Rensselaer Republican, Volume 14, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 December 1881 — CHEMISTRY IN CRIME. [ARTICLE]

CHEMISTRY IN CRIME.

A Trifle of Acid Beveals a Wealthy Forger’s Villainy. Chester (SI C.J Bulletin. The recent dfeath in our State Penitentiary of W. W. Ward, the for met Sheriff of Williamsburg county, recalls the circumstances that led to the discovery of his crime, which are the most extraordinary in our criminal annals. At the spriDg term, 1879, of the Court of Common Pleas for Williamsburg county. J. H. Livingston brought suit against Ward to recover the sum of $5,000, money loaned on Ward’s sealed note. His Honor, Judge T. S. Mackey, presided, aud, by con* sent of counsel, heard the case without a jury. The plaintiff, proved the execution of the note and clofifeti his Case. Ward’s counsel then produced the receipt of Livingston, dated two years previous to the trial, for the whole amouut due, principal and interest, and a witness testified he had seen the pay men j made in SIOO bills aud four SSOO bills to Livingston himse’f, on the day named in the receipt. The plaintiff took the Witness stand, and on examining the receipt admitted that it bore his true and genuine signature, but solemnly protested that he nad not received $1 from Wal'd, aud had never entered Ward’s house in his life for any purpose. He declared that he was ruined, and that he and his wife wculd be made homeless by a false receipt which he could not explain, but which he never knowingly signed. On crossexamination, Livingston, who was an old man, admitted that his memory was very infirm, and that he had on previous occasions received a payment of S2OO frbm another debter of his, which he afterward had denied receiving, but which be recalled to memory when shown his receipt. The plaintiff and his counsel at this stage of the proceeding were in utter despair, for their cause was apparently lost. Judge Mackey, however, whose* subtle brain aud practicedieye nothing can escape, and who follows crime through all its windings, directed that that the receipt should be handed to bim. He then ordered the Sheriff to proceed to the uearest drug store aud purchase a drachm of muriatic aqid and a small i piece of sponge. On the return of the officer with the articles named, the Judge said to the plaintiff: “Mr. Livingston, did you ever write a letter to the defendent, Ward, demanding payment of your money?”: The plaintiff answered: “Yes, sirj I wrote him many letters, but never received an answer from him.” Judge Mackey then observed to counsel: “I preceived that on the face of this receipt there are several peculiar brown spots, and the original surface or sifting of the paper has been removed, except in that portion of the paper where the signature was written. The body of the receipt is in the handwriting of the defendant jn my opinion the defendent has taken a letter of the plaintiff’s aud rejaovi d the writing with muriatic aoAi, and then wrote the receipt kbove the signature. I will now apply this acid to the writing on the back of the complaint in this case, and it will bfe seen that the writing wifi instantly disappear. And the paper will at once exhibit several brown spots identical with those on this receipj.” The acid was applied to the paper, and as the writing disappeared, the brown blots were seen upon its surface, aud the crime of the defendant was clearly revealed I Ward, at this juncture, looked as horrorstricken as Lady Macbeth, when, gazing upon her fair but murderous hand, she exclaimed, as she vainly rubbed it, .“Out, damned spot I” The Judge immediately rendered his decision in favor of the plaintiff, stating that it was the duty of the solicitor to have Ward

Jtrosecuted at once for bis audacious orgery. On the next morning Judge Mackev left for Georgetown, forty miles distant, to hold , court. While there he received a letter trom a friend warning him not to return to Williamsburg, as he had promised to do in a few days, for the purpose of hearing an argument in chambers, as Ward had sworn solemnly to shoot him down at sight. The Judge’s record, however, shows that he is not one to swerve irom the line of duty because of an armed enemy in his path. He returned to Williamsburg after an absence of five days, and, meeting Ward upon the street, demanded whether he had threatened to take his life. Ward answered that he hgd, but that he had abandoned his purpose. At the next term of the court Ward was indicted and placed on trial for forgery. When the virdict of “guilty” was renderd, Ward rose and discharged his pistol at Liviugston, the prosecuting witness, one of the balls passing through his coat. He was instantly disarmed, and sentenced to a term of seven years at hard hard labor in the penitentiary. Ward was a man of wealth and of good standing in his community. He died last week in the penitentiary, illustrating by his career the truth of the scripture: “The way of the transgressor is hard.”