PETERS AND WARD

CLARENCE MELVIN PETERS was born March 24, 1903, in Haverhill, Massachusetts, the eldest son of
Elbridge Oliver Peters and Inez Capitola Hardy. Between 1918 and 1921, Peters was arrested on
multiple occasions for stealing automobiles, bicycles, money, and other valuable items. Because of
this, he was in and out of reformatories throughout his teenage years.

He joined the Navy after World War I and served as an Apprentice Seaman for three months. He had
received a bad conduct discharge (theft) from the Navy on November 17, 1919.

He enlisted in Company K, 181st (or 101st) Regiment of the National Guard in September 1921. His
uncle, Earl Hardy, was also a member of this unit and the armorer at the State Armory on Kenoza Ave.
in Haverhill.

​According to his father, Clarence left home in search of a job on April 25, 1922. Clarence was arrested
that evening in Milford, NH, as the police mistook him for someone who had been involved with a
robbery there. Upon his release, he traveled to the Marine Corps training quarters in Parris Island,
South Carolina.

He sent home two letters in early May stating that he was doing well, enlisted in the Marines, and was
in a training camp at Parris Island. However, he was unsure if he would pass his physical examination.
On May 12, Clarence’s enlistment application was rejected upon learning of his dishonorable
discharge from the Navy. Two days later, the recruitment center provided transportation of the
rejected applicants to Philadelphia. Clarence traveled from Philadelphia to Pennsylvania Station in
New York, arriving at 4:20 PM on May 15.

Clarence’s body was found at 7:40 AM on May 16 by a team of telephone lineman in North Castle, New
York, along the Kensico Reservoir near King Street and Whippoorwill Road. He was identified three
days later by his uncle Earl Hardy, who identified him by photograph, and also by fingerprints that
were on file at the Naval Intelligence Department in Washington. He had been shot through the heart.
The only items in his pockets when he was found were $1.32, two dice, a deck of playing cards with a
flush of diamonds missing, a pack of Chesterfield cigarettes and two handkerchiefs (one being
embroidered with pansies). At the scene, there was no sign of a struggle, no revolver, and no trace of
blood. There were, however, tracks of an automobile, and an empty .38 Savage Automatic shell found
sixteen feet away from the body. His vest and coat were buttoned up, and his cap was pulled over his
eyes. He was nineteen years old.

Clarence received a military funeral on May 24, 1922. He was buried in Riverview Cemetery in
Groveland, Massachusetts. His grave is unmarked.

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WALTER STEVENSON WARD was born September 28, 1891, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the eldest
son of George Summerville Ward and Jessie Robertson More, and the stepson of Donna Leslie.

Ward became the Vice President of the Ward Baking Company, which was established in 1849 by his
grandfather Hugh Ward. The company was co-owned by his father and his brother, Ralph Detmar
Ward, assisted him in his work. Ward also served as chief purchasing agent of the company, was in
charge of the company’s New Rochelle, New York office, and was in charge of the Bronx Equipment
Company, which handled the Ward Baking Company vehicles.

In 1915, Ward married Beryl Curtis, the daughter of a rich lumber merchant. Together, they had two
children: Betty Ward, born 1918, and Willard Curtis Ward, born 1920.

In the summer of 1921, Beryl and their children took a trip to Canada. Ward decided not to travel with
them, claiming he had business matters to take care of. Instead of this, he rented an apartment at the
Poinciana Apartments in New York City. This was the site of heavy drinking, horse betting and
gambling, and romantic affairs. He had many women callers.

Ward was appointed chairman of the Board of Police Commissioners of New Rochelle. He worked
with a Ward Baking Company employee named Palmer F. Tubbs. Police Chief Frank Cody had gifted
Ward with a .38 caliber automatic pistol. Cody eventually gave him a small, blue-barreled .32 of
prewar make, which was seized from a prisoner.

On April 22, 1922, Commissioner Tubbs requested that Police Lieutenant John McGowan search for
Ward. He had left home a couple of weeks beforehand, and this concerned his wife, Beryl, despite the
fact Ward had disappeared many times before. Ward was found at the Bowie racetrack near
Baltimore, Maryland. McGowan urged him to go home, but Ward disagreed. He disappeared again the
next day, but his brother Ralph found him in Washington, District of Columbia and brought him home
to New York.

Over the next few weeks, Ward borrowed $30,000 from the Ward Baking Company stocks. Shortly
after, he approached his brother and stated that he may need up to $100,000 more, but he did not
explain why. The two of them ask their father George about borrowing, who requested that they wait
until George returned to New York on May 16.

