The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-08-21
SWLNDLEDAS "S.B.ELKINS,JR. "
AND SAYS, ~ IAN, HE'S AN ~
NAVAL LIEUTENANT.
,Iotrl Beat Nabbed at the Fifth Avenue
for ss Forgery Thought to Bc He
VINO Hired Special Cars rs the Senator'S


son-Poses AZ Owen. Dismissed Oticer.
vo,ur man who SAYS he is Alfred
frosty Owen, a graduate of the Annapolis
Naval Academy and a Lieutenant in the
navy up to year ago, when he was dis
missed for being absent from duty without
leave, was locked up at Police Headquarters
I,s, night on a charge of swindling the
Woldorr-A Astoria and Fifth Avenue hotels
with bad checks
The police think that Owen is the man
who has been going through the West i'm
rcrsopatng Stephen b. Elkins, Jr., son of
the United States Senator from West Vir-
ginis
Young Mr.. Elkins was in Chicago on
Saturday and found that somebody had
lcen there ahead Of him and had been
hiring special cars in his name on AT least
two railroads.
Lieut. owen was dismissed from the
navy on Dec. IL. last year, after being tried
by court-martial for being absent from
tlr baitlcshp Massachusetts for nearly
,wo months without leave and FOR financial
;rrruarities.' These last included not
waving back money borrowed from brother
officers and passing worthless checks in
,L,a civ. His counsel made a plea for
.Iemcucy on the ground that he suffered
from temporary mental alteration. The
u.ea was not entertained
The prisoner, who says he is this Lieut..
Owen, is of good appearance and clever
ialker He was arrested at the Fifth
Avenue Hotel yesterday morning He went
10 the hotel on Wednesday night and reg
istered a. stephen b. Elkins. Jr." Then
ie filed out a check for s. on the National
Bank Of Elkins, W, Va. and got the hotel
clerk to cashit. Yesterday morning Cashier
Lloyd Of the hotel, who used to be at the
Waldorf-Astoria saw the check. Then he
cooked over the register and saw the name
Stephen B. Elkins, Jr"
When the Senator's son is i'll town he
stays at the Waldorf-Astoria and Lloyd
knew IL. He suspected that something
was wrong and sent Detective Mulholand
Of the hotel to the Waldorf to make in
Quiries. Mulholland learned that a man
lad been to the Waldorf on Monday night
ard had registered as IT. D. Elkins' He
Engaged an expensive suite Of rooms and
then presented check for $50, signed
stephen B. Elkins, Jr.'
You are not young Mr.. Elkins,' said
he Waldorf cashier; i know him."
The man left the Waldorf In huif, say
ing that he would 60 to another hotel where
his word wouldn't be doubted.
When Mulholland learned this he got
Detective Joe Smith of the Waldorf and
'OEether they went back to the Fifth Avenue.
Smith identified the man there as the Wal
dort's pretended Elkins. The two Central
Office detectives were called in and ne
was arrested.
A, D.l;a. ry..sz.4. A. -.-;.1-.-
allSed freely about himself. He said he
SynAs oils II isS1 una disInifissed from the
avy in 1902. Owen, the naval officer,
as born in Brazil and was the son Of
Yaval Surgeon. He was appointed to a
I'adetship In the Naval Academy from the
District Of Columbia in 1893, and served "a
n naval cadet on the Iowa in the Santiago
oampaign during the Spanish American
War. Later he went to the Philippines,
where he remained until 1902
When he. returned to the United States
he was assigned to the batteship Massa-
Chusetts as a junior Lieutenant. Then he
disappeared and complaints were made
against him to the Navy Department. He
was accused of borrowing $500 from one
officer and not paying 1t back, and also
~ passing worthless checks in this city
The court martial whose verdict resulted
in his dismissal, was held at the Brooklyn
owing 10 certain eccentric actions before
h" left the Massachusetts 1t was feared that
Owen was mentally irresponsible.
The alleged Lieut.. Owen now under arrest
VIZ, sick at the Fifth Avenue Hotel on
Wednesday night and DR.. Finch the hotel
physician, attended him. DIR. Finch is an
Annapolis graduate. but he didn't recog-
niie Ibis patient AS fellow academician.
The man who impersonated young Ell
lilus in Chicago hired a special car on the
Rock Island Railroad, but to do so he
bought and paid for twenty tickets. II is
understood that he did the same thing on
The Lake Shore Railroad, but the rail-
roads say they have no complaint against
Linn, ms he paid for the tickets.
Capt, Langan OF the Detective Bureau
Questioned the prisoner, but he refused to
say why he pretended to be young Elkins
or II he was the man who had impersonated
fIkins in Chicago. He said that he came
70 This city on Monday over the Pennsyl-
vania Railroad. The man who represented
himself to be- Young Elkins in Chicago is
said TO have left there on the Lake Shore
Railroad