The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-06-29
NOOdiII Murder Mystery Is Far from Cleared Up By
 COrOnefs Inquest
FINAL THEORIES CENTER
 UPON EASTMAN AS SLAYER
coroners Jury Is Rather Mixed In Its Work and Verdict Is Not Deci- sive as to the Real Facts
 Tn the sdy.

St. Michaels, Md, June T.-with tho compromise verdict of the coroner's jury that Robert F. Eastman either killed or was accessory to the murder of Edith May Woodill." and the declaration of States Attorney Taylor that he was through with the case, the strange dual tragedy, which has fos early a week focused the eyes of the entire country upon this little out of the way hamlet of Maryland's famous eastern shore, be- came a closed incident today.
 Four of the 12 jurors who listened to the testimony at the re-opened inquest refused to sign the verdict. None of the four dissenting jurymen would say that any person other than Eastman was respon- sible for the girls death. They merely wished to protest they said, against the manner in which the inquiry was con duoted, declaring that much available evil dence was not adduced.
 The letter left by Eastman for his wife, in which he declared that Mrs. Woodlll had been killed by a woman in a jealous frenzy, was not read to the jury. The officials seemed to take 1t for granted that all of the evidence unearthed since the finding of the body was well known to the residents of the community, and that 1t was unnecessary that it should be again rehearsed. There was just d bit of petty politics mixed up in the verdict, too, for some of the members of the jury have been political enemies in Talbot county affars.
 Mrs. Eastman lsits Grave
 The jury sat for C ,.i.ne tooay in the lonely bungalow. within sight of East man unmarked grave only 50 feet away Mrs. Eastman had visited the place ear Her in the day and had stood, dry-eyed. for time beside the new made mound. Some one with lll-judged humor had planted tomato vine on the grave. Mrs. Eastman, thinking the vine native flower. asked what it was. No one had the temerity to tell her. She stood by the grave until at last convulsive shudder shook her shoulders. Then she was led away.
 Much of the testimony given before the jury was deeply interesting and made clear many points In the tragedy which heretofore have been matters of conjee- ture. The mysterious launch, which was reported as having been seen near the bungalow on the Sunday following the dis appearance of Mrs. Woodil did not ma terialize in the evidence adduced. Res idents of the neighborhood of the bunga- low were piled with questions as to the launch, but no one had seen 1t.
 No one was about the bungalow on the Sunday when Mrs. Wood1l was slain. There was absolutely no evidence that any other than Eastman could have been responsible for tn crime.
 The Final Theory.
 And the final theory of the authorities is this:
 That Eastman was in need of money; that h probably had been getting money from Mrs Woodill for some time; that he undoubtedly knew something of her past life, and that he had been black mailing her; that he attempted to con- tinue this practice and that the woman rebelled, intimating that she, too, had found out certain things about East man and that If driven to it would ex- pose him.
 Eastmans dread of serving a term in the penitentiary was well known. His wife has said that he told her he would rather commit suicide than be confined in prison The pawning of the jewelry the authorities set down to the desire of Eastman to get away. When cor nered the man decided that his race had been run and that he had better make end.
 As to when Mrs Woodi went to the bungalow there was no evidence.
 An interesting development of today was the finding of scraps of a torn let ter in the cracks of the bungalow floor. Little of sense could be made from the fragments but the writing was identified n evidently about the visit of some one to some place, to be ''chaperoned or not as she saw fit Whether or not the letter could have had any bearing upon the case there was no way of telling.
 Verdict of Jury.
 Sitting first in the bungalow the coro- ner's jury adjourned to Mcdaniel and then to St. Michaels, where the verdict was announced. It was to the effect that on Sunday, June 20, in his bungalow on Broad creek, Robert E. Eastman felon- iousy killed, or was accessory to the crime of murdering Edith May Thompson Woodill, wife of Gilbert Woodill of Los Angeles Cal"
 The four jurvmen who dissented were Alexander Radcliffe. the foreman, who is an undertal1er John Fl. Jones, Jr., an insura nee agent: George Carey, butcher. and Charles Hamilton, dry goods clerk. These men were deeply impressed when they first read Eastman's letter giving his story of the crime. and while they morally believed him alone guilty they desired that every other possible factor in the should be eliminated
 They complained that no testimony showing that Mrs. Woodil and Eastman met at Royal Oak station on Saturday and were last seen together in a motor boat was officially presented.
 Rival Undertakers.
 Coroner Sparks, who conducted the in-