The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-09-21
CAPTURE OF LYLE LEVI
INTERESTING STORY OF THE
LYNCHED OUTLAWS FIRST ARREST.
A Famous Legal Case in Which Half
u Dozen Indiana Celebrities Were
Engaged-Levi "a Tool.
Benjamin Northrup, in New York Mail and

Benjamin Northrup, in New York Mail and
Express.
Among the five men who were lynched in
Versailles, Ind, last Wednesday morning
was Lyle Levi, who is described in the
press dispatches as a Union veteran, whose
SCARED face was evidence of his valor on
the field of battle.
If the deep red scar that disfigured the
face of Lyle Levi was won in defense of his
country it was the only one of his many
scars of which he could be proud. What
ever debt the Nation owed him was paid
long ago. Since the close of the war he was
for the most part a persistent and danger
Gus enemy Of the country he had fought to
save
Levi will be remembered best by the peo-
pie of the Middle West of almost a genera
ton ago on account of two things, in one
of which he was the chief actor and in the
other the contributing cause. The first was
his thrilling fight with detective, who aft
erward became head of the Secret Service
of the United States Treasury Department.
The second was the most famous trial ever
heard in an Indiana court, in which a flu
ture President of the United States, a flu
ture Vice President, future secretary of
state and future United States senator
took prominent parts.
l first saw Lyle Levi in the winter Of 1876
in General Knefier's Office in the Federal
building in Indianapolis. The clerks had
gone for the day, leaving me, a young re-
porter, porting over some papers on the
United States commissioners desk. The
custodian was preparing to lock the doors
and had stuffed my notes into my pocket,
when two men linked together by handouts
came in and asked for the commissioner.
They were giants of men, much over six
feet in height, spare and muscular. One
was dressed as a tree peddler. His clothes
We're of corduroy and his trousers were
tucked into undiscovered boots. The other
man was apparently farmer. Across his
stubby beard there extended from his ear
to his temple a livd red scar. His left
wrist was roughly bandaged with bloody
handkerchief and he seemed to be on the
point of fainting from pain or exhaustion.
The tree peddler was Detective Edward
Rathbone now ex-chief of the treasury
service, major in the Ohio National Guard,
and recently the unsuccessful opponent of
congressman Paul Sorg, the millionaire
representative from one of the Cincinnati
districts in the House of Representatives.
Ihen he was q young detective who had
Just Won his spurs in causing the arrest of
Pete Mccartney, the most dangerous of
counterfeiterS, now almost a memory The
otfrer man las Lyle Levi.
THE DETECTIVES STORY.
Within ten minutes after they entered the
room General Kneffier had signed the nee
essary papers and Levi was safe behind the
bars of the county Jail When this had
been done the detective told his story do
not recall his exact words but do remem-
Der the opening sentence in my account in
the next mornings newspaper. 1t was as
follows
Lyle Levi. the most dangerous of Pete
McCartney's accomplices. and the king of
Dough-the-Queer,' is now in the Marion
county Jail. Besides Commissioner Knef-
fer. Detective Rathbone, his assistant the
sheriff, Levi himself and the reporter who
writes this account, no one knows of his
arrest"
There was no particular need for this
secrecy except the innocent desire of
young newspaper writer to keep his news
exclusively for the paper employing him.
In this desire the officials kindly assisted,
therefore Mr.. RathDone's story lost moth
ing in it's telling as the detective walked
up and down the commissioners room in
the dusk, illustrating his narrative by gest-
ure, with the general and myself his only
auditors.
Since the beginning of the seventies In
diana had been infested by counterfeiters,
explained Mr.. Rath bone, chief of whom was
the notorious Pete Mccartney, VINO had re-
Gently been landed IL Jail. Mccartney was
a workman of such rare skill that even the
treasury officials were frequently deceived
by his forgeries His plates We're marvel
ously like the genuine ones, and the paper
that he used was marked by the same DELI
cate tracingS of silk thread that were sup
posed to shield the government notes from
counterfeiting. Mccartney had buried his
plates somewhere in northern Indiana, and
kept their hiding place a secret, but he had
left large numbers of illegal notes ready Tor
circulation. Many of these were in the pos
session of Lyle Levi, who was the counter
letters chief salesman.
ON LEWIS TRACK.
Levi was horseman by occupation. He
followed the county fairs and was well
known to the country people the State over.
He used to bury his notes under the stand
that covered the ground in the stables that
he used, both for Office and dormitory. While
trading horses he passed this Illegal money,
sometimes swindling his customers, but
moro frequently selling it to them to swim
die other men with.
After landing Mccartney in Jail Rath-
bone, who was comparatively unknown in
Indiana made a connection with nursery
company and started after Levi in the guise
of tree pedder. When he was not at a
county fair he was travelling through the
country selling trees and keeping a sharp
might find. He had one assistant only,
man named McGovern.
Ex-President Benjamin Harrison and
doubtless recall McGovern, the chief wit
ness in the great conspiracy case in Gen.
Jim Shackelford'S congressional district
in which they appeared as counsel In lSfS
But / am getting ahead of my story.
McGoVern was a freckle-faced, one-armed,
slender youth, who had done excellent work
for the government in Molly MCGUIRE cases
in Pennsylvania. But he had become a.
marked man in the coal districts and he was
sent West, more for his own protection than
anything else, to help Rathbone. He also
had been following the fairs and had made
friensd with Levi. He had bought counter
felt money from him, and had the evidence
which afterward sent him to the peniten-
tiary for term of two years. 1t had taken
partly because of Lewis wariness and partly
because of the difficulty the two detectives
had in communicating one With the other
without exciting suspicion.
At last everything was ready to spring
the trap. Levi and McGovern were on their
way to Indianapolis to complete a deal, and
Rathbone was in the same car to close out
his business as peddler. When the train
reached Columbus, if ! remember it rightly,
Levi suddenly changed his mind and decided
to leave the car and so home. This would
have upset all plans, and had to be prevent
ed at any hazard. Therefore when Levi
stepped on to the board platform Rathbo(-e
a reason he had slipped a steel chain nipper
on the mans left wrist.
A HAND-TO-HAND FIGHT.
Levi called for help, and drew his revolver
from his pocket with his right hand. The
detective grasped the wrist SO as to pre-
vent being shot and the two men rolled
over the platform in the center of the most
he