Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1884-12-17
ON THE TRACK OF HOWGATE.
Sergeant HoltnOrth's Mission to the
West.

BIS RAID ON LIEUT.. GREELY's DESK.
II has transpired that Sergeant Otto Holtnorth,
OF the signal corps, was the person who got from
Lieut.. Greelys desk and copied the Howgate letter
TO Greedy, which has been made public The cir
cumstances under which 1t was done are said to be
as follows: Holtnorth had been largely instrumen-
tai IN uncovering Howgate's Frauds and enter
talned the opinion that other officers attached TO
the signal Office had been concerned with Howgate
ID ms sWlndles. One OF the officers whom Holt
nOrth suspected was Greely, and when the latter
returned to Washington recently, and was assigned
to desk In the signal Office, Hotnorth became i'm
pressed with the idea that he was In communca-
ton with Howgate. His raid on Lieut.. Greely's
desk was undertaken for the purpose OF gaining
information on this point. HoltnOrth carried the
results OF his investigation to RepreSen atives
Deuster and Guenther, who carried 1t to Secretary
Lincoln. The latter had already been informed by
Greely OF Howgate's first communication to him.
lhe sergeant was at once dispatched TO the point
In the west where Howgate was supposed to be- for
the purpose or efecting his capture Nothing has
as YET been heard OF the success OF his errand.
WHAT SECRETARY LINCOLN SAYS
eyes," said Secretary Lincoln to-day, In answer
to the inquiries OF STAR reporter 81 did send Ser
geant Holtnorth in search OF Capt. Howgate /
have Invariably sent some one after him whenever
had reasonably good clue to follow. But you
may say that the recent publications in thi, matter
nave made 1t useless for me to continue at present
the search for HOwgate, and that l believe they
were made In the interests OF HowgRe. l have
Deen Daulked by the press. The particular reporter
who have good reason to believe has done most to
make known TO Howgate by publication the recent
enorts OF this department and thus put him more
completely ON his guard, describes himself In a
recent article as "a warm friend or Capt Howgate
You must remember that the steps taken by the
war department In this matter are entirely gratui-
tous, for the civil authorities, who held him upon
his arrest, procured by the War department, are
alone responsible for his escape"
in his possession?" asked the reporter ss
NHe gave all that was necessary" was the reply.
"The second letter to Greely, asking for loan,
ffnr to bt,
that was not in the first, and that he did not in
form me or It's receipt was q matter OF no conSe-
quence. was unable at the time to make use OF
The Greely information. but when Sergt. HoltnOrth
came 10 me and told me he had seen letter from
HoWgate which now appears, as did not before
know, TO be the one to Greely l found had In him
man who was thoroughly familiar with How
gates hand writing, and who for other reasons as
well could be utilized in following the clue and so
ne was ordered to go In search OF Howgate."
SECRETARY LINCOLN ON GREELY.
SIT is 1ntimated," suggested the reporter, sthat
Lieut. Greedy was an accomplice OF Howgate2"
81 have had no such suspicious In the matter. ~
replied the Secretary, "but Lieut.. Greely was uu-
fortunate IN allowing his own name to be used as
giving out Information which was rendered useless
by being published and IL he is correctly reported
In making remark as to his friendship for and
Willingness 10 assist Howgate, which implied that
ne regarded him as an unfortunate man rather
than an escaped criminal, l say that was un-
fortunate In that 1t tends to give color the ss-
picion OF friendship felt and aid rendered to How
gate by persons formerly With him in the signal
service. do not refer to the CHIEF signal officer
VINO has made every effort in his power to have
Howgate punished"
Then there Is no suspicion of Greely's COM
pncity with HoWgate beyond that alleged to be
held by the man who saw Greely's letters:''
"NOne that l know Of" replied the Secretary
sergeant Holntorth gave Inc no idea that he sus-
pected any particular person OF completely with
HOwgate. and it did occur TO me that the letter
he had seen was the one to Lieut.. Greely, Indeed
he so described the letter he had seen as to make
it necessarily another letter."
m ind
you received information last month OF the trans
fer OF his pemrncan claim to one Cole of Nebraska
City?" asked the reporter.
"Certany did, have endeavorcd to follow ,1p
every clue that could be obtained with reference 10
ada and every place where there was the slightess
suspicion OF his being but, as said, have been
baked in my last effort by the recent publica-
tiOnSn
WHAT LIEUT.. GREELY SAYS
Lieut. Greeiy, when his attention was called to
the reported suspicion OF completely with How
gate, emphatcally stated that no such 1nterpre
tatlon could be placed upon the communications
he had received from HOw-ate. s.My reputation
and all my actions refIte any such suspicion, but
besides 1t Is well known that my work in the signal
service has been entirely OF a scientific nature and
never had any connection with the property or
financial branch or the service. My present imam
plicated with Howgate, | undoubtedly would
have been able to make the paltry loan he re-
queSted. When received the first letter from
HOwgate informed the Secretary OF War; and
did not inform him OF the second one, because It
contained no additional Information. ! did not
reply to Howgate, but simply wrote to bis daugh-
ter"
Army officers generally scout the Idea OF
Greely's being connected with the Howgate
transactions