Introduction
PAUL A. WOODWARD, of 221 Benson Street, murdered two young boys by giving them poison on October 1, 1902. The son of Thomas and Bella Woodward, he was arrested, tried, convicted of the first degree murder of one of his victims, and was executed for his crime at the Camden County Jail on January 7, 1903. He was buried in Philadelphia.
The complete coverage of this incident from the Philadelphia Inquirer and other newspapers is presented below. Many leading figures in Camden’s legal, medical, law-enforcement, political and police circles were involved in this case to one extent or another.
Then as now, the media also sought to exploit the story beyond the mere reporting of the events of the day, and three articles from the Inquirer, one published just before the trial, and two published in February and March of 1903 are presented below as well. Perhaps, as one article speculated, Paul Woodward was a “degenerate.” Then again, maybe it was the cigarettes.
People Mentioned in the Coverage
- Joseph Jennings
- Jennings' Third Regiment Band
- Frank T. Lloyd
- Dr. William S. Jones
- William D. Hart
- Dr. Paul N. Litchfield
- F. Morse Archer Sr.
- John Foster
- John Painter
- John Cherry
- Isaac Toone
- George M. Beringer Sr.
- Charles G. Garrison
- J. Wesley Sell
- Christopher J. Mines Jr.
- Frederick A. Rex
- J. Frederick Voigt
- George Frederick Kappel
- Isaac Toy
- Harry S. Scovel
- Francis Ford Patterson Jr.
- John S. Smith
- Hugh Boyle
- Frank S. Albright
- Thomas Walton
- Dr. William H. Iszard
- George Henry Stineford
Missing Camden Boys Murdered in a Field
Philadelphia Inquirer —
Young John Coffin and Price Jennings Believed to Have Been Poisoned—Companion Arrested and Committed to Jail
John H. Coffin
Price Jennings.
Where body of young Jennings was found.
Where Coffin’s body was found.
The discovery of their bodies cold in death, the victims of an atrocious double murder, yesterday solved the mystery surrounding the disappearance from their homes in Camden on Wednesday of John H. Coffin, the 11-year-old son of William Coffin, division freight agent of the Pennsylvania Railroad, and Price Jennings, his chum and playmate, the 13-year old son of Josephus Jennings, leader of Jennings’ Third Regiment Band, of Camden.
Paul Woodward, 18 years old, a companion of both the boys, is charged with their murder and is locked up in the county jail awaiting the further action of the authorities. There are no evidences of external injuries and the only theory to which the police can attribute the cause of death is that the assassin of the boys administered poison to them, and it is along this line that County Physician Jones and Prosecutor Lloyd are conducting an investigation.
The details surrounding the atrocious crime makes it one the like of which has never been known in the criminal history of this section of the country. The youth of the boys, their heretofore relations of good companionship, and many other circumstances make of it an almost unparalleled crime, and while there is said to be every evidence of a motive for the murder, in the opinion of those who are in close touch with the case, it is an instance in which the work is that of a degenerate boy in whom all sense of right and wrong have long since been dead. Certain it is that the crime has stirred the people of Camden and vicinity to a feverish heat to which it has not been stirred since the days following the murder of Annie Leconey.
Found in a Field
The bodies of both the lads were found yesterday morning in a field near the Haddon Heights Station of the Reading Railroad on what is known as the Lippincott farm, about a quarter mile from Station Avenue. The body of young Jennings was found lying in a clump of bushes and less than forty yards away lay the remains of Coffin. Both bodies were stiff and in a state of decomposition. Coffin’s body was the first discovered, and it was not long after when that of his companion was found.
No sooner did the news of the discovery become known than the greatest excitement prevailed through the city of Camden and its suburbs. All sorts of rumors began to circulate, some of them hinting that the bodies were in a horribly mutilated condition and that the work was that of a negro. In a short time, however, whatever element of mystery there was about the case, so far as present indications go, was dissipated when the identification of the bodies was made and the arrest of young Woodward was accomplished soon afterwards.
Then the mystery began to clear somewhat. Both boys disappeared from their homes on Wednesday afternoon. When they failed to return that night the police were notified and a description of them was sent around the country adjacent to Camden and also to Philadelphia. Some persons said they had gone to Trenton to the fair, while others told of having seen them in the vicinity of Haddon Heights Station. Nothing came of these statements at the time, and meanwhile the boys failed to return home. Coffin’s father was of the opinion that the boys had been kidnapped, but this theory was not held by the police.
