The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-11-03
Run DOWN AT LAST.
Gus Howes' Career Ends in Jail
in the East.
A LONG COURSE OF swiNpL,Nc.
The Seattle Boy who Has victimixsd
Banks and Business Men OF Every
stste-His Early Life.

Yesterday announcing the arrest Of Charles
augustus Howes. Who Il well known IN this
city ana who was charged With obtaining
various small sums OF money on worthless
drafts and in othe. waya The charge on which
ne mas 1t last been arrested, after working
nearly every state in the Onion, 10 forgery on
soms nrm at Manchester, n. H According to
ms own confession, he has obtained at least
$S1uU from banks In the last three months.
MOVIES father was house-m mover and builder
.na Ss, long resident here Gus, as he was
generally called. was . tall, ungainly, hulking
ieiow and did not look very bright, but he has
developed wonderfully In the last few years.
seven years ago ne Joined the Seattle Rifles and
the taste OF military life he had there gave him
sucn passion for il that he ran away and en-
nsseo In the regular army This discipline
seems 10 hsve been too severe for him, for he
got out On the Plea that he was not of age, and
That therefore his en- listment was illegal.
ABOUT i've years ago he began 10 attend the
state university, and bis former fellow-stndents
say be was a good student but was not generally
A6ed because the boys did not consider him
square.
On the strength of his experience in the army
ne got elected Lieutenant. OF the university
cadets, and, on his return for the second year
after working with his father in the vacation,
re sried 70 get elected captain. but, on account
OF the general dislike with which he was re-
garded. he was turned down
ds tnen lett the university and secured EN-.
ployment as collector for the Merchants Ma
uonai bank, but, after about six months, his
services were dispensed with. After an interval
OF idleness, he went to Montesauo and there
started bank under the name OF C. A. Howes
Co., laying IN big supply OF stationery in
advance. While there he married a girl to
whom he had become engaged a. the university
ana whose ia he. was propsrty-owner on
Gray's harbor, and used her money and that of
r inf In y;
business. He finally sold his business to S;arr
Il Dickie and moved to the neighboring town of
Aberdeen, where he went into the real estate
business He persuaded his father-in-law to
plat his property on Gray's harbor, and under
took the sale OF it
II was about this time that the first minors of
crooked transactions on his part were heard 1t
Is reported that he induced his brother in. law
70 inoorse note for him, and, under the pre-.
te4t OF using II TO take up the first, got his in
oorsement to q second note for the same amount
and raised money on that, too. Mr.. HUFF. who
Is now resident of this city. refusedeto say
anything about his relation with Howes By
extravaganza and dissipation he got into diff
culfies. and in 1889 returned to this city. He
made use of bis acquaintance with the bankers
TO get checks aggregating $35 on the Bank of
Eima cashed BY Dexter Horton 4 Co.. another
Tor $l5 by the Puget sound National, and others
BY the First National of Portland, the CORE
u
were returned, marked 'No funds"
Some time in the summer of 1889 he started
East and continued the same practices, or
worse, in all parts Of the country. He began
personating ID. G. Wakefield, OF the bank of
Elma. that institution being owned by W. a.
Wakefield and his two sons, D. G.
and j., and worked q number OF banks in
ali parts OF this state by presenting forged drafts
ana getting them cashed He went next to
Washington City and called on Senator Allen.
whom he had met while doing some political
work. He got the senator to introduce him at
. bank and cashed q draft for $500 there. By
using his acquaintance with Senator Squire In
the same way he obtained another $100
He next made a tour Of the whole country.
moving rapidly from place to place. 30 that be-
fore his frauds in one place were discovered he
had put state line between himself and cap
ture He went through Denver, Omaha and
other western cities TO Texas, then to Canada
and last to New England and New York. where
he has now been captured. He represented
himself as wealthy man from Seattle and,
saying that he had built q fine house here,
would order quantity of cos thy furniture for
1t, then present certificate OF deposit for sew.
eral hundred dollars in excess of the amount OF
the bill In payment and receive the difference
in cash. Another forged draft would serve to
pay his hotel bill and put some more ready cash
in his pocket The forgeries were usually on
the bank of Elma and hal D. q. Waked eld's
name signed to them. but he sometimes used
the names of other banks. At one place he
ordered several hundred dollars worth of sta
tionery for the bank of Etna and il was shipped
TO that institution by his order When the
bank refused TO receive II q correspondence
with the victims snsued, ending by the banks
getting IL at about oue-fourth OF Its cost
Though the bank OF Elma received frequent
kilograms about him, the swindler's indeutity
with Howes was not for some time established
At last the Wakedelds recognized him from q de-
scription they received from Texas and the
chase became warm. But Howes moved 90
rapidly that II was not easy to overtaEe him At
one bank In that state where be had offered a
certificate of deposit to be casbed he was sus.
pected and a telegram was sent to Elma. Some
delay occurred in the transmission Of either
this message or the reply, and Howes. suspect
ing the cause Of the delay in getting the cash.
disappeared This n rs near as he ever came to
being captured until he was finally run down