVilliers is presumed to be nothing but a bowery hanger on, petty larceny crook, and an all round grafter who has gotten an influence over Davis.
The community is sorry for the plight of the girls and hopes they will soon forget the existence of the couple of scalawags that have stung many here and who no doubt will be rewarded with just desserts in prison terms.
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After carrying reprints from several Milwaukee newspapers detailing the misdeeds of DeVilliers and Davis, the Star wiped its slate clean of the two with this Mar. 27, 1914, item:
“We had communications galore from Frank DeVilliers relating to his imprisonment at Milwaukee on a felony charge which we have refrained from publishing as we think the people here have little in common with this individual unless it be that he pay up the obligations he has contracted in this community.”