The Washington times., 1922-05-30
Did WARD
SHOOT FOE.
At DOOR Of
HIS HOME?
Case Grows More and More
Like Intricate Puzzle as
/ New Facts Are Found.
By MARGERY REX.

1t Is difficult to sustain q lie.
Although Walter S. Wards
story of how he killed Clar-
ence Peters has been &C
cepted as far as the deed is
concerned, his version of
the actual accomplishing ent
of the Staying has been dis
credited.
Could Ward have killed
Peters nearer to the pretty
Ward home in New Ro-
chelle, nearer than that spot
on a lonely road where
Ward says the quarrel and
death of the ex-sailor took
place?
Who Is Protected?
What person is being pro-
tected by Wards statement
that the shooting took place in
a certain way, when his explana-
tion of the circumstances is ap-
parently untrue?
Who benefits by the changing
of facts?
Did the blackmailer Peters, II
q we accept Wards definition of
the dead mans status, dare, with
the constantly increasing i'm
pudence of this gentry, to pre-
sent himself at Wards home?
If he did, was it to show Ward
to what length he would go in
his intention to tell something if
not lavishly paid for secrecy?
'soIAIss sAsN TuuoIGeuIsauI
Did He Tell Secret?
DID he. in fact, tell Mrs. Ward the
thing Ward dreaded to have known
and is that the reason why Ward
shot him-perhaps near the door of
tho wealthy mans home. from which
Peters was later carried to a remote
spot, there to be found?
II Peters did pay a visit to Wards
home as a final bit Of daring to show
Ward he meant business as far as
payment for secrecy was concerned.
this would be the unforgivable act,
for no matter what Wards life or
habits were. he would want to keep
his home intact, his wife and chill
dren safe.
Ward might have become ac-
suainted with Peters in various
ways. But Peters could scarcely
have been an invited guest in the
Ward home. Yet the knowledge with
which Ward says Peters frightened
him might have been 80 dangerous
that 1t gave the graceless ex-sailor
courage to present himself there,
forgetting that when all else seems
lost, that no matter what scrape
weak humans get into, one who is
not completely destroyed will pro-
tect defenseless persons from a
grudge and a danger in which they
have had no part.
To staVe off the menace Of Peters,
Ward might have shot him down at
his own door, then become panic
stricken and thrown the body into
his automobile. taking it to the lone
ly road far from his home.
1t Is quite conceivable that Peters
would essay entrance into the home
at Sutton Manor, for blackmailers,
once they see their victims fearful,
Get bolder and bOlder.
Glass Causes Questions.
Ward said the glass in his car
was shattered by the gunplay of
the struggle in which he claims to
have engaged on the road to White
Plains, but no bits of car window
were found on that thoroughfare.
But at the rear of Wards home
there were found pieces of glass
which experts declare are Of the
kind used for such purposes. Here
is the glass supposed to have been
broken at the time of shooting. but
not at the place where Ward says
the shooting took place.
The Ward mystery is like a pic
ture puzzle in which all the pieces
lay in a box waiting for skilled
end patient hand to put them to-
gether.
Peters was surely shot to death.
One bullet did the work. Another
was found near him. Ward says he
emptied n gun at him.
Assuming the body was trans
ferred from one place to another,
the whole occurrence may have been
brought about because the persecu-
ton which Ward says he suffered
may also have been transferred
from him to someone else for whom
he cared.
The best way In which Peters
could have destroyed Ward would
have been to tell his wife the
thing he claimed to know about her
husband and drive her to distrac-
ton by threatening to publish It
TO all their acquaintances.
But what was this thing, as dan
Rerous and as grave as felony Is,
or shall we conjecture that It was
some misdemeanor which might be
no less embarrassing II told TO
some particular person?
Has Ward ever committed an
act for which he could be Jailed,
and did the knowledge OF this
actually drive him to such ex-
tremes?
Peters type was the most dan.
gerous associate possible for the
con OF very wealthy man.
Peters had nothing to lose, except