The New York herald., 1922-05-26
District Attorneys Affi-
davit Doubts if Staying
Was Justified.
CORONER sKEPTICAL TOO
Habeas Corpus Proceedings
Will Be Entered To-day for
Prisoners Release.

Walter S. Ward, son Of the presi-
dent of the Ward Baking Company
who shot to death Clarence Peters.
former seaman of the United States
Navy, on the night of May Is, near
the Kensico Reservoir, was locked in
q cell of the Westchester county JAIL
at White Plains last night at 1O:45
o'clock He was arrested yesterday
afternoon by Sheriff George A. Wer-
ner, and from 6:05 o'clock to II had
been held in the Office of the Sheriff,
while his lawyers tried to find Su-
preme Court Justice who would grant
writ of habeas corpus. They failed
and Elwood M. Rabenold Of Wards
counsel telephoned to the Sheriff
that Ward would have to pass the
night in jail.
Ward had been at liberty under a
bond of $4,000 because of his in
oioICiCC tAdl uC lldu hlllCQ 4 CtCi .
In a pistol battle in self defense,
but the Westchester county authori-
ties, dissatisfied with Wards own &C.
count of the tragedy and cognizant
of several curious divergent facts,
decided it was their duty to lock him
up in denial of all security, and to
that end they went before Justice
Seeger at noon at the court house in
the county seat.
Weeks Gets order or Arrest.
District Attorney Frederick E.
Weeks, who is also Mayor of White
Plains, solicited the order from JUS
tice Seeger with an affidavit in which
the crime complained Of was
sketched broadly and which pointed
out that the District Attorney was
not convinced that Ward had killed
Peters justifiably. The affidavit set
before the Justice, furthermore, that
Ward apparently tried to take his
own life during the period in which
blackmail exactions and threats were
leveled at him, and it closed with the
plea that au order be forthcoming
Immediately for arrest and detention
without bail. Justice Seeger signed
the order at once.
The order of arrest recited that
Ward had been held under bond of
10000 by Coroner Fitzgerald since
last Monday. as the outcome Of the
Coroner's inquiry into the cause of TIE
death of Peters, but that 1t now ap-
neared the bail was insufficient The
Sheriff was instructed to find Ward
wherever he might be and take him
into custody. Tie hunt for Ward be-
gan little before and at sos o'clock
the Sheriff walked into the court
house at White Plains with his man
in tow.
Ward smiles Family.
Ward. wearing a long raincoat and
rather fiat straw hat, apparently
saw no reason to be talkative, but he
smiled a grim smile as the formalities
Of incarceration were gone through
with He is tall, rather slender. has
a pleasant expression on his smooth
shaven face and carries himself with
considerable dignity. He did not seem
TO be nervous in TIE least, though 1t
was obvious that he did not like being
held without BAIL
II will be recalled that Ward sur
rendered last Monday admitting at
once that he had caused Peters's death
and maintaining that 1t was the result
of demands for $4,000 In blackmail
that had been made on him by the
former seaman OF Haverhill, Mass,
and by two other men who were with
Peters when TIE shooting began by
the Kensico reservoir. One of these,
Ward said. was known as Charley
Ross" The other ne had no namo
for except Jack"
These persons. wEo rode to the
rendezvous with Ward in a red Stutz.
have completely erased themselves
Not a trace of them has been dis
coverable. No person has been found
who saw them going or coming, and
no record Las been obtained of the red
stutz's tail end arithmetic.
Shortly before Ward was arrested,
however, Sheriff Werner sent out to
the police departments of this region
descriptions of the two who are alleged
by Ward to have been accomplices Of
TIE late Peters in an effort to bleed
him Of large sums in cash. Ward