On May 15, Ward called his wife and told her that he would not be home for dinner, as he had a
business engagement. That night, a card party was hosted at his house, and he was expected to attend
but he never showed. He arrived home at 5 AM.

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On May 19, Ward’s attorney, Allan R. Campbell, went to White Plains, New York, to speak with Sheriff
George J. Werner and District Attorney Frederick E. Weeks. He revealed that he had a client who
killed a man in self-defense and that he would be surrendered the following Monday.

On May 22, Ward turned himself in for the murder of Clarence Peters. Ward claimed that Clarence
had been a part of a blackmailing gang, along with a Charlie Ross and "Jack", and had been
blackmailing him for the past six weeks, and that he had known Clarence for years. The blackmailers
allegedly had been sending Ward letters and telephone messages demanding large sums of money,
some letters of which were shown to Ward's district attorney. Ward admitted to paying the
blackmailers $30,000. They again threatened the lives of him and his family and demanded $75,000
more. When Ward refused to pay, apparently Clarence had held Ward at gunpoint in Rye at 4 AM on
May 16 and forced him to drive him to the spot where his body was found. When Peters had left the
car, Ward had shot him through the heart. The other blackmailers, who were in a car following them,
also began to shoot, leaving bullet holes in Ward's car, also breaking his windshield. Ward narrowly
escaped when Ross and Jack fled from the scene. Ward did not reveal the reason for him being
blackmailed.

CASE TIMELINE

May 22, 1922: Walter Ward is arrested and held at the White Plains Courthouse, but posts his $10,000
bail and is released. Elbridge Peters immediately comes forward denying the blackmail story,
explaining that Clarence was not known to carry firearms or knives.
​
May 23: Ward and Sheriff Werner of Westchester County spend all night searching cafes, cabarets,
and saloons, looking for “Charlie Ross” and “Jack”.

May 24: The police learn that, five weeks before the murder, Ward had tried to poison himself. At first
it was assumed to be an accident in an attempt to cure a headache, but now believe it could have been
related to his being blackmailed. Ward’s counsel also produces the two guns allegedly used by Peters
and Ward (in a new claim that Ward had returned to the scene to retrieve Peters' gun).

May 25: Reports of a woman (referred to as “Snap”) who frequented Ward's home prior to the murder
are made, and she is being searched for (the police believed this was Ward’s sister, Garnett Virginia
Wood). The pistol that Ward claims Peters used is not found at the scene. In fact, Ward claimed there
were nine shots fired at the scene, but only one shell is found at the scene. There was only one set of
tire tracks at the scene, and no sign of a fight. Ward resigns as New Rochelle Police Commissioner

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and is rearrested without bail, an order by Supreme Court Justice Seeger at the request of Weeks, after
discrepancies in Ward's story were discovered.

May 26: Ward loses his legal battle to be released on a writ of habeas corpus, and refuses to disclose
his reason for being blackmailed. He reportedly entered the courtroom smiling, wore no handcuffs,
appeared unconcerned, and even laughed as he talked with his lawyers. The hearing was headed by
Frank L. Young of the White Plains Supreme Court.

May 27: Ward is admitted to $50,000 bail and released again.

May 28: It is developed that a stylish and mysterious young woman tried to hire a waiter named
Christopher Ryan in New York to shoot and kill Walter Ward for $500 on May 27. The waiter told the
authorities that the assassination was supposed to have taken place hours after his release from jail.
He reported it to the authorities and arranged a meeting with her to try and identify her, but she did
not appear.

May 30: Martha (Kendall) Mellen, the owner of a women’s clothing store in Hollywood, reveals that
Ward had actually tried to kidnap her with the aid of his chauffeur and another man in 1915. In the
summer of 1915, they had started an affair, which caused him to lose his secretary position at the
Brooklyn Club of Federal Baseball Leagues. She attempted to sue him for $10,000, but was paid off by
George Ward. She then said her story was supported by someone who was present during the
attempted kidnapping, who then contacted her and told her that she knew that the reason for the
blackmail was because of a woman. She says “He always cried ‘blackmail’ when he was in trouble.
Find the woman--that’s my tip to the White Plains authorities.” This claim was denied by a mutual
friend of the Ward family and Martha Kendall. Some reports claimed that a blackmail ring in
Pittsburgh approached her and roped her into a scheme against Ward. She apparently asked for
$10,000 from Ward for hush money on their affair. When the money was denied, she threatened to
sue him. The hush money was eventually granted to her. The records of Ward’s court proceedings,
however, disappeared, and the lawyer who handled their case, R.H. Jackson was disbarred some time
after the case.