First Body Discovered
Late Friday night, Clarence Kreuson, whose home is at Haddon Heights, and a friend of his, Frank Johnson, who lives in this city, were returning from an afternoon of blackbird shooting. While crossing the field they came across the body of a boy. It was lying in the bushes, half concealed, and when they made a closer examination they discovered that life was extinct. In alarm Kreuson and his companion ran to the home of A. H. Wood, near-by, and communicated their intelligence. Wood immediately sent a telephone message to Coroner Litchfield in Camden, apprising him of the discovery. That official, through some misunderstanding, thought it was a man named Brown who had been talking to him. He hitched up his horse and drove to Haddon Heights, but was unable to locate the body. He was also unable to locate anyone named Brown. Further investigation was, therefore, postponed until yesterday morning, when the Coroner again visited the scene and found the body in the bushes.
From the clothing worn it was thought at first it might be Coffin’s, and after it had been brought to the Morgue, William Coffin, the lad’s father, was sent for. He was accompanied by Kingston Jennings, elder brother of the other missing boy. Mr. Coffin when nerved to look at the remains, exclaimed, “My God, it’s Price. Where is my boy. He must be found.” The identification was then made complete by the dead boy’s brother.
Meanwhile a number of persons had been going over the field where the body had been found in the search for clues that might lead to a discovery of the murderer of the boy, when one of them chanced across the remains of the other lad lying under a dead tree. This body was identified on the spot by Detective Curtis, of the Pennsylvania Railroad. The lad’s body was also taken to the Morgue and laid on a slab alongside of his chum.
Police at Work
The police in the interim had not been idle, and after scouring the vicinity of the place where the bodies had been found, came across Lillian Martin, the 15-year-old daughter of J. Wilson Martin, who conducts a “Cyclers’ Rest” at Collings avenue and the White Horse pike. She remembered having seen two boys answering the description of the dead lads in their place on Wednesday. They were accompanied by an older and a taller boy. Jennings seemed to have considerable money and purchased three pies and three bottles of soda water. After that they left the place and she never saw them again until she looked upon their bodies.
Prosecutor Frank Lloyd at once set to work, and Detective Hart was sent in search of young Woodward. Inquiry at his home, at 221 Benson street, brought the response that he was not at home. His mother learned what he was wanted for, and about 2 o’clock sent for Detective Hart and turned the boy over to him. She accompanied him to the Prosecutor’s office and, talking to the newspaper reporters, said that beyond being addicted to the use of cigarettes Paul was a good boy. She persisted that he could not have committed the crime as he was home all of Wednesday, Thursday and yesterday until the afternoon, when he went to Philadelphia to visit relatives. What the police are reported to view with importance is a statement that the mother is also alleged to have made to the effect that on Wednesday he had bothered her a great deal about money for a hat and shoes. While the authorities will make no admission, it is intimated that the motive they ascribe for the crime is robbery, and that the fact that Jennings had $10 when he disappeared was what led to his murder, and the murder of the other little fellow followed as a necessity for hiding the crime, as well as to get possession of a silver watch he is said to have had.
Identified Woodward
After young Woodward was taken into the Prosecutor’s office, besides the Prosecutor there were present Assistant Prosecutor F. Morse Archer, Court Stenographer Berry, Chief of Police Foster, of Camden; Chief of Police Linderman, of Merchantville, and Detectives Painter and Hart. In a few minutes Detective Cherry arrived with Lillian Martin. The latter had been cautioned not to say anything to anybody, either in or out of the room. She was inside for less than thirty seconds, and when she came out she is reported to have said that Woodward was the young man whom she had seen with the boys on Wednesday in her father’s place. She was taken back a second and a third time, and after the latter, it is said, she told the detectives that she was certain he was the person. She then left for her home, where she resisted all attempts to interview her.
In the meantime Recorder Stackhouse issued a commitment for Woodward on the oath of Detective Cherry, charging the young man with the murder of Coffin. Jennings’ name was not mentioned, as Coffin’s answered the same purpose.
While this was going on County Physician Jones was holding an autopsy in the basement of the jail, where the morgue is located. A personal examination showed that there were no external marks of violence, and in order to clinch the result of the autopsy he summoned from Philadelphia Professors Copeland and Rosenberger, of the Jefferson Hospital. Dr. Copeland performed the autopsy, and was at work until nearly 6 o’clock, when it was announced that no results other than that death was not due to external injuries, had been accomplished.
Prosecutor Lloyd said: “There was a double murder. Of that much we are certain. Death was not due to external injuries. What we suspect you will have to conjecture. The organs of both the boys have been sent to a chemist for examination. More than that I cannot say, except that we have arrested Paul Woodward on suspicion and that he is charged with the murder. The same man that killed one of the boys no doubt killed the other. All I ask now is that judgment be suspended for a few days, when I believe all will be cleared up.”
