The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1894-04-09
BOLD PENSION FRAUDS.


a Colored Minister Who Operated for
Twenty YEARS. P1rsonntId Soldiers mud
Secured nionoy.
CuArTASoodA, TgSS., April S.-Pcr.
haps tho colorcd race has never father.
cd ono better entitled to tho distinction
Of "Princu oil Swindlcrs" than Rev.
Clement W. T; Lewis, who was ycster.
day rentcnccd by District Judge Key to
% years in the federal prison IN Kings
county, n. Y.
Lewis is charged with wholesale pen.
sion frauds extending over q period Of
twenty years. lie was tried Oh seven
counts oil forgery, on elk for procuring
ialsc pension aGidaYits and one for i'm.
porsonating' special pension oxnmi.
nUr. These were merely test cases, as
tho impostcr hus filed over 900 pension
claims. llo acted rs sub.agent for var.
ious pension claim firms, and always
carried Il long list Of sodicrs' names
Tho evidence necessary was secured
by him with great alGcrity and In many
cases he acted as witness for the appli-
cant. 10 perjury he added forgery,
purlolninG q notary seal 10 complete tho
fraudulent transaction.
Tho willy hypocrite represented him.
sclt specially commissioned by the
''mau IN tho white house" to caro- for
soldiers widows. Some OF his schemes
were decidedly original, one being to
charge fees for delivery OF his clients
mail which he had Surroptiously gotten
addressed to himsalf.
The years lSSj.SS were spont In Kan
sas City and St. Louis, and, though sto.
res OF his swindlcs arc now in evidence
by tho score from the former city, tho
statute OF limitations bars tho cases
from court, a special pension agent
Is now looking up his record in Kansas
City.
From Kansas City he filed personal
application for pension In January, 1850.
imporsonating one Clcm W. Lewis, Of
the Eighty.iirst United States colorcd
infantry, These troops were n Louisi.
ana regiment OF Frcnch.speaklng ne
groes. In support OF this claim Lewis
speaks French fuently. Ho livod in
Bayou Goula, and New Orleans. La,
from 1860 to 1870. Over 900 claims have
been filed with the department for PEN
sions by him, to which In the majority
OF cascs, tho claimants were not entitled.
His victims were mainly ignorant ne.
groes whom no induced to place claims
in his hands. Lewis carried long list
OF old soldiers namoa with him, and
whenever approached by tho widow OF
q soldier readily found the name and
filled out tho declaration himself. manu-
featuring such evidence as was ncedful
to establish the claim.
Lewis is also q bigamist, having a
wife in Now Orleans, and n vito and
family OF grown children in this city.
Tho Louisiana woman maintains that
her husband died in 1876, tho year
Lewis double in the Eighty-irst In.
fantry Regiment is found to have died.
The convicted man Is iorty-nine years
OF ago, Is cock-eyed and man OF fine
personal bearing. 1t was his habit to
circulate among his people dressed in
full Grand Army uniform, bedccked
with badges.
Others are believed to be implicated
TO lesser extent in his rascality. live
women and four mon were sentenced
to short terms IN. tho penitentiary on
similar charges.
The clevcrness with which the man
avoided detectives for twenty odd years
is the marvel OF everyone, notwith.
ctanding that he periured himself in
innumerablc instances by swearing to
false alIidavits.