​May 31: Ward’s home is searched for evidence after a tip that Peters was killed in Ward’s home, rather
than the Kensico Valley, but nothing significant is found to implicate Peters was killed in Ward’s
home. Marine Corps officials state that it is impossible for Peters to have been in New York until 12
hours before his death.

June 2: Investigators from White Plains travel to Stamford, CT, to search for a “Joe Jackson”, which
witness James J. Cunningham, who had a different version of the story of the shooting, claims is the
man who had been wounded by Ward doing the shootout. He claims that Jackson told him of the

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blackmail plot days before the shooting. Cunningham also suggests that Ward may not have been the
killer at all, and that he may be covering for the true killer.

June 3: Beryl Ward, her servants, and many other witnesses are summoned to appear before the
Westchester Grand Jury on June 6. Other witnesses include Ward’s brother Ralph Detmar Ward and
father George, neighbors Mrs. Waldo Schuman and Mrs. Alfred Hook, and State Police and residents
of the Kensico Reservoir who saw the body.

June 5: Cunningham’s story is revealed by his lawyer, Maurice J. McCarthy. He claims to be a race
track detective who was approached by men named Jackson and Rogers asking him to aid in
thwarting a blackmail plot. Cunningham evidently agreed. He had not heard from the two of them
until the early morning on May 16, when he was asked to help get medical attention for Jackson, who
had evidently been shot by Ward. He met Rogers and Jackson near his home briefly but they sped
away. He claims to have seen Rogers in Stamford.

June 6: The case is presented to the grand jury before Justice Morschauser, with Ward’s wife
testifying. Beryl Ward said her husband came home at 4:30 in the morning on May 16. Her testimony
evidently seemed pleasing for District Attorney Weeks. Lulu Barrows, nurse, and Amy Mild, a cook,
both working in the Ward home, could not provide any information other than confirm the arrival
time of Walter Ward that morning. George Scherderman and George Lohr, the linemen who
discovered Peters’ body, were also questioned. Those who conducted the autopsy, Coroner Edward F.
Fitzgerald, Sheriff George J. Werner, and Dr. John Fielding Black, were questioned. The hearings of
George and Ralph Ward are postponed until June 9.

June 8: Starr S. Ferry, ticket agent at the Gedney Way station of the New York, Westchester, and
Boston Railway, said a young man had visited him at the station frequently to talk at night. That man
told Ferry that at 1 AM on May 16, a car with two men inside drove by him on the road. One of the men
asked which was the way to Kensico. The young man pointed them through White Plains.

June 9: John Rocheford, a Haverhill shoe-worker, claims he saw Peters with “two dark-complexioned,
well-dressed men near the Boston and Maine station” four days before Peters left Haverhill. George
Ward is sought by the grand jury to testify but he cannot be found.

June 13: Two men who knew Ward, Alfred E. Blute, race track follower, and Elwood Heffner, who
received a letter written by Ward the day of Peters’ death, shared their stories before the Grand Jury.
George W. Sutton, a neighbor of Ward, reveals he was at the card party in Ward’s home on the night
of Peters’ death, and claimed there was no disturbance at the home. Ward’s younger brother, Ralph
Ward, refuses to testify. He is threatened with contempt charges and jail but ultimately the court rules

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in his favor. George Ward also has not gone before the grand jury yet, and refuses to make any
comments.

June 15: Ward is indicted for first degree murder and is jailed once more.

June 16: Ward pleads not guilty.

​June 17: George Ward is accused of conspiring with his son to thwart justice by staying out of the state
so he cannot be subpoenaed as a witness.

June 20: Both George S. Ward and Laura Addron (Scofield) Curtis (mother-in-law of Walter Ward)
still cannot be subpoenaed because they cannot be found. Ralph Ward denies that his father’s
“business trip” was an attempt to evade the legal system.

​June 22: Ward’s defense claimed that the foreman of the Grand Jury, Auckland B. Cordner, was
prejudiced towards Ward because Ward had beaten Cordner out for the chairman position at the
Board of Police Commissioner. Because of this, Ward’s defense claims he was indicted unfairly.

