Salt Lake Tribune | 1906-03-28 | Page 2 | Witness is Known in Criminal Circles

WITNESS IS KNOWN IH CRtMIHAL CIRCLES Stephen Puter Is Under Conviction Convic-tion for Participation in Land Frauds. PORTLAND. Or.. March 27. Stephen A, D. Puter. who was arrested at Boston today to-day and subsequently escaped from custody. cus-tody. In under conviction In tho United States courts for havlnjr consdrcd with others to defraud the United States of part of the public domain by securing fraudulent entrymen to timber lands. Puter was convicted on December 6, WW. but It was understood that the Government Govern-ment hecured a confession from him which was instrumental In the securing of evidence which led to the Indictment of tho late United States Senator John H. Mitchell, and by reason of that fact the Government had not pressed tho matter of his being sentenced. Frequented Portland. Puter frequented this city for several months after his conviction, until some time last fail, when the wholesale for-gtrles for-gtrles of State school land certificates was discovered at Salem. About that tlmo Puter disappeared. Rumor had It that he had gons to the Orient, and again that he had gone to Guatemala. For a time the Federal authorities au-thorities declared that his whereabouts were known to them, but recently It had been a-dmltt-sd that they, too, had lost track of him.