The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-11-29
AN ARCH SWINDLER AT BAY
THOUGHTS OF WILLIAM CARROLL
WOODWARD IN THE T0MBS.

William Carroll Woodward, tho famous card
sharper, who Is now In tho Tombs awaiting SEN
tonce for attempting 10 blackmail q New York
man, continues to assert his innocence to every
one who calls upon him. Woodward IL not so
prepossessing a man in Jail as when he Is pur-
suing his astonishlngly varied methods Of earn
ing n dishonest livelihood. 1t is the fashion In
the mems prison TO wear neither collar nor
nocktio, and he has fallen in with the fashion.
Ho wears a closely cropped beard on the end OF
his chin; with this. and his slightly prominent
eyes, he looks very much like the thin type of
German saloonkeeper who is pictured In tho
comic weeklies. This, It Is hardly necessary to
say, ia not the additionally proper aspect for
one who has cheated his fellow mon on every
continent.
Never before has no been convicted OF any Of
tho crimes of which he has been accused by the
police Of many lands. Claude Duval and the
classic scoundrels Of tho Middle Ages mako q
mean and paltry showing for audacious Tillniny
when their deeds arc compared with those OF
Woodward. the nineteenth century American.
His art has been finer than theirs. Where they
had recourse to bludgeons and the show Of pis-
tolls. Woodward has relied on the dizziness Of his
fingers in handling cards and exchanging pack
ages; he has used the facial control Of an actor
in Stimulating and conccaling emotions. Some
Of his feats have suggested hypnotism, but ho
laughs at the intimation that he possesses any
thing Of hypnotic power.
He camo down the winding stairs from his cell
with the peculiar swinging stride that is the
most marked characteristic Of the man. He
changes his face, his manners. and his mode of
speech at will. But of the peculiar swing In
his walk he has never rid himself. 1t is not tho
strut of a b%raggart, but rather the confident.
certain swing Of one who despises his fell
low men because all his life long he has been
able to fool them to the uttermost. The blow of
his conviction has knocked some OF tho off,
hand jauntiness out Of him. In place of the sneer.
ing, almost open ridicule with which he has re.
garded the law and the courts heretofore. there
has como over him q sullen defiance that is very
near to suggesting fear. He has not lost his
nerve. He Is as brazen In his assertions Of In
nocence and Of contempt for his accusers as
ever. He Is not afraid of the law, he says, but
he is Mortified by the maladministration of 1t.
MY father and my grandfather" he said
with angry Indignation. fought and bled for
this country that liberty might not perish from
the earth. Now l am deprived of my liberty by
n jury of ny peers on the evidence of an expert
witness-there ire liars, you know, and Tanned
liars, and expert witnesses-on the evidence
of an expert witness, who. by the very
fact of his employment, must manifestly have
been prejudiced against me. Because no
thought, or said he thought, that I had written
a certain letter, l am to go to Sing Sing. l am
no angel. but I tell you honestly that 1 am alb
solutely innocent Of this thing. It cost my nc
cusers $50 900 TO get me here. but some day"
and his voice grew as cold and stern as
that of o Judge pronouncing sentence, "my
turn will come. I will take my place beside
the man who accuses me before that heavenly
court Of Justice. where st. Peter Is the keeper
and God Almighty is the Judge. There will be
| iuatire withouf aYpert witneaaea-thav will all
be in HE'LL Why. think Of it! Expert witnesses
are permitted to do their miserable work under
n constitutional form of government! Isn't 1t q
ridiculous farce But it Is more than ridiculous.
1t Is an i%nsidious blow at the freedom of tho
Woodward was very solemn; he did not seem
he spoke Of st. Peter and the Judgment scat.
in his voice; il was rather as il he were talking
to himself without caring whether any one else
Il ip4 he R %sre Of ,t TH v ne to U make ssy am imp 1r was MOI but at
as II his religious views fell quite incidentally
into the general line of his talk, which was alto.
membered. Of manufaeturing. a scandal
that the citizen would rather pay him to keep
the scandal quiet than 20 tS he pains sia 8 Of dis lis
Waters" in describing the methods of the actor
fakirs of India. the many.faced men,, tells
disguise. transform themselves, not only out
SlaTlly;. but mentally and spiritually: into the
they make themselves believe. for the time
being, in their own impersonations, just as a
little boy, after telling, the same fb ten or ff-
the truth. Their extraordinary success in fool
ing people, Mrs. Steele says, they believe to be
own seif:deception. When they are completely
unconscious of doceiving anybody, but are
s srRpa{ they fhs!" sw axe a no os Suspicion in fnt those ns whom aal
they would deceive. So far as one can tell any.
thing at all about the inner consciousness Of
William Carroll Woodward, he uses the meth
Apparently, as he sits in the Tombs lament
ing his conviction. he is quite convinced that. he
is q martyr to expert testimony, and that he Is q
God-fearing. reyerent man. In court the other
day, during a lull In tho proceedings, he rose,
put his hands into his trousers pockets, and
sauntered out toward the gate that leads to the
sny spparent consciousness Of irreeuIaritYi
that the guard stationed beside Woodward to
watch him did not notice 1t. The guard at
the gate, however, makes IL an inyariable rulo
to stop every man whose face and business no
does not know and to call the attention OF the
WITH Without SHi any apparent ar tV sUspi otRan'I Ika tiny WOOD Ssdi:
ward ought not to pass through. the gateman
usual. They saw the prisoner waiting with
grave; courteous impatienGce Tor the gate TO- be
did not fall He lifted his eyebrows as II sur.
prised, at their excitement.
Why" he ssid; :. in the . n rtaIcI m Intt
1 thought it was the way to the prison"
But 1t Is fair to assume that for once at least
a glimmering of respect for tho cold, formal
machinery Of law found its way into Wood.
wards mind; Twenty years or so ago law was
notorious swlndlers and robbers who met
nightly in u sul0on near Sixth avenue and
Twenty-ffth street. They openly derided the
judiciary and the police; a man who went 10
Jail, they said. was either a fool or was "dopey'
under tho influence Of drugs, They made a
mutual agreement that II by any slip or
nischanco the law, should lay it's hands on
Them, they would help one another out.
records of the police, Handsome Joe Howe Is in
Moyamcnsing prison for buncoing a farmer out
OF 500. 600. He is said to have 81 .OOO, 900 laid
aw y, the savings OF years of bunco steering
His accomplish, Harry Witherole. Is with him.
John Sweeney. who made a great fortune by
selling gilded bricks to the unsoPhistiented wal
ably gathered by a private detective. Gov. Hill
gave sweeney the benefit OF the doubt and par
doned him. and Sweeney dropped dead as ht
was leaving the prison. Tom O'Brien killed Kic
Waffle In Paris in a quarrel over n division Of
spoils, and IL now serving q life sentence in New
Caledonia. Frank Tsrbo. who was the mos
swlndlpr's companiOn on tho famous tril