Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1895-08-08


War Dcpartmcnt-dow us Raised
Draft From s. to sec, 900.
Tho authorities of Loavenworth ccrn-
ty, KAN, are eXertinS every means lit
their command to capture George Levy
is, the notorious colorcd forscr, WHO is;
wanted i'll Topeka for swirdlins I: num-
ber of wholesale merchants ont OF !.
large amount OF gou,ls.
Lewis has Il remarkable career, is Il
man of superior attainMents and has
always been II genius fer forgery ard
conspiracy. He is about 49 wears ole,
we'll educated and cultured III manner.
His parents, i'll southern France, :uc
we'll to Go, and he received his cduca-
ton i'll one of the famous polytechnic
schools of that country. When he was
II boy, his father removed to America,
and shortly aftc. the war located in
Providence. Hc afterward Went TO Nir-
ginla. The fortunes of the elder Lewis
Went amiss, and when George was ap-
preaching his majority :c WAS left TO
his own resources. He enlisted in the
Ninth cavalry, and there attracted the
attention of the officers by his bright
ness of mind and was given important
assignments of dpty. finally becoming n
messenger i'll the war department at
Washington. 1t WAS while i'll that posi-.
ton 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 Il splendid
penman and began to iinitate them. In
this way he was very successful, and he
uttered numerous orders Oh the quarter
master of his regiment for supplies,
which We're invariably honored Final
]y he grew boltlcr and was caught. He
was convicted and sentenced to ten
years imprisonment in t!ie penitcnti:liv
vt Lansing, KAN, which ut that time
was used for government prisoners.
While in prison he was given Il posi-
tion in the wartlen'; Office and was
granted many privileges. On account of
Ills good behavior he was given credit,
;snd i'll 1883 had but three more years
to serve.
1t was ut this time that he conceived
aud executed Il daring plan to secure his
liberty. Hc wrote to /, friend i'll Wash
ington and requested that lie be sent
blank letter heads and envelopes from
the war department. These We're smug-
gled to him il the prison.
On one of these letter heads lie wrote
q letter to John II. Smith, ut 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
eonyicts. EIe sent tho letter properly
addressed to Smith i'll Il war department.
envelope to a friend i'll Washington,
who dropped it i'll the mail. 1t was re-
ceiycd by tho warden and was about to
be honored when the wardeu's suspi-
cions were aroused by an unusual post
script requesting him to return the or
been released. The warden then tela-
graphed the department at Washington,
and learning that the pardon was Il for
gerry had Lewis taken from his position
in the wardcn's Office and put to work
in the coal mine. Lewis never could
tell the reason why he added the post
script. At the same time he wrote his
own pardon lie prepared q way to get
money for himself. Through q friend
he purchased II draft from the Leavcn-
worth National bank OH Il bauk in
Lynchburg, Va, for So. He also pro-
cured blank letter head and envelope
Of the bank. Tho draft he raised to
100000, and Oh the back of it wrote an
Endorsement, showing that 5000 had al
ready been paid on the draft and leav-
ing balance due Of s19,SO0. With a
pen he forged the banks stamp, copy
ing it from stamps OH the back of a
check that came under his observation
in the warden's office. Tho cashier of
the bank received the draft and said
that he would moi have llesitatcd to
have paid tho money, us the draft and
letter boro every Indication of having
come directly from the cashier Of the
Leavenworth bank.-Portland Orcgo.
nian.
"Grover Cleveland" Is Sprinter.
William Taylor of South Portsmouth,