Woodward Visited Mr. Coffin
Mr. Coffin, whose home is at 305 North Third street, yesterday said: “It’s an awful blow that has come to me and I hardly know what to say. It does seem to me that Paul Woodward exerted an evil influence over my boy. I remember now that on Thursday he came to the house and wanted me to hire him to look for John. He then said that he thought he could find him.”
At the Woodward home it was stated that the mother and father of the boy had gone to Philadelphia. Charles May, a boarder, said there would be no trouble in proving that Paul was home all day of Wednesday, as well as the day following. He said that on each of those nights the boy had been in bed by 8 o’clock. This testimony, he said, would be corroborated by the boy’s mother, father, sister and himself. The only time Paul was out of the house, he said, was when he went several errands for his mother.
Late yesterday afternoon Coroner Litchfield empaneled the following jury: David Kaighn, George Leathwite, Isaac Toone, George J. Pechin, Elmer E. Cox and T. L. Bear. At 5 o’clock they viewed the remains, after which the bodies were sent to their respective homes. No date for the inquest has been fixed.
The stomach and other organs of both the youthful victims are in the possession of George M. Beringer, a druggist and chemist, at Fifth and Federal streets. Last night he said he had begun his examination, but it would take him probably a day or two more to complete his analysis.
Deep Mystery Still Envelops Camden Tragedy
Philadelphia Inquirer —
Authorities Apparently at Sea Regarding Theory for Lads’ Taking Off
THEY WERE MURDERED
Such Is the Belief of Prosecutor Lloyd and Others in the Case
WOODWARD UNDER FIRE
Declares Not Guilty of the Awful Crime—Two Boys to Be Buried To-day
Not since the Shaw murder of a few years ago has the Camden public been so much aroused as it is over the mysterious deaths of Price Jennings and John Houseman Coffin, the two lads of prominent families whose bodies were found Saturday morning lying in an uncultivated field at Haddon Heights.
City and county officials yesterday strove with all their abilities to throw some light on the mystery, but nothing of a startling character was evolved and the motive for the crime seems to be obscure.
As was to be expected, crowds of the morbidly curious tramped through the rain, over muddy roads and through a wild growth of brambles and weeds to get a view of the two spots where the bodies were found. Pieces of the chestnut tree, bark, limbs and leaves were carried off as mementoes. The spot where Coffin was found was marked by a pole stuck in the ground and from the top of which fluttered a piece of an umbrella covering.
The Motive Debated
During the day Prosecutor Lloyd, who is conducting the investigation, would say little. When pressed as to the motive of the crime he said he was of the opinion that it was either a case of malicious killing resulting from degeneracy, or the result of a desire for robbery.
A local physician, prominently identified with the case, said he is firmly convinced it is a clear case of murder. Whether the boys met their death by means of poison or strangulation he would not say, but inferred it was one of these methods that had ended their lives.
George M. Berringer, the Camden chemist, to whom were given the internal organs of the boys for analysis, began his work yesterday. He said it would take until to-morrow and probably longer to complete his analysis. He also said he would not stop if he found no traces of chloral, but would make a thorough examination in an endeavor to find any poison that might have been administered. In consequence of the length of time it will take to make the analysis Coroner Latchfield said he would not hold an inquest in the case for a week at least.
Detectives on the Scene
County Detectives Smith and Cherry and City Detective John Painter spent a portion of yesterday going over the scene of the tragedy. They reported they had found no new developments.
The work of weaving a web of guilt about Paul Woodward, the youth who was arrested charged by William Coffin, father of one of the boys, on information received from Detective Cherry, with “unlawfully, feloniously and of his malice aforethought, killing and murdering one John H. Coffin,” is proceeding rather slowly. The detectives yesterday started to run out the stories as given out by Woodward concerning his whereabouts on the days covering the disappearance of the dead boys.
Woodward was taken before Prosecutor Lloyd yesterday morning. The boy’s mother was also present. He was the centre of a crossfire of questions, but stolidly stood by his previous statements. He could not be shaken in a single instance, it was stated. The Prosecutor said it is a mistaken idea that Woodward is dull and listless. On the contrary he says his answers to questions give evidence of a fairly bright mind.
Prosecutor’s Statement
Prosecutor Lloyd late last night gave out this statement: “I have had Woodward under examination two or three times during the day. He reported his movements for the last week and adhered tenaciously to his original story that he had nothing to do with the doing away of the two children. I am awaiting the result of the chemical analysis of the organs of the two boys. There were no signs of strangulation, no bruises, scratches or scars excepting a slight cut on the left hand of one of the boys.”
Woodward spent Saturday night and yesterday in the manner of prisoners who are charged with petty offenses. Once, Saturday night, he is said to have cried. Aside from this evidence of feeling he slept and ate his food as though nothing out of the ordinary had occurred.
