Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-05-24
State DiscIoses That Woman
Sent TX. Adams" Telegram
Figuring in Waite Case,
WIFE OF THE DEFENDANT
IS WITNESS AGAINST HIM
Prosecution Seeks Motives for Al
legged Murder of John E. Peck,
Michigan Millionaire.

NEW YORK, May 24.-The
sender of the mysterious "K.
Adams telegram. which has hg-
ured in the case of DR.. Arthur
Warren Waite, accused of the
murder of his father-in-law, John
E. Peck, millionaire Grand Rapids
drug manufacturer, was identified
as Elizabeth B. Hardwick of
Somerville, n. J., at Waite's
trial today. This was the tele-
gram sent from New York TO
Grand Rapids. urging Percy Peck
to have an autopsy performed on
his fathers body.
Mrs. Clara Louise Peck Waite
faced her husband. DR.. Arthur
Warren Waite, in the court for
the first time today, when she
took the stand as witness
against him.
Quietly Enters Court.
Mrs Waite. dressed in mourning,
came into the courtroom so quietly that
few observed her as she took seat
behind the jury box as her brother,
Percy Peck was teStifying
Dr. Waite, who had been sitting with
bowed head all the forenoon, looked at
his wife. but she appeared not to see
him.
Mrs. Waite testified concerning her
fathers visit from Grand Rapids to
New York. and said that Waite sug-
gested that DR.. Albertus A. Moore be
called to see her father.
"We-that is. father, DR.. Waite and
myself j had planned to go to Hot
Springs on a visit. Father appeared to
be in very good health" she said.
Probing for Motives.
The trial of DR.. Waite advanced to-
day to an exposition of motives sup
Technical evidence to prove that the
young dentist killed Mr.. Peck by
dosing him with arsenic was virtually
finished when court convened this
morning.
To support the contention that Dr.
Waite committed murder in the hope
of gaining possession of the Peck for
tune, and that his character and career
were such as to lend color to this
hypothesis. the district attorney called
to the stand the defendants wife and
her brother. Percy Peck. of Grand
Rapids.
Dr. Waite not only made a study of
u he
has confessed he killed Mrs. John E.
Peck. but appears to have been
student of medical books on the uses
of poisonous drugs. according to testi-
mony introduced today.
John Cunniff, d special officer at
tached to the district attorneys office,
recalled to the stand. told of having
received from Eugene o. Kane. who en-
balmed Peck's body, bottle contain
ing a sample of the fluid used Cunniff
also identified several medical books
found in Waite's apartment. One of
them, he said, had been marked at
passage dealing with arsenic poisoning.
Death Caused by Arsenic.
DIR. Perry Schurtz of Grand Rapids,
Mich. who said he made the autopsy on
Peck's body the day it arrived in Grand
Rapids. following the receipt of the
*. Adams" telegram, corroborated the
testimony of other physicians as to the
presence of arsenic in the body and de-
clared 1t undoubtedly caused death.
Percy Peck of Grand Rapids, son of
John E. Peck. testified that February 10
last DR.. Waite told him that his father
was getting along in years and that
Waite would not be surprised if he
lived only a short time. Peck died
March IL. The witness said that imme-
diately after Mr.. Pecks funeral DR..
Waite asked If his wife, Clara Peck
Waite, could obtain the use of her
share Of the Peck estate before a will
was probated.
Defense Plans Not Disclosed.
Plans for the defense have not been
disclosed, but those who attended the
trial yesterday believed they gained an
inkling from the persistence with which
Waite's attorneys developed every bit of
evidence showing that the defendant
always had conducted himself as a per-
son of refinement and breeding. An in
ference gained from the cross-exami-
nation was that one of the forces to
support a plea OF insanity would be
that a man such as Waite was de-
scribed could not commit the crime al
legged except under the impulse of
diseased mind.
It is believed that the defendants
counsel will put him on the stand as
one of the most important witnesses in
support of such contention.