Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1895-07-29
HIS PARDON.
REMARKABLE PENMAN5HiP OF A
 CLEVER coLoRED CONVICT.

The Notorious Career of George Lewis.
 Started by Signing Forged Orders In the
 War Department How He Raised
 Draft From se to Se0,o0O.
 The authorities of Leavenworth eoun- l ty, Kan, are exerting every means at
 their command to capture George Lew
 Is, the notorious colored forger, who is | wanted in Topeka for swindling a num-
 Der of wholesale merchants out of G l large amount of goods.
 Lewis has Q remarkable career, is a
 man of superior attainments and has
 always been genius for forgery and l conspiracy. He is about 42 years old
 well educated and cultured in manner.
 His parents, i'll southern France, are well to do, and he received his educa- tion in one of the famous polytechnic schools of that country. When he was boy, his father removed to America, and shortly after the war located in Providence. He afterward went to Vir- ginia. The fortunes of the older Lewis went amiss, and when George was ap-
 preaching his majority he was left to
 his own resources. He enlisted in the
 Ninth cavalry, and there attracted the
 attention of the officers by his bright
 hess of mind and was given important
 assignments of duty, finally becoming a
 messenger in the war department at
 Washington. It was while i'll that posi-
 tion that he committed his first forgery.
 He learned the details of the business system of the war department and be- came acquainted with the signatures of all of the officers He was splendid penman and began to initiate them. In this way he was very successful, and he uttered numerous orders on the quarter master of his regiment for supplies, which were invariably honored Final ly he grew bolder and was caught. He was convicted and sentenced to ten years imprisonment in the penitentiary at Lansing, Kan, which at that time was used for government prisoners.
 While ill prison he was given a posi- tion i'll the warden's office and was granted many privileges On account of his good behavior he was given credit, and in 1888 had but three more years to serve.
 It was at this time that he conceived and executed daring plan to secure his liberty. He wrote to friend in Wash ington and requested that he be sent blank letter heads and envelopes from the war department. These were snug gled to him ill the prison.
 On one of these letter heads he wrote a letter to John H. Smith, at that time warden of the prison, ordering his own release and forging the name of the then secretary of war, with whose sig nature he had become familiar by hay ing frequently seen letters from him to Warden Smith concerning government conyicts. lie sent the letter properly addressed to Smith in war department envelope to a friend ill Washington, who dropped it in the mail It was re- ceived by the warden and was about to be hopored when the warden's suspi- clons were aroused by an unusual post script requesting him to return the or der to the department after Lewis had been released. The warden then teIe- graphed the department at Washington, and learning that the pardon was for gerry had Lewis taken from his position ill the warden s office and put to work 1 in the coal mine. Lewis never could tell the reason why he added the post script At tho same time he wrote his own pardon he prepared way to get money for himself Through friend he purchased draft from the Leaven- worth National bank on bank in Va, for S2. He also pro- cured blank letter head and envelope of the bank The draft he raised to SEQ, GOO, and on the back of it wrote an showing that $200 had al- ready been paid on the draft and leav- ing q balance due of $19, 800. With 8 pen he forged the banks stamp, copy ing it from stamps on the back of a check that came under his observation | in the warden's office. The cashier of the bank received the draft and said that he would not have hesitated to have paid the money, as the draft and letter bore every indication of having come directly from the cashier of the ank.-Portland Orego- nian.