The New York herald., 1922-06-11
CUNN|NCHAMFEARlNG'
WARDBLACKMAILERS
FLEES when BALED
Sneaks to Back of Jail by
Ruse and Is Rushed Off
i'm Taxicab.
HAD MANY THREATS
Rogers and Jackson, Who
Eluded Sleuths, Said to
Be Within Call.
--
STILL SEEK ELDER WARD
Officers Subpoena Mother-in-
Law Of Slayer Of Peters to
Tell Of Card Party.
STILL SEEK ELDER WARD

James j. Cunningham. former race
track habitue. who nine days ago
talked himself into the Westchester
county iail in an effort to win $1,000
rewar. y I'D by "a newspaper for tie
true solution. ( the Ward-Peters mys
terry. was released in $4,000 bail yes
terday and vanished.
wait here minute while get my
Clothes" Cunningham said to his
counsel Maurice J. Mccarthy. and
Sheriff George Werner after the papers
had been signed and he was free.
They waited fifteen minutes. Then it
was learned that Cunningham had
walked out tr back door of the
sheriff's Office al Jumped into con-
venient taxicah.
In the automobile which took Cum
ningham from White Plains he was
Joined by a man of medium height, who
wore a gray suit and straw hat. They
drove to the Wykagil station Of the New
York, Westchester and Boston Railroad
end bought tickets to New York. Then.
finding that they had just missed q
train, they redeemed their tickets and
went to Tuckahoe by trolley. Cunning
ham was recognized in the Wykagil sta
ton by persons who had studied news
paper portraits. At Tuckahoe the pair
bought tickets for 125th street. New
I York, and boarded the 2:30 p. M. train.
south bound. The man with Cunning
ham was overheard saying that he had
jLst come from Montreal
81 v<,r IL Y<<xt
night that he knew exactly where Cum
bingham was and could lay finger on
him at any time. Cunningham's method
Of departure from the Sheriff's office
was, Mccarthy said, a prearranged ruse
designed to prevent his being followed.
The lawyer ade I'd that he and his client
would try to find the missing pair of
Ward witnesses--the Charley Rogers
and Bill Jackson of Cunningham's story
and the Charley Ross and Jack of WAL
ter S. Wards story-of the shooting of
Clarence Peters.
Hopes ror Two Confessions.
Charley and Bill are likely to head
straight for White Plains and tell every
thing II they are properly approached.
said Mccarthy and he suspects that Cum
ningham and himself are the ones to do
the approachin He said the missing
men would come to no harm II they
turned up, for the lawyer accepts Cum
ningham's assertion that Charley and
Bill were not matchmaking Walter Ward,
but were trying to thwart blackmailers
when Peters was killed.
In Cunningham's stories Charley
Rogers and Bill Jackson were his GRO
MES. 1t is believed that II they exist he
krows where they are hiding. and 1t
had been the intention of detectives to
follow Cunninghams movements when
he was released. His old haunts on
broadway will be watched. but 1t Is i'm
probable that no will be much in evil
dence for some time because his life has
been threatened by blackmailers whom
Cunningham implicated In his explana-
ton of the killing of Peters by Ward.
Sheriff Werner's deputies. Fred Miller
and Arthur j. Rykert, returned empty
handed from Syracuse last night. They
think that they missed Jack and Char
ley by only few hours, and that the
premature publication of the Syracuse
cew by the newspapers prevented them
from bagging their quarry.
general alarm for Jack and Charley
was sent out last night to the Black
Horse Troop of New York States north
nOrucT on TIC tlldHCe tndt the Two IniBS-
ing witnesses to Peters's death would
try to cross the line to Canada. The
State police. the local police and sher-
iffs OF the northern counties are watch
irg roads leading north.
The search is made easier by the fact
that both Ward and Cunningham agree
that one of the pair is wounded In the
arm Cunningham said Jackson had
q serious bullet wound and was weas
l1.n ~ f.xaf 4 -.
the shooting when Cunningham saw him
In a car near his home In The Bronx.
Wards version was that he had ex-
changed shots with the two men after
killing Peters and that he sthought he
hit one of them. whereupoh they drove
away In a big red Stutz touring car.
Men with bullet wounds In their arms
have been shadowed and one has been
arrested since the shooting but not one
Tailed with the descriptions given of
Jack and Charley.
While waiting for the Grand Jury 10
resume It's investigation OF the Ward
case next Tuesday the Sheriff was
busy yesterday rounding UP witnesses
who, IL is hoped, will throw some light
on the secret blackmalling plot that
Ward gave as his excuse for the shoot
Ing.
Wards Mother-in-Lsw summoned.
Mrs N. willard Curtis of 15i ArIing-
ton avenue. Brooklyn, mother OF the
defendants wife. Mrs. Beryl Curtis
Ward. was summoned to tell what, II
anything. she knows OF the Ward
household affairs before and since May
" the night OF the shooting. Mrs
curtis's home has not been occupied
since her return from Europe a few
weeks ago. and the neighbors don't
know where she is.
George w. sutton. one of Wards
Continued on Pare Eleven.
sSerc~r.rh.~. R.,oi,s..,... ...5 0Ssi.. Sisi.