Connecticut western news., 1897-11-25

WILLIAM CARROLL WOODWARD. to the skill of Assistant District Attor- ney Carpenter, whose management of the case throughout was both brilliant and thorough.
 The distinguished rascal. with the fa- tality which invariably at some time comes to all criminals. insisted upon going on the witness stand and telling the story of his life. He denied, 1t is true. the specific charge on which he was indicted, but his confessions as to his past life were so startling that jury might have felt itself compelled to convict on general principles. Boasts of His Cunning.
 Indeed. he sought to prove an alibl to the charge of blackmail by demon- strating that at the time of the con- spiracy against the wealthy MT. Bridg- ham he was engaged in "traveling be- tween Boston and New York. sometimes by boat and sometimes by rail, teach ing dudes how to play cards and show ing them how much there was about the game that they did not understand" But he was careful to say he had dealt only with dudes and that he turned no card within the city limits. He used New York as sort of distributing cen- ter, spending here what he won on his travels.
 Mir. Carpenter led him on dexterously Now and then the court warned him that he was imperiling his case with the jury, but he kept right on. He seemed eager to show that whatever he had been abroad he had committed no crime in this city. He recited his for eign adventures. probably with a view to suggesting that he was so busy abroad and found foreign parts so profitable that 1t would have been ab- surd for him to be at work here. He gave his opinion of the French police with a frankness that was charming and as for the Scotland Yard staff he told of how they operated between chuckles. He would have asked noth- ing better than to have the best of them in a poker game but for the fact that they had no money. Ills Booty g Million.
 Well" asked Mir. Carpenter. you got | away with a good deal of money?" 'I did, was the reply. How much?' Possibly million dollars" "A million dollars?"
 "Yes. maybe few dollars less or a few dollars more. am speaking now A thousand in those days meant little to me"
 "was that before you went to Cey- | lon?"
 "Oh, yes; before. I went to Ceylon in a steam yacht which purchased" You had a little affair there in rela- ton to some diamonds?" "Yes; but really that affair was much exaggerated. Ceylon is not the para disc that it's been painted"
 You and the diamonds however, left l Ceylon simultaneously, apprehendy" Now" said the prisoner. "Ceylon is | an English colony. I am ready to go there any time they may think they
 How much were the diamonds worth?"
 Twenty thousand pounds. Some of | the stones were poor"
 Escaped Thirty-seven Times.
 How many times have you been in jailo" asked MT. Carpenter.
 T am 37 years old, and have been arrested 37 times. It was predicted that | I would be arrested 40 times-that gives | me three more times. After I have been arrested 40 times I will give the world a great medical discovery. A gypsy | told me so."
 | By adroit leading MT. Carpente~ got | him back to where the man most fo l. lshly became vain. and he told or a | wonderful trip he took around the world immediately after his diamond escapade Tn Ceylon. He spoke pleas- antly of hIs hfe in the south Pacific of his trip through Hawaii of his enter
 tainment in California and his rou~hing 1t in Cripple Creek. After all. he thorgh;
 he liked Australia best of al count 'es.
 After the story told by Woodward it
 did not seem possible that there coul'
 be any doubt as to the result. The jury i surprised every one by rem nG --''
 one hour and 20 minutes bCt WI | .hey returned their verdict was Gu lty
 as charged" Woodward looked at them l calmly, buttoned his buff overcoat
 about him and prepared for his marcr | pack to the Tombs.
 It is one of the remarkable things in this mans variegated career of croC'--
 adness that this case of blackmail Is tha first case of any kind in which he ever
 had to face jury, though he had bsen
 arrested frequently. He will be sen
 fenced on Monday next, and probably
 will get the full term for the offense | i've years in Sing Sing