The Cairo bulletin., 1908-06-23
UNT|R|NC HUNT
FOR ADOUCTOR
SEEMS TO HAVE FAIL lEp-FATHER
BELIEVES DAUGHTER Is
DEAD.
SOUTHERN MANACCUSED
John Shaw as "Lieut. Lewis Cox"
Duped High society--Foreed Let
ters of His Are in Many
Cities.

New York June ga nation Wide
search, participated in by police. pri
vate detectives and government secr9t
\ service men of all the big citlca, rs b..
Ing made for Lieut. Lewis Smith
Cox, Jr., a bogus. naval officer, who
Is in reality John Shaw. one a waite
and later a ships steward.
Besides forgeries innumeTahle AMI
criminal impersonation OF genuine
Lieut.. Cox, Shaw Is wanted on the
more serious charge Of having abduct.
ed a 17-yearold girl OF promln, III
family in Hartford, Conn She Is Anna
Louise Behner, daughter Of Louis
Behner. an officer cr the Hartford In.
suranee Company. The father for
months has besn pursuing Shaw with
rr'Yata detectives, In order to avoid
the inevitable notoriety which would
attend a search by the police But he
has been forced at last to make his
loss public,
II am afraid Nan Is dead, he said
today, eonfessiong that he was at the
end of his resources, II have not been
able to get a single tract OF her after
she left Hartford with Shaw on the
night train for New York on June
l3 last.
Plays Top Society.
In half dozen cities my detec
tiyes have picked up the mans trail
but he was always alone. He has
leither deserted my girl or made away
with her, And IL she were alive think
she would have written or come homa
'siong ago
TO further complIcate the mystery II
has been discovered that Shaw's wife,
| Caroline, who had maintained apart,
ments in st. Paul street, Boston, for
months previous TO last July, digap-
peared from there on the very day
that her husband took young Miss Beh
ner away from Hartford.
And the search so far has revealed
nomore trace of the wife than of the
girl Shaw, according to the detectives
reports, has turned up every few
weeks, entering god society in cities
he visited. on the strength of forged
letters of Introduction and getting
away just before his checks were
found to be bogus
Halls From Alabama.
| He Is a little man, about five feet
| four inches tall, weight only 10
pounds. and is 80 years of age. He is
from Montgomery. Ala, originally. The
real Lieut.. Lewis Smith Cox, Jr.. Is a
strapping big man and is from Indian
apolis He Is a graduate of Annapolis
| and IL at present with his ship, the
Minneapolis, with the Pacific fleet. He
lis almost as eager to get hold OF his
limpersonator as Mr. Behner is In
several cities he has been embarrass-
ed by checks purporting to bear his
signature He has got the govern
ment TO work and threatens physical
revenge on the side in ase he runs into
the little forger.
Shaw appeared IN Hartford last
spring. He had a dozen letters OF in
trodr cton TO some Of the best fami les
IN the city some signed with the name
ot prominent naval officers others.
purporting to have been written by
society folks elsewhere.
II was not long before he met the
Behners who move in the best society
Of Hartford. His devotions to Nan
Behner soon became pronounced. The
grill was entranced with his smart
manners and glowing adventures In all
ends OF the earth,
Escaped Her Father.
Mr.. Behner on June Is demonstrated
with the supposed lieutenant because
the latter had allowed the impression
to go abroad that his engagement 70
Miss Behner would soon be announced.
That every night the girl was seen
to board a train with Shaw. Detec
tiyes were put on the track Of the pair
but no trace of the girl could be fount
although Shaw was traced to New
York. from there to Minneapolis aRd
later to Point PleaSnt n j., where
he was recognized by hotel chef wh"
had known him when he was 4 waiter.