The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-12-06
a SWINDLER BY NATURE
REMARKABLE LIFE OF FREDERICK
HOWLETT, ESCAPED CONVICT.
Merchant Marine Apprentice Becomes
Editor, Lawyer, Professor, Preach
er and AII-ROand Fraud.
New York Herald.

at Columbus, the other day. a man with
whom swindling is not only a passion but a
| fine art. AS editor, lawyer, college professor
and clergyman his life has been one long
career of fraud. His fellow creatures he
| looked as legitimate prey and the pity
of it is that his victims were in nearly every
case persons who could i'll afford to be
| fieeced The man is Frederick A. Hewlett,
but he is best known as Rev. George Fred
erick Burgoyne Howard, E. Ross, William
| Lord Moore Felix Howard, Joseph La1gdon
and Joseph Leger. In the same indefnable
manner that marks his career as a conf
dence operator, he seems to have been able
to so ingratiate himself in the favor end
good graces of the warden of the peniten-
| tiary as to receive privileges and immunities
granted to very few TRUSTEES" He went
and came as he pleased, unquestioned by
officer or guard.
The. indictments upon which Howard was
| convicted and sentenced were eight in num-
Der. charging him with using the United
States mails for fraudulent purposes. Those
indictments were returned against him by
| the grand jury, in the United States Court.
| Howard was sentenced to Imprisonment for
| nine years and one month in the Ohio peni-
! tentlary and to pay fines aggregating $l,200.
| At the time of his escape he had served
| three years and six months of his term, and
| WIN the lSOOO usually allowed DrlS-
| oners not guilty of attractions of the prison
| rules, such Howard claimed himself to
| be, his discharge would have taken place
| In q year.
None of Towards many aliases represents
| his true name, which is Frederick A. How
lett, his father being John Hewlett, re-
| Edmonton, England, in 1852. He attended
| the parish schools until about sixteen years
| or age, when he was appreHticed in the mer
| chant marine. He came to this country in
| 1873, and in July of that year enlisted en- the
United States steamer Tigress, to go. to the
| Arctic regions in search of the POlariS. He,
| however, deserted in September of that year
| before the ship sailed, and went to South
| Carolina, where he studied law and taught
! school,
He was admitted to the bar of Wallsboro,
| 5. c., and was appointed a trial justice by
| Governor Chamberlain in 1876. He soon ran
| away to escape trial on an indictment for
| malfeasance in office, and he was next
| heard of in Port Robbins, S. c., where he
| became involved in liason with Mrs.
| Brown, the wife of a railroad section fore
| man. with whom he eloped TO Augusta, Ga.
/ subsequently he appeared at the home of
Alexander II. Stephens at Liberty Hall,
| Ga, where he became acquainted with
Judge Samuel Lumpkin, one of the judges
OF the Supreme Court of Georgia, who Of
| fered to assist him and took him to his
home in Lexington, Ga. Soon afterward
Mrs. Brown appearedson the scene and
was introduced aasMrs, Hewlett, but the
| story of the elopement,, followed her, and
Judge Lumpkin compelled her to return to
her husband and turned Hewlett out of
doors
Afterward Hewlett appeared at Fayette-
vile, Ga, under the name of Howard, pro-
Church, drifting to Marietta, Ca, and
| finally to Atlanta, where he met Dr.
| GWynne, clergyman, who was so i'm
pressed with his piety and ability that in
1882 he secured Towards appointment as
pastor of the First Baptist Church, of
! Jackson, Tenn. Howard preached one ser
chair of oratory in the Southwestern Bap-
fist University. at Jackson, and was ,subse-
quently made doctor of divinity by the
| Auburn University, of Alabama.
His thoroughly INSCRIPTIONS dealings and
restless spirit soon showed themselves, even
| in his character as a minister of the gospel,
| resulting in q SchiSm in the church and in
| call for his resignation. He declined to re-
| sign but seeded and organized the Gen.
| trail Baptist Church, of Jackson, composed
principally of women About the same time
| he commenced the publication of a religious
paper styled the True Baptist, and waged
war against the university and his former
church. A local paper having published a
history of Howard past life, he sued the
proprietors for $4,000 damages. The trial
resulted in a verdict of one cent in his ia
| vor, without costs, thus leaving him several
thousand dollars in debt In such strait
| Howard turned his attention to the public
| and to schemes to defraud them
In 1890 he announced TO his friends in Ten
nessee that, he was going to New York to
sequently opened an office at No. 227 Grand
street, under the name of the European
+, Claims Agency, e. Ross. Manager, and in
duced large number of ignorant people to
believe that they were hei1s to large estates
! in Europe and that he had prosecuted
| claims in their behalf to a point where it
| was necessary to file a bond in the sum of
| $25 for court costs. Hundreds of victims,
misled by the evident sincerity of Howards
| letters, paid the required amount. Howard
| moved from Grand street to the Morgan
building, and then to the Merchants build
ment had received many complaints as to
| Ross" methods.
| For more than a year Ross was lost sight
CT. In 1891 William Lord Moore appeared in
evidence. He wrote to Ross dupes,
nouncing that the latter had died, and drew
upon them for an additional $25, to be sent
| to his address at No. Ingersoll road. Shep
| ards Bush, London, with which to REIN
| burSe him for expenses incurred in their
behalf Many of Ross victims became also
| Moore's victims, and paid the additional
sum demanded. BY this time, however,
| Moores fraudulent transactions had become
| so notorious and colossal as to attract the
attention of the British government, result
| ing in an extended correspondence with this
| country as to the best means of suppressing
| him. But before plan OF action could be
| devised and perfected Moore advised his cor
gained. and that an agent of the Chancery
| Court of England would issue the necessary
possession papers from New York Moore
In August, 1892. he reappared at No. 451
| Eighth avenue, New York, and rented
| office in the name of Joseph Leger. He
| correspondent with the Ross Moore victims
| representing himself to be the manager of
! the Dominion Bureau" and inclosing to
| decree of the Chancery Court of England
| putting the claimants in possession of GER
| tain estates. At the same time he solicited
! the payment of $50 as a tax on legacies and
| requests. Luckily for his victims he was
| frightened off before receiving dollar from
| this branch of his schemes.
About March, 1893, the Rev. G.. F. B.
/ Howard" turned up again at Jackson, Tenn
! as an attorney at law preacher and presi-
| dent of the Tennessee & Gulf Railroad a
company known only paper. While pos
| ing in these capacities he sent out thousands
of postal cards to the gullible victims of
| Ross, Moore and Leger, stating that he had
| just returned from England, and advising
| them, if they had claims, TO consult him
| He circulated series of letters, in which
| he requested sums varying between SIS anC
$25, with which TO pay the expenses of cor
| reSpondence and searches.
In this way he realized about $780, At this
time the Postoffice Department interfered
and on Aug 3, 1898, Howard was arrested al
Chicago by a deputy marshal. who al
lowed him to remain in his room un-
guarded over night I'Rhe next morning
Howard missing, but was subsequently,
recaptured and convicted heretofore de
tailed. Towards various schemes nette6
him about $4,000.
During his stay in Georgia he married n
beautiful woman the sister of a former
congressman. She obtained divorce from
Howard, who soon afterward married
Mrs. Lizzie Hughes, of Tennessee who i
stiil his wife, and to whom II is said he Is
very much attached.
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