The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-04-12
Bill Williams, Negro Postoffice
RObber, Companion.
THEIR SENTENCES THE SAME
Negro Got Few Dollars and
Stamps at EdgertOn.
Prisoners Awakened Early To-
day for Prison Trip.

Ward D. Speelman ate his first meal
| in the federal penitentiary at Leaven-
worth at noon today. With Bill Will
Jams, a negro postoffice robber as ms
| companion, Speelman started shortly
| after o'clock this morning for Leav-
| enworth to begin his five year prison
term for embezzlement. The two
prisoners were conveyed to the pcni-
! Tertiary by U. S. Need, a deputy mar
| shall.
1t was about 4:3O this morning when
a guard at the county Jail called Speel-
man. Evidently the bank teller's last
night in the county Jail had not been
quiet one. He answered the guard
| imme diately and in a few minutes said
he was ready to start. A few minutes
later big Bill Williams walked from
his cell in the Jail and Deputy Marshal
Need started with the two men to the
depot.
| Both Speelman and Williams will
serve five year prison terms Spell
man for the embeZzlement of $9,129
from the funds of the Merchants Ma
tiona1 bank, drew the same sentence
as Judge Pollock handed Williams for
a postoffice robbery at Edgerton. Will
cessful than those of Speelman. The
negro took but few dollars and a
scattered collection of postage stamps
i from the Edgerton office. Yet the fed
eral law was offended and the negro
must serve five years for his indiscre-
| ton.
Their Sentences Contrasted.
Contrasts of the sentences of the two
men were discussed today by visitors
| at the federal building. Almost in ad-
| joining cells, Williams and Speelman
| had been fellow prisoners for several
weeks. Ont of hungry eyes, Bill Will
| Jams saw a colored waiter from the
Elks club visit the county jail each day
with tray loads of steamfng eatableS.
/ Bill Williams had noted the hundreds
of visitors whom the bank clerk re-
ceived in the jail corridor. Neither
| had Bill Williams sharp ears failed to
hear the expressions of sympathy
which Speelman received even after
he had confessed his guilt.
And through all the long days pre-
ceding his trial. Bill Williams sat al
most alone in his cell. Occasionally he
mingled with other prisoners, the
! gamblers, crap shooters, Jointists and
such celebrities as real gun toters.
| But Bill Williams was not on Ward
| Speelman's visiting list. No one sent
Bill williams hot lunches, no tender
love messages ever entered his cell,
| there was no line of anxious friends
who peered through the iron grating
and wished Bill Williams a howery
path in prison life
Sentenced the Same Day.
Then came the day when the two
| men were sentenced. Bill Williams
heard the burning TRADE which Judge
! Pollock read to the hayward bank
| clerk. Perhaps it lesSened the rancor
! in the negro's heart. But Williams
never expressed his opinion. Then
Williams himself stood up to receive
| sentence. The court recalled that rob-
berry of postoffice is grave and
serious offense. There were no friends
in the court room to plead with the
! judge for mercy and Bill Williams
himself did not ask for it. No wife
with tear stained eyes had pleaded
| with Judge Pollock to let Bill Williams
down easy. If Bill Williams has
flock of innocent children the court
did not hear of them; and the loss OF
an affectionate father did not go into
the measure when the court weighed
out Justice for the man who took the
postage stamps. Bill Williams drew
| five years. He neither expressed sat-
isfaction nor disapproval.
| When time came to make the trip
| to I4eavenworth, friendless' Bill Will
liams and Ward Speelman, rode in the
same hack to the depot. They sat on
the same seat in the trip to Leaven-
worth. With records for good behavior
| being equal, the two men will leave the
nrisOn at the same time.