June 24: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle suggests that a medium could solve the murder. He suggests that if
an article of clothing in which Peters was wearing when he died were put in the hands of the medium
during a trance, alongside someone who directly sympathized with Peters, they could learn the truth
of Ward’s motives and solve the mystery.

June 28: An anonymous letter sent to District Attorney Weeks tells a woman’s story of the murder. She
claims she was sitting in a car with a man other than her husband (hence the anonymous letter, and
why the lights of the car were not on) on a road off of King Street, where she saw a vehicle approach.
The man inside then threw the body of another man onto the side of the road, turned the car around,
and then went back the way he came. Her letter is among several hundred anonymous letters that
have been submitted, the majority of which contained details that could not be verified. Detectives
start to search for the woman who wrote this letter.

July 5: Ralph Ward’s testimony before the grand jury reveals that Walter did not reveal the blackmail
plot led to Peters’ death until after he was killed. He said his brother never told him about any
blackmail plot, and did not hear about it until his father told him the story after the shooting. He did
reveal that Walter was acting strange before the killing, but he had never heard the names of the
blackmailers.

July 7: It is revealed that, two days before Ward surrendered to the police, Ward called his
mother-in-law, Laura Curtis, and warned her that she might be in danger.

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July 11: Ward is again released on bail, but his indictment is not dismissed.

July 26: Detectives reveal they contacted Mrs. Goldie Jones of Haverhill. Apparently, Peters had
become acquainted with the Jones family in April. He promised to send $200, which he would acquire
from a wealthy friend in New Rochelle, in order to assist the Jones family’s move to England. He also
promised their daughter, Queenie, a diamond ring.

October 13: A trial date is set for November 13.

October 25: John E. Mack, special prosecutor for Ward, discusses with Frederick Weeks and Sheriff
Werner about the possibility of Ward’s trial being postponed to December or January. Ex-Supreme
Court Justice Isaac Mills announces that he will push for the dismissal of Ward’s indictment in early
November unless Weeks solidifies a date for Ward’s trial, also comparing the Ward mystery to that of
the death of Joseph Browne Elwell two years prior. Mr. Mack insists a trial will happen.

November 13: Ward’s trial is postponed.

January 2, 1923: Ward’s indictment is dismissed by Justice Joseph Morschauser on grounds of failing
to bring him to trial. The former prosecutor, Weeks, found there was not sufficient evidence to hold
Ward for a first-degree murder indictment.

January 6: Inez Peters appeals to Governor Alfred Emanuel Smith for twenty minutes. Her appeal
causes Gov. Smith to order a state inquiry into the Ward case.

January 8: Governor Smith assigns his legal advisor, James Parsons, and pardon clerk, Owen L. Potter,
to further investigate the Ward case.

January 9: District Attorney Rowland submits the evidence from the grand jury to the governor.

January 11: It is revealed that Inez Peters would go to Albany, NY on January 15 to aid the legislative
probe of her son’s murder.

January 22: Inez Peters’ attorney Frederick H. Magison demands an investigation of the Westchester
county authorities in the Ward case. The complaint says “In the first place it should be noticed that
Ward failed in everything that a real man should have done. If his story is true in any particular, it was
his duty to immediately notify the authorities and tell them the story. If he was innocent, he has
nothing to fear. He should have insisted upon an immediate investigation. Instead of doing this, he
went to his lawyers, caused the spurious statement to be prepared, and he and they withheld it until
the newspapers took up the story and they thought it best to make the explanation they did.” She

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declared her son had never been involved in a scheme and asked the Westchester authorities “Is there
no justice for the poor in New York?”

March 24: Governor Smith orders Attorney General Carl Sherman to investigate the Ward case under
the wartime peace and safety act.

March 27: Hearings begin at Albany, NY.

April 2: It is proven by Allan Campbell that Sheriff George Werner purposefully withheld information
that would have been proven vital to the investigation.

April 3: Ward’s counsel, Senator Ellwood M. Rabenold, refuses to cooperate with the state officials
investigating the case and won’t disclose information he deemed confidential. He claims the time to
help the authorities to the fullest extent had passed.

April 4: On the witness stand, Coroner Edward Fitzgerald reveals that Ward had admitted to him that
he shot Peters. He said that Ward was pretty lucky, to which Ward replied that he might not be so
lucky next time. Ralph Ward refuses to testify regarding the story he was told by his father, but is firm
in his statement that Walter Ward never told him of the shooting.

