Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1882-05-18
CAPT. HowGATE.
Incidents in the Career OF a. Rascal.

Incidents in the Career OF a. Rascal.
The Howgate mystery, says Wash
ingtOn correspondent, remains as great
a mystery as it ever was. There is
something demoTalizing in the Wash
ingtOn atmosphere that creates a public
sentiment for man OF the character of
Capt. Howgate. l don't know what it
is, but it reminds me of the mawkish
sentimentality that attaches to great
criminals like Jesse James, Guiteau,
Chastine Cox, and others of peculiar
crimes. You will remember when
Maj. Hodge. the paymaster, who robbed
the government of half million, was
tiled by court martial and imprisoned in
"A coy library at Fort McHenTy. He
had about the same sort of people after
him here Hodge was soon pardoned
out and returned to Washington to be
once more surrounded by the same
circle of society that wOrshiped pleas
ure with him before he became ROM
inal convict. He was scarcely freed
from tho solitary confinement and
champagne Of the Fort McHenry Ii
brary before he was given a responsible
financial trust for the Washington city
government. The case of Howgaie, so
far as the public sympathy is concerned,
is more extraordinary still. 1 do not
doubt but HOwgate would have ben
pardoned out before he had served two
years had he remained here and stood
trial. He stole only about one-third as
much as Hodge, but he was good deal
worse in other respects, and would thus
have stood quite as good a show for
executive clemency. l believe l was
the first newspaper man to drag How.
gate into public light, and l am sup
posed to be suffering The pangs of re-
morse in consequence. Indeed, when
heard on every hand, "I'm glad he's
got away" "Well, Howgate was a
clever fellow" "Hope they won't
catch him." ETC., 1 am not certain
that 1 did the correct thing. For
all this sympathy 1 can only &C
count by the fact that Howgate
spent a good deal of the money he
stole from the government upon class
of people who make public opinion.
He kept yacht and a mistress and
enjoyed perfect immunity from puplic
criticism for the one by the free use of
the other. His course toward his family
has been most despicable. Leaving
his wife to almost earn her own living
he showered gold upon his mistress
Nellie Burrill. He fitted up perfect
model of house for Nellie on Thir-
teenth street, very near where 1 live,
and saw them, necessarily, quite
often, coming in or going out to drive
or walk. His wife lives there now,
and a grown daughter, fresh from
Vassar. The wife is a quiet, lady-like.
motherly-looking woman, finer in form
and feature than the favorite mistress,
while both wife and daughter have
been devoted to Howgate from the
beginning of his troubles. How much
he appreciated this solicitude may be
inferred from the fact that Nellie Bur
rill was at the Jail every day, and
brought him flowers, while the empty
baskets were thoughtfully sent up to
his residence to his wife. Other wo-
men would have resented this partner
ship, but Mrs. Howgate seemed to have
accepted it from the beginning as
matter of course. Nellie engineered
both escapes, and was Howgate's conf
dante always. She is now fully cogni-
zant Of his whereabouts. 1t is possible
there are others in this secret, however.
There is much comment here on this
head. Some are willing to put certain
supposed interested parties Of the sig
nal office at the bottom of the matter.
have heard the belief expressed that
Howgate will return by the day of
trial, and that ne is simply in hiding
to avoid the hardship of intermediate
imprisonment. This is a touching
manifestation of faith in virtue pecul-
lar to this climate.