New Britain herald., 1922-06-16
DETAILS OF WARD
 MYSTERY NOW OUT
Wealthy Victim of Double Black
 mailing Scheme in Jail

White Plains. June l6 6-Walter s Ward IS today lodged Tn iail. indicted for the murder Of Clarence Peters last month .=
 The story behind the shooting Of Peters, the story Of hlaekmail which Ward and his counsel have tried so hard 10 eeal-though the telling of 1t might have saved him from indict- ment-is out IL IS the story which will have 10 be told in detail when Ward goes 10 trial. which he must do unless his attorneys succeed in hav- ing the indictment dismissed, This they will try to do today
 Ward-this will be the substance of the narrative leading up 10 the shooting of Clarence Peters was be- ing subjected to double hlackmail, known to the underworld as "the double racket" First, the gang Urunc money from him by leading him to lose at the raeetraek, and then threat ening 10 expose his losses.
 Threat 10 Kill His Family.
 Then when he baked and would go no further they threatened to expose
 
 ened to kill his family, consisting of a wife and two children They said also they knew something about his early married life and would reveal it. That brought more money. Finally they told him they had compromising facts relating to a relative. He didn't know whether these threats were based on facts, and he could not find out, but he took upon his already burdened shoulders the responsibility of protecting the relative. and gave up more money.
 Early in May, pleading that the New York police were after them and they.had to make their getaway they demanded s75,oo0 in a lump. He cabled his father, George s. Ward. who was in Europe. The father cabled back that he would not pay a cent if 1t was blackmail The blackmailers met Walter Ward by appointment in a road near Rye on the night of May IA. They gave him twenty-four ho--s in which to produce the s75,Oon As he started for his home in his car they fired two shots as a warning, and broke a window of his car.
 The next night was May Is. Ward could not raise the money, but went again to meet the blackmailers, as they demanded. The rest of the story as told yesterday merely amplifies the tale of the shooting of Clarence Pet CTS.
 Peters held a gun against Ward during the ride to kensico reservoir. -%N IA end of the reservoir, with Charley Ross and Jack. the blackmailers, in their red Stutz ahead of Ward and | Clarence Peters, Peters. a the point | of a revolver, ordered Ward to get | out u---s
 Ward apparently believed that they | were going to kill him then and there. He grabbed Peters wrist Peters fired and the shot went wild. Ward fired and killed Peters. Then Ward | crouching behind the red Stutz, poked | an arm out at the side and shot at Charley Ross, who was at the wheel of the stutz. Ross slumped down and his companion, Jack, bounding to the wheel, drove the car and wounded pal away. Ward feesl sure that he wounded Ross.
 In Clutch of Blackmailers.
 Tn short, the story of the Ward | blackmail and shooting, which is like ly to be told under oath at the trial, is a rounding out of the same story that the public already knows in out line. It is the story of a man in the clutch of tormentors from whom he could not extricate himself Legally if l cannot justify the killing of Peters, but it explains how Ward came to be with Peters and how the situation was brought about that compelled him to shoot in self-defense.