Los Angeles herald., 1910-01-18
CONFESSES HE
BOUND HIMSELF
YOUNG MAN PRETENDS He IS
DRUGGED BY THUG
Impostor WeaVes Imaginative Ac-
count of Hardships and Injuries
and Declares He Has Fooled
Authorities Twice Before

After giving Detectives Mcnamara
and Carroll two hours of exciting work
in looking up a supposed desperate
burglar who had drugged and gagged
him and then left him in a lonely al
leyway, Milton H. Johnson, 20 years
old, 1907 East Twenty-siXth street,
signed a written confession at police
headquarters last night, admitting he
might be entitled to credit as the
worlds champion prevaricator.
When questioned he admitted he had
bound and gagged himself, that he
had not been robbed or drugged and
that on two previous occasions he had
fooled the surgeons at the receiving
hospital and at the Sisters hospital
His only motive for his peculiar ac-
tions, he said, was his desire for noto-
riety and an effort to pretend injury
in order to relieve himself from work.
ing and supporting his wife.
For more than an hour he with
stood the grueling questioning of de-
tectives, and finally asked for pen and
paper and made a written confession
that everything he had said was
wrong.
The detectives office got busy short
ly after 6 o'clock last night when a
telephone message was received that
a young man was found in an alley
way near the Merchants Ice and Cold
Storage company, behind the Arcade
station at Fifth and Central avenue.
Detectives Mcnamara and Carroll
rushed to the scene and there found
the young man, apparently exhausted.
E. c. Bowman and r. G. Cobb, two
men employed near by, said they were
attracted by smothered groans, and
found Johnson bound hand and foot,
with a handkerchief tied across his
mouth.
When he feigned recovery he stated
that yesterday morning he met man
on East Fourth street who asked him
to enter an alleyway, and, putting a
revolver to his head, forced him TO
drink some yellow stuff He said he
remembered no more until taken from
a darkened cellar, enveloped in a
shawl. He remembered being placed
in a cab and driven away. When he
aroused again he was in the rear of
Merchants Ice and Cold Storage com
pany. He stated his feeble cries for
assistance were not answered for a
long time until he was released by
Bowman and Cobb.
"There is a man." said Johnson, who
Is known as James Synder, but whose
real name is John Sibpsy, "who muir
dered a man, while serving in the
Philippine army years ago and who
afterward deserted. I am the only
person who has knowledge of the
crime and l think he tried to end my
life by drugging me. This is the gos-
pei truth"
The condition of the knotted rope
and handkerchief aroused the suspicion
of the detectives, and finally Johnson
broke down, admitted his story was
false, and that he had twice before
simulated injuries and received hospi-
tai treatment
December "a, 1909, Jahnson was taken
to the receiving hospital and told of
having been run over by an automo-
bile He feigned the injury to his leg
so successfully that the leg was ban
daged and Johnson sent to his home
A month previous while at work in
the Southern Pacific shops, he fell to
the floor and said his left arm was
broken. So we'll did he perform an
x ray was used and no broken bones
found.
While being carried to the electric
car last night, Johnson pretended to
faint three times, and actually had
the detectives believe he was suffer-
ing from exhaustion. He acted so
cleverly that it was an hour before
he admitted he made the yarn from
simple fabrication.
Milton was photographed and locked
up for the night, to be given an OPP
portunity to consider the evils of un-
truthfulness. He did not appear dis
heartened and laughed as he related
how he fooled the wise detectives
Just to keep from having to work, >"
was his only reason for his strange
actions.