Norwich bulletin., 1922-06-06
cunningham Greets
 Ward With ''HeI|O!''
Ward Responds: ''What Do You Mean :? I Never Met You Before" i"

White Plains, N. Y, June 5.-Irand jury investigation having been pe st poned until tomorrow, interest in the Ward-Peters shooting mystery centers1 today on the unsuccessful efforts of James J. Cunningham, held in jail as q material witness, to obtain his liberty, and elimination by the Philadelphia po- lice of John Cienzo as a figure in the case
 Supreme Court Justice Seegar, before whom Cum. nsham was brought on q writ of habeas corpus, held that Coro- her Fitzgerald had no right ro detain Cunningham as material witness and ordered him released.
 Cunningham enjoyed two minutes liberty in court until District Attorney Weeks could get Justice Seeger to fix bail at $5,000 on an application filed by his office, instead of the coroner's. Bail was not produced, and Cunningham was led back to his cell, although his law yer, Maurice J. Mccarthy, indicated that he would have the money In the morning.
 T don't care whether I get out or not" was the cryptic remark Cunning ham made to Sheriff Werner. During the hearing, MT. Weeks. without ampli- cation, had stated that Cunningham was
 
 there
 Mccarthy told the court that his client was not involved in the blackmal plot described by Ward as the cause of his meeting with Peters on the night of May 15, whens according to his story he shot the ex-sailor in self-defense and batled with two of Peters confeder- ates.
 He said that Cunningham, who claims to be a race track detective, had been approached, however, by two meH named Jackson and Rogers, and asked Ito aid them in thwarting a blackmail plot and that he had agreed to do SO Mccarthy asserted that it was his clients business to thwart blackmail plots and that he recently had beer successful in cases involving $100,000 and $25o,0eA.
 The next Cunningham heard of ths matter, his lawyer said. was wher Rogers teiephoned him in the early morning hours of May Is, asking him tt aid in getting attention for Jackson wht he said, had been shot by Ward,
 He met Rogers and the wounded mar near his home, Mccarthy quoted Gun ingham as saying, but their machine drove off when he returned to the house to get an overcoat for the wounded man.
 He later saw Rogers in Stamford, bu vas informed Jackson was too badly injured to be about He has not seei Jackson since and does not know wher' he is. according to Mccarthy.
 In asking that Cunningham be held Il bail, Mir Weeks said:
 Tn the interest of justice. we mus have Cunningham here. It is essentia that his story go before the gram 1 jury" :. not be called tomorrow, but in a oa. or two. He expressed belief that h was honestly trying to help the authori ties.
 If that is so," said Mccarthy, "i l looks funny that man could come Tn to court and confess killing man ant be released on $1ooo0 bail, while her is my man, trying to help the authorl ties, yet he spends three days in Jal and you now ask $5,o00 bail" Well, the situation is somewhat dlf ferent now," replied MT. Weeks. l W-rd, who is out on $5o,o00 bail, pal a flying visit to the Westchester coan ty jail today to confront Cunningham Present at the meeting were Ward llawyers and Sheriff Werner. l According to the sheriff, Cunninghar greeted his visitor with these words: ::
 Hello, Ward, how are you?"
 Wards reply was:
 What do you mean? I never me you before."
 "oh, yes, you did' replied Cunning Imam, according to Werner. You pron ably do not know me with this nous tache"
 Another story that came before Dis trict Attorney Weeks today was told b Mrs. Helen Blanchard. New Tor cook, who assured newspapermen sh had seen Ward and Peters, whom sn knew. quarreling on a street in Ne' Rochelle a day or two before Peters wa shot, She also claimed that Peters wa working for Ward in 1918. MT. Week did not indicate how much importanc be attached to her story.