The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-05-23
Father of Walter Ward Would
Not Give Him Money.
So He Decided to Kill Men Who
Had Threatened Before.
BLACKMaI. LETTER is READ
He Shot One Man Who Tried to
ExtOrt Money, He States.
Broadway and All White Way
Was Searched Thru Night.

White Plains. N. Y. May 2s.-The
Staying of Clarence Peters. ex-marine.
last Tuesday by Walter S. Ward, son
of George S. Ward, millionaire head
Of the Ward Baking company, fol-
lowed the elder Wards refusal to give
his son $4,000 to pay his alleged
blackmailers. it was learned today.
Not a Cent" He Says.
Young Ward had sent a radio mes
sage to his father. who was returning
home from Europe on the Majestic,
explaining his predicament and asking
for funds to meet the bIackmailers-
latest demands. said an official work
ing on the case.
When he received by radio the curt
response. Not a cent for bIackmail," :"
two companions and tell them he was
thru" this official said.
He Is Police Commissioner.
The young scion of the House of
Ward-police commissioner of New
Rochelle, vice president of his faith
er's baking company and father of two
children-already had paid his black
mailers sums aggregating $50, 0,000s ac-
cording to Sheriff Werner
1t was to the sheriff that Ward sur
rendered yesterday and confessed to
the Staying, which he said he did in
at him on a lonely road near Kensico
reservoir.
All information as to the nature of
the stranglehold the blackmailers had
upon Ward was withheld by officials
handling the case.
Search for Men.
Search for two men known only as
Ross and Jack" declared by Ward
to have been present when he shot
and killed Peters OF. Haverhill, Mass.
near here the night of May Is was
continued by Westchester county
officials oday.
Ward, after confessing he had
killed a member of a gang that had
bIackmailed him for $40, 900 and then
attempted to get $500 more, went
to New York last night in company
with officers and conducted search
of resorts where he declared the men
wanted might be found.
Ward Is at Liberty.
1t was an unsuccessful quest. Ward,
who is the son of the president of the
Ward Baking company, is at liberty
under a bail bond of $4,000.
He was accompanied to New York
by Sheriff George Werner and four
deputies. who were Joined by two New
York city detectives. Using a list
made up by Ward the party went into
cabarets. restaurants and cafes in the
white light district and scrutinized
every man present
When the search along Broadway,
and its side streets failed, Ward, with
Sheriff Werner and the others, spent
several hours on the lower east side
but no men fitting the descriptions of
the two sought could be found.
Why Was He BlackmaiIed?
The basis for the bIackmail plot
remains unrevealed as the lawyers
representing Ward decline to show any
oF nf letters given them nv
Ward which --e received in the six
weeks he was being threatened.
The telephone call which resulted
in the meeting by Ward of thu men on
the day of the killing was said to
have been the threat by Peters we
want $4,000 or your life will pay"
This is the threat in the only letter
disclosed. Sheriff Werner said that
he had read a threatening letter with
demand for that sum-
When Elwood NJ. Robenold, coun-
sci for Ward, was asked if there was
woman in the case he answered:
The threats were aimed at his fam
ily.''
Allen r. Campbell. another of the
lawyers. was asked if the blackmail
plot involved a woman and answered:
Il don't think 1 should answer that
question"
did 1t start, as reported, at a race
7 think it did,
did it involve Wards war record %
Il can assure you that it did not"
answered Mr.. Campbell
Mrs. Ward said that she had not
known of the plot for very long and
added: I'm with my husband and
want TO do everything 1 can for
him. I have the utmost confidence
in him"
Much surprise is displayed in New
Rochelle that Ward waited for almost
a week before surrendering himself
especially as he was known as strict
disciplinarian in his position as chair
man of the police commission.
He was appointed head of the police
commission in 1919 and only two
weeks ago was reelected at the re-
rganization OF the board.
District Attorney Weeks said that
the case would be submitted to the
grand jury the latter part of next
week