St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1900-04-18
A NOTED CRIMINAL.
His strange Career of Crime.

resident, Leroy c. Shear, had again gone
wrong, and that the authorities were in
search of him. The following from the
Washington Post of March %, gives the
fact that he has been found and arrested
and reviews his strange career of crime
much of which is familiar to many OF our
readers.
Detective Weldon left for Syracuse YES
terday to bring to this city Leroy Chan
ming Shear, the man of many crimes and
numerous aliases, who is wanted for
passing forged checks on two local bust
ness houses. Shear was arrested in New
York City recently in the Mills Hotel, on
Blocker street, on complaint of clerk,
who recognized the forge, after seeing his
picture on a circular sent out by Maj.
Sylvester. Chief McClusky surrendered
the prisoner to the Syracuse authorities,
who wanted him for embezzling 81 300
from the Model Building and Loan Asso-
citation, of that place.
The local grand jury rendered an indict-
ment Of three counts of forgery and false
pretenses against Shear, and the neces-
sary papers were sent to Syracuse in or
der that Shear, who is regarded as one
OF the cleverest criminals in the country,
might be re- arrested, if released on bond,
On previous occasion he was granted
freedom on bond in New York City, and
disappeared. Maj. Sylvester yesterday
received telegram from Chief of Police
Charles r. Wright, Of Syracuse, reading
Come and get Leroy c. Shear"
Shear is accused of passing a check on
local clothing house, on February 8,
payable to the order of w. M. Davis, the
name Unregistered under at the st. James
Hotel, and drawn on the Citizens Ma
tional Bank Of Bedford, Ind. The check
was for 500, and Shear obtained a suit
of clothes, valued at $50, and the balance
in cash from the clothier. He is indicted
for passing this forged check and the
other two checks for large amounts on
Woodward & Lothrop, in 1898.
Dey Brothers, of Syracuse, are among
the firms which remembe the smooth Mr..
Shear we'll The firm formerly conducted
store at Elmira, where Shear appeared
June IS, 1891, and passed forged check
drawn on an Indiana bank in the name
OF William L. Elder. Levi D. Little, now
chief detective for the Northern Central
Railroad, was then chief of police OF e.
mira, and hunted ceaselessly for the
crook, finally locating him in the Albany
pententiary. Shear had dritted to Ell
mira, used the name of Elder to another
check, and was arrested. About that
time the chief of police of Albany sent
some photographs to the Pinkerton peo-
pie, who discove Shear among the
number. The consequence was, Shear
was arrested when his sentence expired in
August, 1898, taken to Elmira, and in
October of the same year received two
years in Auburn.
1t was then that Chief of Police Little,
of Elmira, unearthed black spot on the
ing mystery. 1t appears that in 1868 a
young deserter from the army was taken
to Elmira to be tried. On the army roles
his name was carried as Lorenzo c.
Stewart, which he gave when enlisted in
Utica in September, 1868, as substitute
for drafted man. He was assigned to
the Seventy-frst New York, and deserted
a month later. A week afterward he
was found in the Fourteenth Heavy
Artillery and arrested. While at Elmira
he procured some morphine, introduced
it into a bottle Of whiskey, and gave it
to his guards, but failed to escape. Two
of the guards died from the effects of the
dose.
He was court martialed for murder
and desertion and sentenced to be hanged.
The President approved the verdict and
ordered it carried into effect February %,
1864. After his sentence the prisoner
claimed to be near relative of the then
great New York millionaire, A. 7. Stew
art. The claim was believed at the time,
and through powerful influence Shear
was saved from the scaffold. President
Lincoln first consented to respite OF
thirty days, then stayed execution of the
sentence until further orders, and finally
committed the sentence to imprisonment
at hard labor in the Albany penitentiary
for ten years. In the fall of 1864, while
his case was still pending here, Shear es-
capped from prison. In January, 1865, he
was recaptured, but again escaped and
remained at large.
He went to Vermont and established
himself under the name of LeroyC. Shear
and was not heard OF again until 1878,
when he was found living at st. Johns
bury. He had established reputation
as a worthy citizen of that place, and
married the daughter of a prominent cit
izen. His case was brought to the atten-
ton of President Hayes, who granted an
absolute pardon for the murders nd de-
sertion to save Shears wife aud family
from the disgrace and scandal which
would follow the disclosure OF his past
life The identity of Stewart and Shear
was not known outside the record and
pension office for nearly twenty years at
ter that time. 1t was thought that
Stewart had dropped permanently out
of sight, and the public would probably
hav been ignorant of the facts to this
dav had not the soldier murderer turned
I'D in Elmira a hardened criminal and
forger. When the connection was finally
traced between Stewart and Shear, the
latter was identified by means of the
government records here, and old Elml,
rams who were employed about the jail
in 1864.
The police records show that six years
after his pardon was obtained Shear was
arrested in 1884 for passing worthless
check on R. II. Macy & Co., of New
York, for which crime he served iveyears
in Sing Sing, After his release nothing
was heard of him until he turned up in
Elmira. Since his release from Auburn
he has been heard from in all parts of the
country, his speciality being forgery. The
matrimonial career of Shear is said by