Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-02-16
CAREER OF CRIME CLOSING
RECORD OF ALBERT WARD, WHO
KILLED A MAN IN THIS CITY.
Now Serving q Term in an Indiana
Prison After . Life
of Misdeeds.

who was once we'll known in Baltimore.
and who during the early period OF the
civil war cut wide swath here. HIS name
is Albert V. Ward, and he Is recalled by
many Baltimoreans who met him In the
early sixties. He did not remain in this
city many months, but he made record
during his brief stay.
When arrested three years ago. for forg-
cry in Terre Haute. he gave John Doe as
his name. On the prison records he is con-
vict 1853. After his arrest and convicuon
his remarkable record and his brief resi-
dence in Baltimore were brought to light.
The fact was also resurrected that ne hau
once been sentenced to death for trying 10
burn New York He is now old and feeble
in health, after a career or thlrty-Six years
in crime He has stolen during that career
fully S500,000. but 1t was always MS poast
that he never took a cent from man VINO
could not afford the loss As an lllustra-
ton OF this he points to the fact that just
before his conviction at Terre Haute ne re-
turned $500 worth of diamonds TO IN
cago jeweler when he learned that his vic
tim was heavily in debt and the loss Oh the
gems would ruin him.
Ward will not discuss his career prior to
the time he first came into prominence. IN
1863 He came of a good family. however
and was we'll educated. He enlisted In the
Union army in 1862, and was at Washington
on a furlough in 1858. There ne had
Quarret WITH oTueTly sotiScdHl AAth'eAi. ''''
and taking Matthews pistol from nlm'
shot him dead. He came to Baltimore
where he made arrangements for ms de,
Tense and then returned and SURRENDERED
to the Washington officers His trial was
a noted one Daniel W. VOORHEES,. Henry
S Lane and Albert G. Porter, all of In
diana, defended him.
In the Southern Army.
The first trial resulted in the death pen
atty, but a new trial was granted, and ne
was sentenced to eight years at hard LABOR.
Ward was highly connected in Indiana, and
his friends secured a pardon from Presl-
dent Lincoln. The killing of Matthews Is
believed to have been his first step In crime
but when he left prison he found that MS
old friends had turned against him. EN-
/ Filtered against them. he went south anu
| enlisted in the confederate army recelF!Is
| a commission as captain and serving III inc
| 10Th Mississippi and on the staff of General
| Breckenridge.
| Soon after his enlistment he was de-
| tached from staff duty and sent 10 Cailau i'
| to bring home some confederate prisoners
| who had escaped from the north ana We're
| then in British territory. When he mad
| gathered thirtysix men together ne con
| cluded to go into the bounty-jumplng puSl-
ness The men met him at Augusta Me.
| and each received 5000 bounty The thirty
| six deserted at once and met "aro IN Dos
! ton and again enlisted. Again they desert
/
! they enlisted again. This was repeated at
| Trenton, n j. and then the confederates
went south. Ward says that he made s2f'-
! $50 out of his bounty jumping operations
| Then he went to New York city to nave a
good time 1t was there that he met the
! ccnspirators who were arranging 10 purf
| the city. Ward declares that he knew noun
! ing of the conspiracy until afterWard' ana
| though he came within ace of being
| hanged he protests that it was the meres'
| coincidence that entangled him in the web
! About the time he reached New York
| number of agents OF The confederate so''
| eminent assembled there for the purpose
| of destroying the city. At Fort Lafayette
Ward found Capt Allison of Henderson
| Ky and put forward the claim that ALI
son was British subject, thus securing MS
/ release.
| TelitaIe Card.
Ward then went with Allison to search
| for Capt Kennedy, a confederate, who wa:
in the plot to burn the city. and was located
| at the Metropolitan Hotel. He was out
| however, when Ward and Allison called
but Allison wrote Wards name on care
and left it for him. with a request that III
call at the st. Nicholas. Ward was In com
! pany with Sheridan Shook, a man named
! Herren and Newton. a gold penmaker
when Kennedy arrived, and upon the lat
letr's request for money Ward gave Nm !
500 In a single bill. and Shook changed
for him. Ward then went to resort
where he gave a wine supper. and whii
thus engaged the hotels were fired by tn
conspira tors. Ward was arrested and whei
| taken to the police station learned tina
Kennedy had engaged rooms at a numoe
of hotels, and at each had placed stlci
of phosphorus in the bedding. In one o
| the rooms was found the card with Ward
name on it. Kennedy escaped to Vermont
but was arrested and returned to New
! York Col Beal and a sixteen-year-old DO.
! named Anderson were arrested at SuSpen
dol nod hot -
! was the authorized agent of the confed
! eracy.
ward says that the boy Anderson CAV
away the conspiracy to General DIX {
wreck trains on the Erie and to capture tn
steamer Philo Parsons on Lake Erie ant
many others. He eXonerated Ward. blu
persons had seen the latter give Kenned
the 800 bill and Shook had changed 1t 70
him John F. Brady and Charles OCono
defended Ward and after trial of seven
teen days he was found guilty by the court
martial, sentenced to death, and sent t
Fort Lafayette to be executed. Kennel
was executed in February, 1865. and War
. | was doomed 10 die in March. 1t was her
| that Wards Indianapolis friends prove
valuable to him again. The Key. Or. Cur
ley was pastor of the First Presbyteria
Church of indianapolis at the time. Ward
mother. through the minister, secured
stay of execution from President Lincoln
The latter gave assurances of ultimate par
don to Ward, and after the President
, | death the prisoner was taken to the Dr
| TOrtugas where he was afterward release
, | on the order of President Johnson.
From Crime to Crime.
Ward returned to Indiana after his re
, lease but his relatives turned the col
) shoulder upon him. 1t was evident tina
! they interceded for his life more to avoi
the disgrace of having a relative hange
than because they cared anything for hin
: Leaving here, he went into all kinds of ex
cesses of crime, and became a confidenc
man, gambler and al-around sport. Wit
forged letters of introduction he went
Boston, and was for a time something of
social lion. He does not know how niue
money he secured through forged credeI
l tias, for he spent IL as fast as he got 1
but he remembers very well that his life
2 Boston cost him thirty months in the pen
i | Tertiary When he got out he went to Ne
5 York bought hotel and paid for 1t wit
forged paper, and served two years in Sin
: Sing for the act He next fioated a hug
= swindling scheme In Kansas City, and wa
, sent to the Missouri pententiary for thre
/ years. Ward talks of two episodes in h
/ | career with relish. One of these was whe
| he disguised himself countryman an
permitted himself to be tolled into a gan
bling place at Long Branch. where
| played faro, and the bank was forced
| close when he was S31 900 winner. Anotht