San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1923-09-13
BY ROBERT T. SMALL.

Copyright by the San Antonio Light.
White Plains, n. L., Sept. H.
Hundreds of disappointed persons
gathered around the court house here
today, unable to indulge their desire
to see a millionaire Oh trial for his
life. The scenes within the court
room are reminiscent of the days when
Harry kendall Thaws was called to
the bar of justice for the Staying of
Stanford White. Another young
scion of a wealthy family. dazzled b.
the white lights of Broaway, has at
last been hailed into court after one
of the bitterest ond most expensive
legal fights on record.
Walter S. Ward, hei' to the millions
made by his family in the Ward Bak-
ing Company, charged with the STAY
ing sixteen months ago of Clarence
Peter an ex-marine, is taking the
same dominating part in his defense
that Harry X. Thaw attempted from
time to time to assume over his dis
tipguished array of lawyers.
Blu whereas The state left the
prosecution of Thaw in the master
hands o. William Traver> Jerome, the
district attorney. it has placed e
prosecution of Ward in 'he trust of
the attorney genv:al of the state and
two of his ablest assistants, for the
Ward case rapidly was approaching
an open scandal.
Was About to Escape Trial.
Until Governor Smith ordered the
attorney general to take charge of
the cas- :. it seemed that Ward. through
the influence of his uniimi ed defense
funds and the. technical moves Of his
multiple counsel, would escape trial
despite the fact that he -Iad killed
man without an eyewitness TO ine
crime. ~ 3s
The setting of the trial is in this
quiet Westchester county townseat be-
cause the killing was done on eoun-
try-road near here. But the story
back of the crime leads straight back
into the night life of New York. II
il far more sordid stor7 than even.
that of the Thaw case. There are no
velvet swings. no mirrored panels, no
forest rooms with imitation trees and
beds Of fallen leaves, no outraged girl
hood, no taking up of lance by
Sir Galahad, no "dcmentia Ameri-
cana"
The Ward crime had no roof gar
den as a spectacular background; the
victim was not pillar of society or
of the arts, as was Stanford White:
nor has the Ward family the position
that was the Thaws of Pittsburg.
The Story hack of tho Wnrd coso
is one of evil associates in the worst
of the night places in New York, the
cheaper cabarets, the rat holes where
men and women of the underworld
meet in the shadows, because they
dare hot venture forth in the light Of
;he day. The Ward crime was night
crime to the very end. Young Peters.
the ex-marine, scarcely the expected
companion of man of Walter Wards
wealth and upbringing, was stain un-
der the cloak of night along lonely
stretch of road.
SeIf-Defense Claimed.
Ward says Peters was attempting to
blackmail him and that he shot him
in self-defense. The state contends
that young Ward. in biz; turn, was at
tempting to levy blackmail on his
father and that Peters. who had been
helping him in this nefar;ous business,
had threatened TO peach" and that
Ward killed. him.
The elder Ward was in Europe at
the time. When apprised by cable of
his sons predicament. b. wired back
that he would turkish all necessary