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Charles Wells Banks' furtive departure from San Francisco in 1886 made him a well-known figure in the United States of America. Until he left for the South Seas, he was employed by Wells Fargo, the legendary banking and express company that was founded in San Francisco in 1852. As he was hunted by Wells Fargo detectives after his departure, his story comprehensively appeared in the press. Furthermore, he is mentioned in several publications on the history of Wells Fargo, the latest one published in 2002. He was also the subject of stories about the Western Frontier, e.g., in magazines published in 1967 and 1969. And as a veteran of the Civil War he is honored by a veteran's association which has restored his grave on Rarotonga.
Charles Wells Banks lived on three continents during his life. He was born in England in 1839, and ran away from home at the age of fourteen. He came to America probably as a ship's boy. In America he fought in the Civil War on the side of the Union and was wounded. He got married in New York State and then went to San Francisco in 1870 working as an employee of Wells Fargo. In the West he became a successful banker and a well-respected citizen of San Francisco and Oakland.
In 1886 he broke fundamentally with his life in San Francisco since he had fallen in love with a woman from the Cook Islands, whom he had met in San Francisco. He went under an assumed name, John Scard, first to Tahiti on the City of Papeete, and then from there with the next available ship, the S.S. Janet Nicoll, to Rarotonga, the main island of the Cook Islands. His disappearance from San Francisco was a complete surprise to all who knew him.
He lived on the small island of Atiu for some time and then moved to Rarotonga where he was a member of the European colonial society and worked as a trader. He left the Cook Islands only once in 1902 when the former British Resident of the Cook Islands, Frederick J. Moss, and A. B. Donald, for whom he worked on Rarotonga, had invited him to New Zealand. He stayed there for about six weeks. Charles Wells Banks died on Rarotonga in 1915 and is buried there.
