The evening world., 1903-07-09

prominent Wall street operator. WHO
died April 4 last in San Rafael, Cal.
was soned.
John Donald Woods and his wom-
: comparion, in whose house Col.
Best died, have disappeared.
A warrant VS. issued to-day for
them on a charge of grand laceny.
II apprehended a charge of murder
will be made.
Woods signed a certificate as a
tor that Col. Best's death was due
to apoplexy.
The autopsy, held in Caldwell,
showed that most of the internal Or
gans had been removed. Enough re-
NAMED to show the presence of a
powerful irrltant poison.
Som. suspicions Aroused.
The suspicious OF Best's sons were
aroused and the body, which had been
buried at Caldwell, ". j., was disin-
TERED, when an amazing state of az
fairs was disclosed. 1t was found
that the aged fnancier's body mad
already been opened and the organs
removed. This led to the suspicion that
Best had been poisoned and that the
organs which would show signs of the
drug were removed by those Interested.
The body a been stuffed with saw
dust.
Traces of Poison Found.
But the skull was untouched and the
autopsy reveals that there was no hem-
orrhage of the brain, as there would
ave been in apoplexy. which was as
signed by the certificate as the cause
of Col Best's death. A section OF the
intestines which had been overlooked re-
NAMED attached in the body, and from
analysis of this II. B. Baldwin. chem
list of the Essex County Board Of
Health, Newark. said to-day that he
felt warranted in saying that Col. Best
had been poisoned.
DIR. Jones, the California physician
who treated the Colonel a few days be-
fore his death, but was not with him
when he died, has said that the pupils
of the Colonel's eyes were dilated. which
Is one of the effects OF acon'te' anu
n bottle which a contained acohite
was found in the house OF Dr. "oous
after he and his female companion lett
San Rafael.
These things and a despatch from
Prosecutor Thomas P. Boyd, of Marion
county. Cal. to Charles summer Best,
to-day, saying that warrants had been
sworn out for DR.. Woods for grand lar
ceny and that murder probably would De
added as soon as the autopsy and cheml-
cal analysis is completed, make 1t ex-
tremely important to discover the where
abouts of these people. thus described
by Alfred NJ. Best:
Description IF Those Sought.
DR. John Donald Woods, about thir-
ty-eight years old. 5 feet Z or s inches,
slight of figure; very prominent Roman
nose, with a very small growth or ex-
cresence like a wart on each side or the
nose at the corner of the eyes: ashen
gray complexion. smooth shaVen'
though he formerly wore a dark brown
mustache slightly streaked with gray:
dark brown hair. also slightly streaked.
He speaks very softly and never al
lows himself to get excited or offended
souEht in PhillipsburE.
Woods and the woman who passed as
his sister in California and as his wife
when they m East have mysteriously
disa npaared from the Hotel Lawrence.
Atlantic City, and the warrants will
be taken tc Phillipsburg, n. j., where
il was understood trace nay be found
OF them.
rN ~ far An1Innta1 hV tho
sons of the dead man. who are in the
publishing business at No. 80 William
street. tends to show first. that Col.
Best a between $500 and soVo In money
and $1,000 in mining stock just before
ne died, and that Woods represented him
TO be in debt; then that on the way
East the woman, Alice Cloy Woods.
wrote to Col. Best's widow saying that
her brother. DR. Woods. had died on
the way to Chicago; then when Woods
and the woman were later arrested in
Atlantic City on a charge of stealing
Col. Best's valise ami other personal
effects they admitted their identity.
but were discharged because the crime
alleged was committed in California.
Apopleay Not Cause.
1t is also alleged that Woods signed
thu death certificate, posing as a doc
Or when he was not one; that some one
cut open the body Immediately after
de nth and removed the organs, then in
ject,ng embalming fluid and filling the
void with sawdust to prevent the dis
eovery of the cause OF death; that
apoplexy was not the cause OF death,
as ascribed; that Woods purchased aeon
I,a pnwarFul nniSOn. in San Rafael