The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1904-09-23
KING CONFEssEs
Admits That He Was Imperson-
ating Lieutenant ColIey.
May Be Related to Gen. King
and Other Army Officers.
From Fridays Daily.

charge of skipping a board bill at Al
bert Lea, and who said that he was
Lieutenant H. L. Colley of the regular
army, as stated by the Free Press yes
terday, confessed late in the evening
that he was not Lieutenant Colley and
that he was merely passing as that of
ficer, having in some manner secured
his diploma of graduation from the
United States military academy at West
Point in June, 1903. He explained that
he knew Colley well and by some mis-
take had gotten possession of his diplo-
ma, and had intended to return it to
him. The officers believe that he stole
the diploma.
The prisoner said that his real name
is H. f. King, and that his home is in
New York city. When seen by a Free
Press reporter this morning, he said
that he had served as lieutenant in
the volunteers during the Cuban cam
paign and that this is the only service
| that he has seen, except a short stay at
! West Point. He said that he expected
| to secure the assistant instructOrship of
military school, and that for this rea
son he procured his regular army uni
form two weeks ago. He is wearing this
uniform now. 1t is regulation caval-
ry service uniform, with high boots.
King said that the reason that he got
into trouble at Albert Lea was from the
fact that he went on drunk there and
lost or spent all of his money he had $45
when he got there.
Sergeant Buckley, who is conducting
the local recruiting station, met the
young man at the City hotel yesterday
afternoon and conversed with him. He
had previously received word from Fort
Smelling in regard to- party who had
defrauded hotel at Albert Lea, and
who was representing himself to be a
regular army officer. When the ser
geant met King, he suspected that he
was the man wanted, and he at once
called up Major Taylor at Fort Shell
ing and asked that description of
King be read This was done, and it
exactly answered the description of
King. He then had the police officers
detain King, who persisted that he was
Lieutenant Colley.
Sergeant Buckley has since received
written description of King, who, it is
claimed, stopped at the Hotel Freeborn
at Albert Lea from Sept. 9th to 18th,
and left a board bill there of $1,000
His age is given as twenty-four years,
and height five feet, four inches, with an
unsoldierly bearing, and two front upper
teeth false. Major Taylor is looking in
to the matter thoroughly, and no doubt
King will have to answer to the charge
of impersonating an officer, and perhaps
that of theft and forgery. Among his
papers was one that purported to be an
order from higher officer to Lieutenant
Colley in regard to recruit. 1t is
thought that King prepared this him.
self, in order to help carry out the
deception.
The real Lieutenant Colley is sta
toned at Mortress Monroe, Va, and
is in the lO4th company. of coast ar
tillery. King claimed that he had been
/ A. orfil IN
First cavalry, stationed in Texas. Major
Taylor has telegraphed to Fortress Mon
roe about the matter.
Deputy Sheriff c.. M. Wilkinson of AL
bert Lea arrived in the city this fore
noon and returned on the 3:l5 p. m.
train with King. He said that the coun
|ty attorney of Freedom county had had
talk with the attorney general in
regard to the matter.
In Kings pockets were found nu-
merous clippings from papers in regard
to General Horatio c. King, Gen. Charles
King and other members of the King
family, and a book containing numerous
Ilikenesses of members of the family, in
cluding number of army officers and
several handsome ladies, daughters and
other relatives of Gen. King. H. E. Kings
picture in uniform also appears several
times in the book. When asked about
this, King refused to say whether he
was related to Gen. Ting, as he said
that he did not want his family to
know that he was in his present predica-
ment.
Among the clippings were several ac-
counts of highly sensational affair that
occurred in Chicago in 1898, which was
in all of the papers at the time. The
substance of this was that Harry E.
H. King, an expelled cadet from West
Point, had been assaulted and found
unconscious an front of his fathers resi-
dence in Chicago. It was known that
he and another young man were rivals
for the affections of the same young
lady, who was a beautiful girl, Young
King had been threatened by his rival
or some one else that on sight he would
be treated to a shower of carbolic acid
E;pn on1 his rival ON tho ovap;nn of