The San Francisco call., 1898-02-21
.SHARON'S NEPHEW
 ARRESTED. Charged With Obtain ing Money by
 Fraud. He and Ned Foster Said to Have Passed Be-
 gus Cheeks. The Pair Caught by Detectives After. a Protracted
 Search.
RUINED BY RIOTOUS LIFE.
The Young Man Is Heir to Fortune c of Over Two Million
 Dollars.

"Ned' Foster, who at one time con- ducted the Bella Union Theater. and c. H. Davis, who, 1t is claimed, is we'll connected in the East, were arrested yesterday by Detectives Egan and Tom Gibson in Oakland and charged with petty larceny.
 They are accused of passing a worth less check for $50 on J. Knowlton Jr., manager of the Hotel Nicholas.
 Last Wednesday Foster and Davis visited the hotel, and, meeting Knowl- ton, asked him to cash the check. It was signed by Davis and drawn on the California Bank. Knowing Foster. the hotel manager readily took the check and gave Davis the amount it called for. The following day Knowlton pre- sented the check for payment at the bank, and was surprised to find that it was worthless.
 fingered at what he termed Fosters ingratitude, Knowlton at once visited police headquarters and swore out war rants for the arrest of the men. While the detectives were securing the city for them Foster and Davis were in West Berkeley, apparently thinking that they were safe from arrest. They were accompanied by Mrs. Foster and a woman, who is known as Spot" Nel- son. She is the wife of Kid" Nelson, a well-known confidence operator. Con- vinced that the men had left the city. the detectives yesterday afternoon crossed the bay. in the hope of getting a clew to their whereabouts in Oak land.
 In some way the detectives learned that Foster had telephoned to the pro- prietor of a restaurant at Seventh and Broadway. asking him if anybody had been looking for him. Receiving a re- ply in the negative, Foster told him to prepare a "nice supper" for himself and three friends. As they drove up to the restaurant a short time afterward Gib- son and Egan, who were watching for them, promptly placed Foster and Da- wis under arrest. They were then brought to this city and locked up in the tanks. Subsequently the detectives concluded to book them for petty lar ceny.
 IL is said that two additional charges will be placed against the men to-day.
 Billy Abbott, a Grant-avenue sa- loonkeeper, claims that Davis and Eos ter passed two worthless checks on him, one for s1O0 and the other for $50. He intends to prosecute them for passing fictitious checks.
 Since the death of Ethel Burtis, the variety actress, as told in The Call, Foster has been drinking heavily. He admitted in the prison last night that she was a very dear friend of his, and that her mysterious death drove him to irink Shortly after her strange demise he and Davis, accompanied by two women, hired four-in-h hand and drove along the principal streets just to show the dear people that they were still on earth" as Davis expressed it.
 Davis is a nephew of the late Senator Sharon, whose mother lives at Menlo l Park. He Is scarcely out of his teens, 1 put has already spent fortune In riot ous living When he comes of age 1t is said he will inherit over s2.000, 900.
 His mother has done everything to | <eep him at home. but he detests | being, as he says, locked up in room | md having man to watch his move