All the necessary arrangements for the funeral of the two boys have been completed and they will be buried this afternoon, young Coffin from his home, 305 North Third street, and Jennings from his home, 213 North Third street. Both funerals will be strictly private and no one except the respective families will be permitted to see the bodies.
Say Boys Were Seen
Several stories came from Haddon Heights to the effect that the boys were seen Wednesday afternoon near the spot where their bodies were found.
John Mann, colored, says he saw the two boys about 11 o’clock Wednesday morning on the Haddonfield road. Later he saw them under the chestnut tree in company with a man about 35 years old.
Edward Lippincott, who has a farm just below the scene of the murder, said a man who serves him with ice saw the boys about 5 o’clock in the afternoon. While he was not positive they were the boys, they tallied with the description.
The theory has been advanced the ill-fated lads met their deaths through eating some poisonous berry, but residents say there is nothing about there that would cause their death.
From what several persons say who saw the bodies before they were moved, they must have been laid down carefully, especially that of young Coffin, under whose head had been placed his hat neatly folded.
The small bottle of pellets taken from Woodward, which it was expected would figure in the case, were given back to him yesterday. They were simply homeopathic remedies given him at the Hahnemann Hospital.
The Trinity Baptist Sunday school yesterday adopted resolutions of regret and condolence on the death of young Jennings.
Woman Involved in Camden Mystery
Philadelphia Inquirer —
After Being Questioned by the Prosecutor She Is Committed to the County Jail—Believed to Be an Important Arrest
Crowds in Front of the Jennings Home During Funeral
George M. Beringer.
The Camden chemist who is making an examination of the internal organs of the two boys.
While mystery apparently as absolute as ever still obscures the motive and the criminal in the case of John Houseman Coffin and W. Price Jennings, the unfortunate Camden lads whose trip to the country at Haddon Heights last Wednesday resulted so tragically, it is surmised from hints dropped now and again the matter may soon be cleared. However, those who are working so assiduously to bring the guilty person to justice are as close-mouthed as the proverbial clam, and but meagre information reaches the public.
Last night a woman, about 45 years old, was committed to the county jail by Recorder Stackhouse. On the commitment her name is given as Mrs. Barber. She was committed on complaint of County Detective John Cherry “as a material witness to prove certain allegations pending against one Paul Woodward, who is committed to the county jail charged with the murder of one John Coffin.”
The woman was placed under arrest after a long conference in the Prosecutor’s office. Prosecutor Lloyd said last night that the woman lives on a farm at Marlton, and that she is a very important witness in the case, so important, in fact, that she cannot regain her freedom without a good round sum being put up for her security.
Woodward Again Examined
The investigation into the case was somewhat retarded yesterday owing to an attack of rheumatism that made Prosecutor Frank T. Lloyd remain at home. The day’s responsibility rested on F. Morse Archer, the assistant prosecutor. The latter yesterday morning had Woodward brought into his office, where he underwent for the sixth time a thorough cross-examination. Mr. Archer said Woodward had made no confession, as had been rumored. On the contrary, he still maintained his innocence.
In answer to a question Mr. Archer said: “We are doing our best and while we are in possession of information which we consider important and vital to the case, it is impossible at this time to make it public.”
On the other hand, County Physician Jones was very emphatic in this particular, saying the boys were murdered beyond a doubt.
Boys’ Funerals
Yesterday afternoon the funeral of the boys took place at the same hour and within a square of one another’s homes. Although the hour set for the obsequies, 2 o’clock in the afternoon, had been kept secret scores of persons stood about in knots discussing the tragedy and eager to get a glimpse of the caskets containing the remains of the boys.
Police Captain Boyle and Policemen Kappel, Toy and Ridgeley guarded the houses, and no one except relatives and intimate friends were permitted to enter. But when the caskets were carried from the houses the crowd could not be kept back. Many persons crowded about, and the mourners entered the carriages between two solid phalanxes of curiosity seekers.
The services over Jennings were conducted at his home, 219 North Third street, by Rev. C. A. Adams and Rev. John Lyell. At the Coffin home, 305 North Third street, Rev. William H. Fishburn had charge of the obsequies. Companions of the boys acted as pallbearers. Jennings was buried at Evergreen and Coffin at Harleigh Cemetery.
George M. Beringer, a Camden chemist, who has the important duty of discovering, if possible, traces of poison in the stomachs of the boys, said yesterday he is making a thorough chemical analysis and is of necessity proceeding slowly. He said he will not be able to report the result for some days to come.
