Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1885-11-05
FERDINAND Ward.
The Young Financier Sentenced
to a Long Imprisonment.
What the Judge Said in Imposing
the Sentence.

9AO h1C44vCA1N1
The trial Of Ferdinand Ward, the young
New York financier and leading spirit in the
firm Of Grant & Ward, having resulted in a
verdict Of guilty, it remained for the judge
to impose the laws sentence upon
the prisoner. Ward was convicted
partly upon the evidence Of FISH, president
Of the broken Marine bank. himself a con
vict Fish, it will be remembered, shared in
the profits resulting from Wards iniquitous
financial operations, and when Grant g. Ward
collapsed the Marine bank was also com
PEELED to suspend. Ward received the full
sentence of the law. The scene in the court
room, and the judges remarks in sentencing
Ward, were as follows:
At II o'clock the court of oyer and ter
miner was full Of privileged spectators-privi-
legged by reason OF having been early at the
door applying for admission. Ward entered
with his plnched, wizened face looking paIer
than ever. He shook hands with his counsel,
General Tracy and Bourke Cochran, and
after taking off his brown beaver o7ercoat
sat down and coolly surveyed the court
room The fact that he had been found
guilty seemed to have had no depressing eff
feet upon his spirits, as he expressed himself
to friend as feeling "chipper.n He was
dressed in a dark gray suit, and wore patent
leather shoes
Many Of the jurors who had tried him
were scattered about the room as they were
not required to be in their box when sentence
was pronounced
Judge Barrett came into the court room at
twenty minutes past eleven, having been pre-
ceded by few minutes by Mr.. MARITIME and
Assistants Purdy and Nicol. "Buckp Grant
entered and took seat to the left Of the
judge. Grant seemed to look at Ward with
something OF triumph in his eyes, whereat
Ward turned his head away and
pretended to be engrossed in contemplation Of
the wall. He attempted to treat Grant with
contempt, but it was evident be bore him
some hatred. Among those who came in to
witness the last act in the great play of '"The
Little Napoleon was j. Edward Simmons,
the president Of the Stock Exchange, who
took a seat near Buck Grant. A lawyer who
wanted a stay Of proceedings in another case
first claimed the courts attention, and his
vigorous efforts in behalf of his client amused
the audience for ten minutes. Finally he
got his stay and departed.
Then District Attorney MARITIME arose and
moved that Ward be sentenced. General
Tracy arose and read from paper his argu-
ment why new trial should be granted
The judge asked, upon the same grounds
as were offered in the trial'"
THE same grounds, your honor,n replied
Wards counsel.
ssThen the court makes the same ruling as
before, and the application is dismissed" J"
The clerk then asked that the prisoner be
brought to the bar: Ward stood up and
faced the judge at the bar of the court, and
his pale face and almost hopeless look for the
frst time created some sympathy i'll his fa-
vor. He nervously crossed his hands and
cast quick, furtive glances at the judge when
his eyes were not bent upon the ground
He was asked Ferdinand Ward, do you
know Of any reason why sentence Of law
should not be passed upon yousn
Ward shook his head slowly, COMPRISING his
thin lips to maintain his composure. The
court room was then as silent as the tomb,
when Judge Barrett expressed himself as
follows:
"Mr Ward, you have been convicted by
an intelligent and conscientious jury Of the
crime of which you were charged. You GER
tainly had perfectly impartial trial Your
jury was most carefully selected and was
an excellent body Of men. The court
guarded all your rights, as it believes,
fairly, and you were convicted because
it was proved you had no defence The charge
was abundantly proved, overwhelmingly
proved, and you offered in substance no de
fence at all to the facts, the only matter for
conjecture was why so intelligent jury
should have taken SO long to deliberate about
so plainly proved and so absolutely disproved
a case. If your case had been that of per
S n absolutely unknown l apprehend that on
such evidence the jury would scarcely have
left their seats So that it may be
said that you have not been convicted
by reason of any popular clamor. On the
trial you have had the benefit of every as
sistance, every possible and appropriate palms.
You were most skilfully and ably defended
every point that could be taken was taken in
your favor, and an address as brilliant in
elDquence and power as | have ever heard
was made in the opening Of your case. You
were not convicted upon popular clamor but
rather the jury, which was as have said, a
most intelligent and conscientious one, prob
ably delayed finding verdict because they
feared that popular clamor might prejudice
them. SO that in place Of popular clamor hav-
ing caused your conviction it really tended to
render that conviction doubtful by reason Of
a fear in the breasts of the honest men who
tried you, fear lest it might injure you. On
that suggestion alone can | conceive of their
having taken the time they did to arrive at
verdict in the case. have nothing to say to
You in the way Of comment because
| think it would be wholly useless. You have
exhibited a certain insensiblity throughout
this trial that shows me you are
not repentent for the misdeedS that you have
committed. I have not seen the first syInp-
toms Of regret uTon your part for the acts
which have brought down upon so many in
nocent and good people poverty and shame.
You have done more probably than any one
man ever did to undermine the confidence of
commercial people in commercial dealings,
to cause and keep up a depression in bust
ness, and generally to affect injuriously the
whole body polite. And yet you have main
tanned the same insensible demeanor through
out. Under those circumstances it is idle
for me to ask you to repent and show some
sorrow. That being SO, will simply impose
the Judgment of the law which is that you be
00nfi0ad II, Stafo Tric01a a hard lal0OT f0r 4
period Of ten years.
At the conclusion Of the judges remarks
Ward took his seat and buried his pale face
in his hands He was very nervous and
rubbed his eyes and brow convulsively, and
many expected to see him weep. In this
they were disappointed, for he quickly re-
covered his composure Warden Kiernan
then got his release Signed by the judge, and
as the audience arose y go Ward was con
Quoted out of a side door and taken back to
the Tombs. He was sent to Sing Sing prison
on the half-past two P. M. train.