The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-07-20
R.F.WESTCOTT DEAD
ITATHER-IN-LAw OF FORMER CAPT
CARTER PASSED AWAY SUDDENLY.
AT RlCHFIELD SPRINGS.
FALL FROM A CARRIAGE FOLLOW
ED BY HIS UNEXPECTED DEATH.

The Head of the westcott Express
Company and One of the Interest,"
ing Figures in the Drama OF
Which Carter Has Been the Star.
At the Inception of the Case the
Then Captain of Engineers At
tributed the Large Sums of Money
He Had spent TO the Generosity OF
MIR. Westcott and the story Went
UnchaIIenged-He Regulated 1t
Finally on the stand.
An Associated Press dispatch from
Utica, New York, announces the death
yesterday of Robert Folger Westcott,
head of the Westcott Express Company
and the father-in-law of former Capt.
Oberlin NJ. Carter.
Mr.. Westcott died suddenly at Rich
field Springs, where he had been stop
ping He was driving, when his horse
SHE'D and the carriage was overturned,
throwing Mr.. Westcott and the lady
with him into the roadway. Mr.. West
colt Strengthened up the carriage with
one hand, holding the reins with the
other. Then he leaned over a moment
and suddenly fell backward, dead.
For the last four years, since the
Carter case has been so prominently
in the public eye. Mr.. Westcott has
himself been the object of public at
tention, for which he cared little. The
relations between him and Carter had
been close and intimate, as was nat
ural, and when the brilliant captain of
engineers felt called upon to explain
his possession and use of the large
sums of money, he was known to have
had, he explained by saying that they
had either been given him by Mr..
Westcott or left by Mr.. Westcott in his
charge for investment.
But Mr.. Westcott. who was in Eu
rope, refused to appear before the court
martial and stand sponsor for this
story. He did write a very guarded and
much qualified letter, but he refused to
cross the water and appear as a wit
ness in Carriers favor. He didn't deny
the story, however, and there We're
many people, upon whom still fingered
the charm of Carter's winning and
magnetic personality, who believed it.
They believed it even in the face of the
overwhelming evidence that was adj
the years and months that followed
But last year they were compelled to
step. Capt. Carter and his counsel hal
pushed Mr.. Westcott too far and placed
= him at last in a position where he was
obliged to talk in order to protect his
own good name. He was called as a
witness in the hearing upon the appli-
cation for the removal of Greene ana
the Gaynors, Carter's alleged conspir-
q In fn sch So, -. l.
ment of 81, SOC, 900 of the money intended
for the improvement of the harbors of
Savannah, Brunswick and Cumberland
Sound, and he then, on the stand alb
solutely repudiated the story of his
furnishing Carter with large sums of
money that had been in circulation. He
did more. He furnished evidence tina.
went far towards weaving the net of
guilt around the necks of the alleged
co-conspirators.
He was bitterly denounced. Counsel
for the defendants intimated that they
would show that he had been a part
ner with Greene and the Gaynors, and
that If anything had been wrong he had
been concerned in the steal They en-
deavored to show that he had received
the money which the government had
traced into the possession of Carter.
and that he had been paid and applied
to his own purposes the income from
the stocks and bonds that these funds
had purchased.
Mr.. Westcott was able to vindicate
himself of these charges, though it was
evident that his affection for and CON
hdence in his son-in-law had led him
to do some foolish things.
He has been prominent figure in
many of the scenes of the drama in
which Carter has played the star part,
and his death takes from the stage an
interesting personality. His appear
ance before the commissioner at the
nearing in New York, his reputation
of his former statements and the evil
dence he then gave. furnished one of
the most dramatic incidents of the en-
tire case.