A pathetic little incident occurred at the Cooper School during recess yesterday morning when the children, school mates of the lads, gathered about and listened to the muffled beats of a drum. The school flag was at half mast and in every room there was a flag draped with black crepe. The youngsters were visibly affected.
Woodward Has Knowledge of Camden Murder
Philadelphia Inquirer —
So Confessed to Officers, Who Searched New York at Prisoner’s Instance
NO HAND IN THE CRIME
But Said He Knew Name of the Man Who Committed Awful Deed
YOUTH’S STRENUOUS DAY
Taken to the Scene of the Tragedy and Closeted With the Prosecutor
It is believed the authorities of Camden have cleared up the mystery surrounding the deaths of John Coffin and Walter Price Jennings, the boys who mysteriously disappeared from their homes on October 1 and were found dead in a field. That the boys were murdered and that the law officers believe a strong case has already been made out against Paul Woodward, the suspect, there seems to be no doubt.
Last night, after a conference of the detectives at Prosecutor Lloyd’s home, the latter official gave out the following statement: “There is absolutely no truth in the story of Woodward’s confession. However, the State has enough to make a clear case against Woodward.”
Ever since the discovery of the bodies the city and county detectives have worked unceasingly on the case. On Sunday afternoon, while Woodward was being examined in the Prosecutor’s office in the county buildings, he admitted, it is said, that while he had no hand in the commission of the crime he knew the name of the man who did.
Gave a Name
He gave, it is said, the name of a white man who committed the murder, and said he was then in hiding in New York. He furnished the detectives with his whereabouts in that city.
Acting on this information Detectives Painter and Smith went to New York and made a thorough search, following closely the prisoner’s suggestions. The search proved fruitless.
On Monday Detective Painter learned that John Farmer, a colored man, employed by John H. Carroll, of Haddon Heights, had seen Price, Coffin and Woodward together in the field in which the bodies of the boys were afterwards discovered. Yesterday Farmer was brought to the Prosecutor’s office, where he stated that he had seen the boys alive in the field at 5 o’clock on the afternoon of the day they disappeared.
Last to See Them Alive
He was confronted with Woodward, and in his presence told the story. At its conclusion Woodward exclaimed, “You’re a liar!”
The authorities lay great stress on Farmers’ story, for he was the last man to see the boys alive and to their minds almost fixes the hour of the murder.
A prominent jail official said last night that Woodward said yesterday to a fellow prisoner: “I’ll never give the man away who done the job.”
In his cell last night Woodward was a picture of abject misery. He was trembling like an aspen leaf. He has barely touched his food for the last two days. His only consolation seems to be in cigarettes, of which he daily consumes several packs.
Taken to the Scene
The feature of yesterday was the taking of Woodward to Haddon Heights. He was driven to the scene of the murder in a double team and was accompanied by Assistant Prosecutor F. Morse Archer, County Detective John S. Smith and City Detective John Painter. Woodward was carefully manacled and guarded during the trip.
The party went over the field where the bodies were found in an endeavor to arouse some emotion in the youth that might lead to a confession. Instead he simply smoked cigarettes and picked up a few chestnuts lying about, and was apparently unmoved.
After going over the field he was taken to several places in the vicinity where persons saw the ill-fated lads last Wednesday afternoon. It was stated that in one instance at least Woodward was positively identified as the young man last seen with the boys late in that afternoon. From 1 o’clock until after 6 he was kept on the move.
When Assistant Prosecutor Archer arrived at the court house he was besieged with questions, but after a talk with his chief over the telephone he said: “The administration of justice would be seriously hampered if at this time the facts in the case were given to the public. The case is now in a critical stage.”
At Prosecutor’s Home
After coming in from the country the prisoner was taken to Prosecutor Lloyd’s home on the East side. Here Woodward was kept until after 6 o’clock, all the time being under a cross fire of questions. At half-past 6 he was admitted to the county jail, still manacled and still smoking cigarettes. He was visibly affected, trembling like a leaf.
Late yesterday afternoon County Detective Cherry and City Detective Hart visited the home of Woodward on Benson street and brought back with them some clothing and about fifty novels. The latter were of a trashy order.
Harry Bowen and Joseph Simpkins, a trolley crew on one of the West Collingswood cars of the Camden and Suburban Railway Company, were examined by Assistant Prosecutor Archer. They had charge of a car that left Camden at 10 43 and arrived at West Collingswood at 11 13 Wednesday morning. It is believed that on this car the two dead boys and Woodward went to West Collingswood and from there walked over to Haddon Heights.
Money for Defense
Mrs. Woodward, mother of the accused boy, was at the Court House yesterday and said her father had sent her $5000 with which to use in defense of his grandson. She claimed to have engaged the services of Harry S. Scovel, who defended Eli Shaw. Mrs. Woodward also said that the Mrs. Barber arrested Monday night was a personal friend of the family, and that Paul had simply boarded with her.
