Evening star., 1909-06-27
TRAGEDY AS IT UNFOLDS.

TRAGEDY AS 1T UNFOLDS.
What Happened at st. Michaels as
Evidence Develops.
Special Dispatch to The star.
ST. MICHAELS, Md, June 23.-'Lane
Bob" Eastman murdered the protege OF
Lyman j. Gage, Edith May Thompson
Woodil. with his own hand robbed the
dead woman of large sum of money and
jewelry and planned cunningly to throw
the crime on New York friends who
knew him in his prosperous days and
visited him over Saturday a week ago.
Eastmans intricate scheme to involve
others and save his own neck, If posi-
BILE, is being exposed hour by hour.
There was gay party at Eastman S
bungalow on the shore of Broad creek,
where he hid for five months from the
New York police. But every scrap of
information that the police of three states
can gather points to the fact that East
man was alone with young Mrs. Woodill
when she came to her death.
The very cunning the crooked broker
used to cover the girls death is being
analyZed bit by bit, every lie and trick
and stratagem indicating that Eastman
alone was guilty.
The day after Mrs Woodill was killed
Eastman went to Baltimore and pawned
her Jewelry, two diamond rings and a
pearl pin. Tuesday he was back again
smiling among his acquaintances at ST.
Michael and Mcdaniel, paying debts and
jesting about the gay time his guests
had Sunday.
Now that the story is out and East
mans neighboss know the sort of man he
was they are amazed at the cheerful
nerve the crook showed in returning to
the scene of the murder and cracking
jokes.
Eastman's Friends Leave No Trail.
One thing the authorities have not been
able to trace clearly-the movements of
Robert Emmett Eastman's friends who
came to visit him and brought gay women
with them. The names of three men are
in the hands of the Maryland police.
They would like to have a talk with
Bob Shotwell, a financial writer; another
man named Ryan. and another who signed
himself "Howarth." 1t is believed there
that several of Eastman's friends in New
York city, men who knew that he was
hiding on the eastern shore, made up a
party to visit him, and came to ST. Mi
chaels all the way from New York in a
launch. stopping at Annapolis to pick up
two women.
Eastman had news of the coming %
the party from the man who signed
himself ''Howarth," and who wrote on
June 16 from Easton that Ryan and
shotwell will arrive Oxford boat II
o'clock tonight" and girls are all at
Annapolis. Here is to the one you sent
for me-" 1t is believed Eastman was
anxious to give Mrs. Woodill, merry
creature. a chance at the fun, and thas
he persuaded Mrs. Woodll to visit the
bungalow and meet his friends.
1t is known that at first she protested
said she was too well known by every
body to take the chance, and finally
gave in on condition that Eastman get
her heavy veil to wear.
There is nothing to show that East
mans guests were in the bungalow when
Mrs. Woodill was struck down. There
are many things TO indicate that they had
boarded their launch and gone away. The
hour of the murder has been fixed def
nitely at 6 o'clock Sunday evening.
One of Eastman's neighbors went to the
shack to ask Eastman to go TO church
that evening, heard the sound OF wom-
ans voice upbraiding the lame man and
hurried away. There was no good ask
ing man To go to church who kept a
woman in his place, concluded the neigh
Dor, and promptly scattered the gossip
wherever his tongue would reach.
Z From hundred and one trivial Incl
dents and the testimony of people who
at first found it hard to break their nat
ural inclination to keep a closed mouth
on unpleasant matters, the Maryland au-
thorities have followed Mrs. Woodilrs
movements from the hour on Saturday
afternoon week ago. when she said
goodbye to her friends in Easton. until
she drove late at night to the bungalow
with Lame Bob"
There was less difficulty even in tracing
Eastmans affairs before and after the
murder The one mystery that remains
In the case is how much did the party
or friends from New York know when
they hurriedly left the bungalow some
time on Sunday afternoon.
Topography of Eastern Shore.
To comprehend the moves of the puzzle
that IS occupying the authorities 1t is
necessary To say a few words about the
topography of this part Of the eastern
shore There are more miles OF water
than of land.
plan of Talbot county, showing the
creeks and rivers and bayous crookins
In every direction, resembles a railroad
map gone crazy. Water courses in and
out wherever one goes.
Towns and Villages that are pretty
much the same today as they were when
the war was roaring on the other side n.
the Chesapeake, dot narrow necks OF
iand. Some OF the sleepy old hamlets
are not two miles apart as the crow
must travel ten.
The Woodill tragedy writhed In and out
among the twisting waters. The curious
lay OF the country had much to do with
the delay in finding the girls body and
catching Eastman before lie shot. himself
Also. this is a section where people mind
their own business to an extraordipa nv
degree. Incidents that would have pro-
yoked widespread scandal in other parts
passed here with little comment
Two things We're made plain as soon as
the>authorities went to work on the muir
der. The people were too fond of Edith
Woodill TO gable matters that would
have stained the girls reputation They
were much impressed by Lame Bob
EaStman's open-handed friendliness that
the yhesitated to give information about
him.
IL was only after the most persisten,
efforts on the part of States Attorney
Turner that the Talbot county folk be-
gan to tell a little here. a little there
but enough to make a fairly clear story
with one exception, the part played by
that gay crowd who drank Lame Bob s.
champagne and caroused with women
There certainly have been few instances
when a single young woman who talked
about the natives, dressed above them
lived different life from the quiet plod-
ders OF the villages has occupied the i'm
agination of whole community as Edith
Thompson Woodill did.
She wore clothes that made the coun-
try girls stare and caused the old fell
lows who saw her flash by afternoons to