1890's
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1892
John J. Valentine became President of Wells Fargo & Company. Born November 12, 1840, John J. Valentine was the classic story of advancement. He went all the way through first as an agent, a route agent, cashier, general manager, vice-president and president. It was Mr. Valentine that hired the famous western legend and friend of Wyatt Earp, Fred Dodge as an undercover man for Wells Fargo & Company. Wyatt Earp, with the insistence of Dodge, was also employed by the company as someone to look after Wells Fargo's interests like being a Shot Gun Messenger and to guard heavy shipments of bullion and money. In Tombstone, Arizona, lived the most famous of Wells Fargo agents: Wyatt and Morgan Earp, Marshall Williams and Fred Dodge. Dodge's most famous case, which spanned from November 26, 1892 through April 25, 1895, was the "Brown Paper Case." A cash shipment of two bags left New York carrying $35,000. Both bags were destined for Galveston, Texas, but to two different banks. After many stops, the bags arrived at the banks, but to the clerk's amazement instead of money he found brown paper cut to the size of bills. Dodge threw himself into the case, but to no avail. The case is also known as the Hardin Case. Hardin was one of the agents who handled the bags in transport, but unfortunately not enough evidence was gathered for his conviction, thus the case was never solved. Fortunately, Dodge received a lovely gold watch from Valentine, for all his hard work on the case. Other cases involved the infamous Black Bart, notorious for leaving poetry at the scene of the crime.
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1893
A bulldog puppy named Jack became the symbol for Wells Fargo. He was chosen as the symbol because of a bulldog's nature to be alert and faithful canines that guarded wells.
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