County Physician Jones has advanced a theory as to the killing of the boys. He maintains poison was administered with no intention of killing. According to his theory, the boys were given “knockout drops,” or chloral, in sufficient quantities to kill a man. It was the intention of the murderer, however, to just give them a sufficient quantity to render them unconscious, and while in this state discover them at the solicitation of the boys’ families and receive a reward.
Camden’s Mystery Is Still Unsolved
Philadelphia Inquirer —
While Authorities Are at Work, Public Watch and Wait. Weaving a Net About Paul Woodward, the Young Suspect Now in Jail
Paul Woodward.
Mrs. Edith Barber.
It is now generally believed that the Camden county authorities have succeeded in establishing a clear case against young Paul Woodward, who is in the county jail, charged with the crime of taking away the lives of little John Coffin and Price Jennings. It was just a week ago yesterday when the boys went on their trip to Haddon Heights from which they were destined never to return alive.
Since the discovery of the bodies last Saturday partially hidden in rain-soaked weeds, the Prosecutor’s office, assisted by County Detectives Smith and Cherry and City Detectives Painter and Hart, have left no stone unturned.
No Confession
Prosecutor Lloyd yesterday reiterated his statement that Woodward had made no confession, but it is generally conceded as true that the accused youth did tell a story in which he makes some one else the principal criminal in the case.
Several incidents transpired yesterday that threw off the monotony of waiting for developments. Joseph Jennings, brother of one of the murdered boys, was taken to the cell in which Woodward is confined. He had no difficulty in recognizing the prisoner before. But as to whether he ever saw him in company with the dead lads he was not permitted to say.
Wild Rumor
There was much excitement about the Court House when it became rumored that Mrs. Edith Barber, the woman detained as a material witness against Woodward, had the small pox. To allay the alarm County Physician Jones called in representatives of the Board of Health, who concluded she had no sign of the disease.
After matters quieted somewhat the woman was taken into the Prosecutor’s office and questioned. When taken back to her cell she was crying and appeared to be almost unable to walk.
Woodward spent the day in his cell, smoking cigarettes as usual. He was visited in the morning by Lawyer Harry Scovel, who has not yet been engaged as counsel, as reported. Again in the afternoon Lawyer Scovel visited the youth in company with Woodward’s mother. At first Mrs. Woodward was denied admittance, but after waiting on the jail steps for nearly an hour she was permitted to go in and see her son. Lawyer Scovel and Mrs. Woodward were with the young man for a couple of hours.
Talked a Whole Lot
To all questions Lawyer Scovel said: “Woodward talked a whole lot, but I have nothing to say.”
He said he had not confessed to him. On the other hand Woodward had maintained his innocence.
When asked if Woodward could have a hearing if he demanded it Mr. Archer said he could. Asked if enough evidence was in hand to hold him, Mr. Archer said there was.
“On a simple assault charge?”
“No, sir, for the crime he is charged with—committing the murder of John Coffin,” replied Mr. Archer.
Coroner Litchfield said last night he would not set a date for the inquest before some time next week. Despite all reports to the contrary, Coroner Litchfield says Chemist George M. Beringer, who is analyzing the internal organs of the boys, will not complete the work before the end of the week.
Prosecutor Lloyd, who is still confined to his home with rheumatism, would make no statement last night, although admitting that the day’s work had not resulted in anything of material importance.
Unraveling the Camden Mystery
Philadelphia Inquirer —
Prosecutor Lloyd Declares That Woodward Is the Guilty Man
NO MORE ARRESTS LIKELY
Weaving Web Around Alleged Slayer of the Murdered Boys
“Beyond all question the murderer of these little boys is now in jail and the public’s anxiety can now be allayed,” said Prosecutor Frank T. Lloyd last night in making the first important statement concerning the tragedy of last week, when John Coffin and W. Price Jennings, two Camden lads, were murdered in an uncultivated field near Haddon Heights. The mystery which has enshrouded the case since the discovery of the bodies last Friday has almost been cleared up with the exception of the report of Chemist George M. Beringer, who is making an analysis of the internal organs of the boys.
Prosecutor Lloyd gave out the following statement shortly before 8 o’clock at his home on the East Side:
“Because of a suspicion that more than one person was engaged in the murder of these little boys the State has been obliged to work with much secrecy and to withhold from the press the result of our work. That suspicion is now removed. Beyond all question the murderer is now in jail and the public’s anxiety can be allayed. Woodward was alone the perpetrator of this crime.