April 12: Ward’s counsel begins action against the Western Union and the Postal Telegraph
Companies to test the validity of the peace and safety act. This came about when Supreme Court
Justice Staley ordered the companies to show cause as to why they could not produce the cable
messages and telegrams sought by the Attorney General.

April 26: Queenie Jones Elliott, her mother Jessie Jones, and her stepfather Joseph J. Jones reveal that
Ward’s attorneys paid for them to move to New York from Haverhill, which they did on July 31, 1922.
Ward’s attorneys met with them for six months and recorded misleading information from their
personal testimonies in order to go against Peters’ character. The firm then paid for the Jones family
passage to England after they were no longer needed on January 13, 1923. They claimed to be some of
the last people to see Peters in Haverhill before he went to enlist in the Marines. Queenie mentioned
that Clarence also wanted to marry her, despite the fact that she was married at the time and had a
son, Roland, who has been passing off as Queenie’s brother.

April 28: A new witness, Francis H. D. Irvine, testifies that his motor truck was stalled all night within
half-a-mile of the spot where Peters was found. He claims he had not heard any revolver shots.

May 18: John F. W. Ollson, superintendent of an apartment where Ward lived for a few months in
1921, reveals that Ward held parties where he entertained blonde and brunette women until he was

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evicted because of two women’s disorderly conduct. He apparently also had two men visitors, one of
which was a young man with a key to his apartment.

May 21: Edgar Huggins, Daniel Washington and Charles Besson testify that Ward lived at the
Poinciana Apartments in New York City without his family during the summer of 1921. They claim
Ward had several women callers.

May 24: The investigation fails through court’s action in sustaining contention of Ward lawyers, who
kept the cablegrams exchanged between Walter, Ralph, and George Ward confidential.

June 19: The investigation of Peters’ death receives a new setback when a Supreme Court order to
produce the Ward family telegrams and cablegrams is reversed.

June 26: The use of the cablegrams sent by the Ward family is granted to the Grand Jury, despite the
efforts of Ward’s counsel.

July 26: Ward is re-indicted for first degree murder, is imprisoned in Westchester jail at White Plains,
and a trial date is set for September 4. He pleads not guilty with a confident smile.

August 23: An ex-employee of Ward, Palmer Tubbs, tells the grand jury that he is “a cold-blooded and
close-mouthed man with a wonderfully alert mind and an expert pistol shot.” He claims a two men,
one by the name of “Ross” who was friendly with Ward, frequently visited his office. Earl Hardy, uncle
of the victim, testifies that Peters never had much money, even after the alleged blackmail, and that he
had no mind capable of doing such a thing.

September 10: Clarence’s parents are called to be in White Plains to testify against Ward on
September 18.

​September 12: The trial begins at 10 AM with an incomplete jury. Ward maintains his confident smile.
The trial is observed by the Honorable Robert Ferdinand Wagner I. Attorney General Carl Sherman,
Deputy Attorney General Wilbur Chambers, and Thomas J. O’Neill of the Westchester Bar appear for
the people. Senator Elwood M. Rabenold, Allan R. Campbell, Samuel Miller, and former judge Isaac
Newton Mills, as counsel, appear for the defense.

September 13: Beryl Ward arrives, sitting at her husband’s side. Her arrival comes as a surprise to the
jury, which is still incomplete. It is reported that Ward casually played cards with his jailer.

September 14: The jury is still incomplete, with ten possible jurors. Allan Campbell produces 137 issues
of the New York Daily News including articles, editorials, and cartoons, admitting them as exhibits.

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September 16: The public is confused as to how the “penniless Peters family” is paying for their
lawyers. According to Peters’ attorney, Michael L. Sullivan, he was a close personal friend of Elbridge
Peters’ half-brother, Honorable Winfield Scott Peters. But the public still wonders why they did not
turn to the late Scott’s partner, Frederick H. Magison. New York Investigators claim the following in a
report: “Clarence Peters, not of average intelligence, could scarcely be an active party in a complex
plot; he had no friends and was not inclined to work; his family was desperately poor, living in the
basement of a three-story house in an unfashionable section of Haverhill, and they could by no means
afford the expensive lawyers’ fees which seemingly must have resulted from the retention of eminent
counsel.”

September 17: The state would try to prove that Peters was not killed where the body was found, and
that he was carried there by someone who tried to conceal what happened, based on the body’s
careful arrangement and the fact that the bullet that killed Peters was not found. Meanwhile, the jury
is completed. Sherman asks for a death penalty for Ward if found guilty.

