The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1898-11-22
Committed to Await Action
Of the Grand Jury.

at his wife a week ago Monday night
causing her clothes to take fire and
burning her so that she died a few days
later, was arraigned in the central dis
trict court yesterday morning, and held
without bail to await the action Of the
grand jury.
The prisoner was first arraigned on a
charge Of manslaughter, but Judge
utley ruled that the charge should be
changed to murder, and sent a mes
senger for the district attorney to con-
duct the case for the government.
Assistant District Attorney George 6
Taft and District Attorney Rock
wood Hoar appeared in the court ROOM
| IN answer to the message and. al
though Gen. HOar will not assume the
duties Of the office for some time to
come, the case will eventually come IN
| der his jurisdiction, and arrangements
were made to have him conduct it.
James Il. McGovern appeared for
| woods, but when the case was changed
from manslaugter to murder. the serv-
ices Of Sullivan & O'Conneu as assocf-
ate counsel We're secured.
me court refused to admit the ante
mortem statement of Mrs. Woods
taken by Lieut.. Johnson on the night of
hef removal to the City Hospital ruling
! that on the evidence it was not clear
that the woman believed she was 90
ing to die when she signed the state
ment. The statement in question was
drawn up by Lieut.. Johnson and signed
in the presence of the officer Dr.
Charles A. Peabody of the City Hos
pital and Bertha S. Arnold, a. nurse at
the City Hospital.
The most important witness for the
government, # the charge Of murder
is to be sustained, is Deborah Jones
Who testified that she heard Woods
threaten his wife less than 20 minutes
before she ran out Of the tenement with
her clothing in flames.
The Jones woman testified that she
| lives at Is Lily street, in the house next
to the building occupied by the Woods
family. On the night when Mrs. Woods
was burned she heard angry words be-
tween Woods and his wife She heard
the woman say: I've been working
| hard today and I do all can to help
you, but l can't seem to suit you"
| She then heard Mrs. Woods say that
she was tired Of his fussing and call
him an 'unthankful, ungrateful old
| devil At this Woods became very
| angry and seid: I'm mad with you;
| I've been threatening to kill you for a
| long time, and if you don't let me alone,
| I'll kill you tonight and send you to
hell"
The row continued for some time and
| then there was a crash of breaking
glass, followed by a scream and a fall.
! The witness started to see what the
trouble was, and by the time she got
outdoors. Mrs. Woods was standing in
the doorway Of the next house, her
clothing in flames. Her husband was
! TC4 ha1, p, 10
| caused her to fall to the ground.
On cross eXamina ton, Mrs Jones
| said she supposed that Mrs. Woods
drank. Woods was a drinking man,
and she had seen his wife drunk once.
| Woods didn't act as though he was
drunk on the night in question.
Hannah Dyer testified that she lived
/ in the tenement under the one occupied
! by the Woods family. On the night of
the tenement overhead, and a minute
| later heard Mrs. Woods running down
stairs crying, 20, Hannah, I'm all afirei
| I'm burning up. Mr.. Woods threw the
lamp at mel"
| When she reached the door, she saw
| Mrs. Woods in the doorway with her
/ clothing ali ablaZe. Woods followed
his wife down stairs and was within a
few feet of her when Mrs. Dyer turned
back into her tenement to put her shoes
on.
Cross-examined, she was unable to
tell whether Woods pushed his wife
out of the door or not. She thought
Mr.. Woods had been drinking, but was
unable to say whether Mrs. Woods had
or not. Mrs. Woods drank at times.
Evelyn Fleet, who lives at II Lily
street, testified that she heard scream
ing on the night of the burning, and
ran out to see what was the matter
She saw Mrs. Woods lying on the
ground with her clothing on fire and a
crowd standing about her,
After the fire was put out Mrs.
Woods got up and walked up stairs to
her tenement, telling the neighbors
where they could find oil and flour to
put on her burns. She turned to her
husband at this time and said: will
liam, you have done it at last! You've
said you would do it, and now you
have" Her husband replied: Oh. no,
Mary, don't say that!" He then made
a joke and assured her that she would
be all right in the morning.
Ardelle Fleet corroborated her moth
er's testimony in the main, and further
said that Mrs. Woods said to her hus-
band: You threw the lamp at me; you
said you would kill me, and now you've
done it," Mrs. Woods said in her hus-
bands presence, that he had caused the
trouble because she had paid the rent
that day, and that he had thrown the
lamp at her
Bernice Fleet testified that she vas
coming out of her doorway when she
saw Mrs. Woods run down stairs with
her clothes ablaze. Woods was close
! behind her, and gave her a violent
push, sending her headlong into the
street. She saw nothing of Woods al
I ter he pushed his wife through the
door
This evidence was contradicted by
Paul j. Ryan, a soldier in the Second
| United States artillery, who was leav-
4 ing his aunts house on Pink street,
when Mrs. Woods ran down stairs. He
says Woods did not push her, and that
he was the first to reach the woman
after she struck the ground. Woods
I came to his wife soon after, and did
what he could to put out the fire.
The witness was present when the
woman was placed in the ambulance.
/ Woods asked if he could go with her
and she answered, mo; you've done
enough.
Hannah Thomas and Alice Wamsley
testified to being in the Woods house
before the woman was taken to the
city hospital. They heard her say in
/ the presence of her husband, that lie
threw the lamp at her.
i Dr. Charles A. Peabody testified that
he first saw Mrs. Woods after she had
been admitted to the hospital and had
/ her wounds dressed. She seemed to
suffer considerable pain, and he decid-
ed she could not live. He told her that
the chances for her recovery We're
slight. but the woman said she thought
she would pull through all right. She
expressed a desire to see her husband
before she died, and hoped that God
would have mercy on her.
A paper was drawn up by Lieut..
Johnson, and read to the woman. She
I said the statement was correct and