Case Nearly Complete
“It is my duty to say this much in view of the deep public concern and the apprehension of other parents having little ones, but it would be improper for me to state the character or the quantity of evidence upon which our conclusions are based. I will only say that with the exception of the report of the chemist, which has not yet been received, the State’s case is almost complete.
“Woodward himself has made a number of statements, which, while not confessions, will be materially helpful toward securing his conviction.”
This statement precludes the possibility of another arrest being made in connection with the case, as has been currently reported during the week.
There were several conferences held yesterday between Assistant Prosecutor Archer and Detectives Smith, Cherry, Painter and Hart and Chief of Police Linderman, of Merchantville. During one of the conferences John Farmer, the colored man who recognized Woodward as having been seen with the boys last Wednesday afternoon, was called in and closely questioned. Following the detectives departed apparently on several different clues.
Detectives Hard at Work
Detective Hart subsequently returned with a Mrs. Somers, said to reside on Royden street. She was interviewed by the Assistant Prosecutor, but what connection she has with the case the authorities refused to divulge. The woman refused to talk.
Louis Ross, a German, who resides near Haddon Heights, was also called into the Prosecutor’s office late in the afternoon. At first he was thought to be an important witness, but it was afterwards learned that he knew little about the case.
Detective Robert J. McKentry, of Philadelphia, and Detective Smith took over the river Mrs. William H. Hubbert and another young woman. It is at the home of Mrs. Hubbert, at West Philadelphia, that Woodward said he was present last Friday night.
Woodward became rather obdurate yesterday, refusing the usual prison fare. He waited until his mother sent him coffee and other victuals. The accused youth was at first placed in the cell formerly occupied by Lafayette Gruff, the wife murderer, who was hanged September 19. He has now been placed in another cell.
More Arrests in Camden Mystery
Philadelphia Inquirer —
Paul Woodward’s Mother and Two Men Locked Up in the County Jail—Woman Lawyer to Defend the Prisoner
Mrs. Keeler Demanding Admittance to the Camden County Jail.
Mrs. Annie Irving Keeler,
Camden’s female lawyer, who has been engaged to defend young Woodward.
Following the statement given out Thursday night by Prosecutor Frank T. Lloyd that the authorities have the right man in jail for the murder of John Coffin and W. Price Jennings, whose bodies were found near Haddon Heights just a week ago to-day, the story of a confession by Paul Woodward, the accused youth, as exclusively told in The Inquirer last Wednesday, yesterday became public property. In this confession by Woodward he denies having killed the boys. He has told half a dozen stories already, all of which are different with the exception that he maintains he did not commit the crime. He says the motive was robbery and that he put a New York thug on the track of the boys last Wednesday week when the murdered lads were supposed to have a considerable sum of money on them. Woodward was to receive a reward, $50 for turning the youngsters over to the New Yorker.
The accused youth says he escorted young Coffin and Jennings out the White Horse pike to Haddon Heights, where they fell in with the mysterious person from New York whom the detectives made a fruitless effort to locate. Other stories told by Woodward were found to have in them no truth whatever.
Woodward Alone Guilty
In the mind of the Prosecutor, according to his statement of Thursday night, Woodward is alone guilty of taking the lives of the boys. Prosecutor Lloyd, who has been confined at his home on the East Side with rheumatism, was at his office yesterday for the first time in several days. When asked whether Woodward had made a complete confession he declined to discuss the subject.
More Arrests Made
Contrary to the inference to be gathered from the prosecutor’s statement, three additional arrests were made yesterday. There was much surprise when it was learned that Mrs. Woodward, mother of the prisoner, had been arrested by County Detectives Smith and Cherry. With her were also taken in custody Charles May, 60 years old, and William May, an East Indian, both of whom boarded at the Woodward home on Benson street. When asked the significance of the three arrests Prosecutor Lloyd said:
“It was deemed advisable to lock them up as witnesses and possible accessories after the fact.”
Annie Irving Keeler, Camden’s woman lawyer, announced yesterday afternoon she had been retained by Mrs. Woodward to defend the latter’s son. Mrs. Keeler at once endeavored to see the client, but she was denied admittance to the jail by the prosecutor, who said she had no right to see Woodward unless he himself had sent for her.
Admitted to Jail
Mrs. Keeler then went to the jail door and demanded admittance of Jailer Entriken. She was permitted to enter and visited Woodward’s cell, where she conferred with the prisoner for nearly an hour.
Prosecutor Lloyd went to Haddon Heights yesterday afternoon in company with County Physician Jones and County Detective Smith. The Prosecutor for the first time went over the field where the boys were slain.