September 20: The ownership of the guns produced as evidence cannot be proven. The Chief of Police
said that he gave Ward two pistols upon becoming Police Commissioner. Earl Hardy testifies. He
knew nothing of the fights Peters had gotten into in Haverhill, but he knew of the bicycle Peters stole
in 1918. He denies the story about the Red Cross collection box, and one about Peters stealing a $25
watch. Corporal Winfield S. Buzard of the Marine Corps also testifies what effects Peters had with him
when he left Parris Island. Some of the items he listed were on Peters’ person and some were not.
Additional items that Buzard had not listed were also found on Peters’ body. He also testified that
Peters mentioned being a dance instructor and having a wife and child.

September 21: The idea that Ward was the mastermind behind a blackmail plot against his father is
introduced by James Cunningham through an affidavit.

September 24: Inez Peters and Beryl Ward testify. While Beryl is on the stand, Ward grows pale and
grips his chair. Beryl speaks in a quiet, low tone. In the middle of Inez's testimony, she suffers an
emotional break and is unable to continue. Elbridge Peters also testifies.

September 26: It is suggested by the prosecutors that Ward may have been the mastermind of the
blackmail ring all along in an attempt to steal money from his father. Isaac Mills delivers a 4-hour
summation to the jury in the defense of Ward.

September 27: It is suggested, through a re-enactment of the killing, that Ward couldn’t have killed
Peters in such close range without getting powder burns on the skin or clothing of the victim.

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September 28: Ward is acquitted of first-degree murder at 4:30 PM, on his 32nd birthday. He leaves
the courtroom with his wife and brother, greeting a cheering crowd outdoors. Later that evening, the
Wards celebrated at the home of Ralph Ward.

September 29: Walter Ward jubilantly returns to work at the Ward Baking Company in the Bronx.
Later in the afternoon, he goes golfing. Peters’ parents reveal they plan to sue Ward for damages of
the death of their son.

May 6, 1926: Ward’s automobile is found damaged and abandoned in Trenton, New Jersey, with no
trace of Ward. A large stone was thrown through his windshield. Foul play was suggested, mentioning
that he could have become a target of one of Peters’ blackmailing gangs. This was the week before he
was scheduled to appear in a civil suit trial in New York, in which Elbridge and Inez Peters were suing
Ward for $50,000 in damages. He had not been heard from since he left New York for Baltimore for
business on May 5.

October 6: It is reported that Beryl and Walter Ward met secretly on multiple occasions in Tuckahoe,
NY since Ward’s disappearance. When a reporter asked Beryl about this, she refused to answer the
reporter’s questions and concluded the interview with a threat to release a police dog.

January 17, 1927: Walter Ward finally reappears when he moves to his father’s estate in Havana, Cuba,
sailing from New Orleans.

February 15: Elbridge and Inez reach $75,000 in their civil suit and their trial begins. They admit the
minor delinquencies Clarence found himself in, but claimed he was a good boy.

February 18: The jury of the Peters case fails to agree on a verdict and the case is dismissed. A retrial
date was supposed to be developed within two weeks, but this never came to fruition.

November 7: A divorce is granted to Beryl Ward in Reno, Nevada. Beryl filed for divorce on the
grounds of infidelity, failure to provide, and desertion, as he never returned to New York since he fled
to Cuba a year-and-a-half prior. Beryl said the following in an interview with the New York American:
"I am sure there is still a chance of happiness for me, despite the trials through which I have passed.
People have wondered, I am told, at my silence concerning the unfortunate events that brought me
and those nearest me into nationwide attention. There have been hints that I was silenced by
suppression from Walter Ward's family. That is not true. My silence was entirely voluntary. I felt too
deeply and suffered too much to give it voice. Even now, that I have consented to speak, I prefer to
ignore certain events on the past. I prefer to talk about the future." She then said she wished to clarify
a common misconception with the investigation in 1922: "I positively was not with Walter Ward on the

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night he was said to have shot Clarence Peters." She eventually re-married a man named Witty Lyle
Alderson.

November 13: Elbridge Peters reveals that he plans to sue Ward once more, and begins working with
attorneys to prepare a new trial.

May 22, 1946: Walter Ward dies at the Anglo-American Hospital in Havana, at the age of 53. The cause
of death is listed as "acute anoxemia resulting from pulmonary Emphysema''. By this time, he was
remarried to a woman named Isabel M. Ward. His remains were originally interred in Havana, but he
was removed to Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York, in a family lot marked with a large
monument.

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