A Fugitive Arrested

One of the most important arrests ever made in thig oounty, was made by Deputy Sheriff Harry N. Kirby, of Urbana, Ohio, in Ypsilanti early last Taesday morning, when the hoted forger Zachariah T. Lewis, who for two years had been a fugitivo from justice, was captured. Lewis' forging operations were carried oot on a large soale and aggrtgated the enormons sum of 1350,000, and there are 12? iudictments ont against him in various oonnties of Ohio. He was a bond broker by profession and resided at Urbana, Ohio, doing business in Dayton, Ohio, and was at one time a prominent oandidate for state treasnrer. His forgeries oonsisted of oonnty and school district bonds, of flve different counties in Ohio. His plan of porcedure was to purohase gennine bonds, have two lithograph copies made of each genuine bond, forging the signatnres. He would then have the good bond examined by some prominent flrm of attorneys who would oertify to the fact that the bond submitted to them was all right. Lewis would request the attorneys to give him two copies of suoh oertiflcates as he wished to negotiate ;he bond, and desired to send one copy to the intending purchaser, keep one copy himself and attaoh one to the bond. Such copies being thus seoured without snspioion, Lewis would at;ach a certifioate to eacb of his two 'orged bonds. Lewis did not sell his orged bonds, only the genuine ones, but used the forgeries to borrow money, putting them up as collateral and xuany of the large banks of the east and of Cincinnnati held these bonds as collateral for wnat they supposed were gilt edged loans. Nor did he confine such transactious alone to banks, borrowiu& ! mooey of private individuals on similar collateral. These transactions he afterwards called "theorizing artificial securities. " When the discovery was made that the oollateral was worthless, Lewis was not prepared to save all his ill gotteu gains, as he was a speoulator on a large scale and mucn of his property was not in suoh shape that he coald carry it with hitn. For instance, he owned nine or teu large farras. Tbe pioeprty whioh he was nompeiled to leave to his cieditors aiuouated to about $150,000. His escape was after this fashion : The disoovery had been made by oae of the bauks who held his collateral that things looked dubious, through inqniries made by a lithographing firm of whom Lewis was endeavoring to get work doue. This beiug noised abont Lewis left his office at Daytou to go to bis home at Urbana. His farnily not being in he went over to get his snpper at a neighbor's, of whom he had borrowed rnoney running well up into tbe thousands. The neighbor had heard the questiouable rumors and at ibe table asked Lewis conoerning them. He answered not a word bnfc stepped out of a back door and that was the last seen of him in Urbana, nntil be returned under arrest this week, in charge of the neighbor's son. Lewis had walked or rnn two miles across flelds and through swamps and secured a carriage with which he made good his escape. Á week later the agents of a bank which had loaned $18,000 on his forged secnrities, arrested bim in Cincinuati, Ouio, but he immediately paid over $18,000 and was released. He was a number of months later arrested in Mexico but bought off the offlcers wbo arrested him. Since then he has been huüted from pillar to post. It is said that he would loug ere this have given himself np, excepting for his family. Lewis' family consisted of a wife, a son and a daughter. The son oame to Ann Arbor last fall to attend tbe nniversity and early in the winter the wife and daughter joined him. Since tben varions detectives have visited this city in search of the fngitive. Lewis was au invetérate letter writer I ■ %A . ï ■ V . r !-■ . - 1. I_ _ I il i uuu i„ waH miougn tnis nabit tbat be was fiDaily run down. He kept iu nonstaut oommnnicatiou viith former friends in Ohio, direotiug them to send their replies to bis wife iu this city, who wonld forward them to hinj. This is what made tbe detectives searoh most vigorously at Ann Arbor. Once in a while, an excited deteotive would reach this oity on what he considered a dead snre clue, expeoting to rnn right on his man, ouly to find tbe family here aad the fngitive far far away. The question Yas where and under what name was Jie going. He was fiually located at a Httle towa in Indiana, nnder an assumed name bnt wbeu Dspnty Sheriff Kirby got (here tbe bird had flown. He traced hiin to apolis and arrived there just an honr too late to get his man. Returning to Ohio, it was at length determined that Lewis was in Chicago or near there, and a week ago last Monday, Kirby carne to this city to endeavorto find out the whereabouts of Lewis through traeing his mail. The United States law is strict agaiust any tampering with mail even to oatoh a fngitive, farther than to permit the watching of addresses and postruarks, and this was all that oonld be done botb in postofflces and on the railway mail oars. It was soon disoovered that Lewis was mailing his letters at the depots, his liandwriting being peculiar enough to give him away, then that he was either in Detroit or between there and Ann Arbor. Two pólice officers were detailed to watch for him at tbe Detroit depot and extra help was employed here, while Ypsilanti was not neglected. Monday night a letter carne bearing the Ypsilanti postmark and the next motor took Mr. Kirby to that city together witb Depnty Sheriff Canfield. The aid of Marshal Ross was secured and a search made which lasted until after eleven o'clock that night without success. Ross then went home taking a photograph of Lewis with him whioh he showed his wife. Mrs. Ross at onoe recognized it as the picture of a man who had called there the day previous looking for a room, whoin she directed to a house opposite, where he had secmred a room. This house was watched for tbe reraainder of the night and at half past sis, Tnesday morninf? Kirby arrested his man, bringing him to this city on the motor. He had been in Ypsilantifor two weeks going under the name of James Leache. Lewis, when arrested, was a pnysical wreek, hollow eyed and haggard looking, with tbe air of a hunted beast. Constant worry had underrained his constitutian and he snffered Reverely from nervons prostration and rheumatism, the constant strain of the ohase having proved too much for him. He agreed to go back to Obio without requisition papers and was taken there on the noon train Tuesday. The proseoution nnder the warrant on which he was arrested is pushed by the National Bank of Redemption, of Boston, and it is believed that the trial will be held at an early date. It is also rumored that other arrests may grow out of the capture of Lewis, as he is believed not to have been entirely alone in his operations.