Woodward was again questioned by the Prosecutor yesterday. He was taken to the Prosecutor’s office, where at the same time was Chemist George Beringer, who is analyzing the boys’ internal organs. Woodward and Chemist Beringer were alone in the office for ten minutes. Mr. Beringer held a conference with the Prosecutor that lasted one hour and twenty minutes. It was stated he had not presented his report of the chemical analysis.
Philadelphia Inquirer - October 12, 1902
Another Arrest in Murder Case
Philadelphia Inquirer —
West Philadelphian and a Supposed Companion of Young Paul Woodward Taken in Custody
There is but little remaining in the way of a mystery for the Camden county authorities to clear up in the murder case of little John Coffin and W. Price Jennings, of Camden. After working practically day and night during the past week Prosecutor Lloyd and his able assistants have brought to light such strong evidence against Paul Woodward, the young man in the county jail charged with the crime, that it will be next to impossible to refute it.
The sixth arrest in the case was made yesterday, when James Sheiding was taken into custody by County Detective Smith and committed to the county jail by Recorder Stackhouse as “a material witness.” Sheiding, who lives in West Philadelphia, was lured across the river to Camden, when Detective Smith at once took him in custody.
The prisoner is believed to be the companion of Woodward who, on the Friday night preceding the discovery of the murdered boys, was in the company of the accused murderer. On that occasion it is said Woodward had considerable money and that Sheiding assisted him in spending it.
Woodward did not give any evidence yesterday of being insane. On the other hand he was very quiet and evidently saw the futility of trying to make the Prosecutor believe him to be of unsound mind. He utterly refused to take part in the regular Sunday jail services. His whole concern seemed to be as to whether or not his mother would visit him to-day. He was of the opinion yesterday that his mother had gone to West Chester, where she is said to have relatives of means. Woodward thinks such a visit would result in him having sufficient funds with which to engage counsel.
Mrs. Edith Barker, the woman witness against Woodward, is very ill. Two of her children are ill with typhoid fever and the worry over this in connection with her important part in the case has made her one of the most wretched prisoners ever incarcerated at the county prison. Prosecutor Lloyd tried to have her admitted to a hospital, but his efforts were unavailing.
In all probability the case will come up before the present grand jury and be tried this month. Prosecutor Lloyd said last night that as soon as Chemist Beringer has made his report on his analysis of the viscera of the boys the Coroner’s inquest will be held. Immediately the court will be asked to take up the case.
Speedy Trial for Young Woodward
Philadelphia Inquirer —
But little developed in the murder case in Camden, for which Paul Woodward is incarcerated in the county jail. Prosecutor Lloyd has everything well in hand and his sole object is to have a speedy trial of the accused youth. He said yesterday his office would give out nothing further before the trial.
It is said Woodward has declared he gave John Coffin and W. Price Jennings, the murdered boys, bichloride of gold and not chloral. He is also reported to have said he did not intend giving such a large dose as would terminate fatally.
While as yet Woodward has no counsel it is probable he will be defended by Lawyer Edwin Hillman, who will be named by the court.
To Hurry Along Woodward Trial
Philadelphia Inquirer —
Paul Woodward, the youth accused of the murder of John Coffin and W. Price Jennings, the Camden boys whose bodies were found near Haddon Heights last Saturday week, may possibly be indicted for the crime to-day or to-morrow. Prosecutor Lloyd has the case so well in hand that he will present the facts before the grand jury this morning.
The State has practically concluded its investigation with the exception of making the necessary preparations for the trial. It is believed the grand jury will speedily find a bill of indictment against Woodward, and he may know his fate before the end of the present month.
Harry H. Robinson, a Philadelphia lawyer, was yesterday engaged to defend Woodward.
Woodward Indicted for Cruel Murder
Philadelphia Inquirer —
The case of Paul Woodward, who is charged with the murder of John Coffin and W. Price Jennings, was considered by the Camden County Grand Jury yesterday. Among the witnesses were the father and aunt of the Jennings boy. The prisoner was promptly indicted.
There will be no inquest. Coroner Litchfield says the facts of the killing and that the boys met their death by violence being manifest to the authorities.
Officers Traced Woodward’s Steps
Philadelphia Inquirer —
Camden Authorities Rest After Weaving What They Believe to Be Strong Chain of Evidence About the Alleged Youthful Murderer
Detective William D. Hart
Detective John Painter
Camden City detectives who have done some good work in helping to bring about a solution of the murder mystery.
In less than one week from the discovery of the bodies of John Houseman Coffin and Walter Price Jennings, near Haddon Heights, the city and county authorities of Camden have apparently solved the mystery of the most cruel murder in the history of the county. Paul Woodward the authorities are certain is that murderer. The motive was robbery. The officers say Woodward expected to get a large sum of money. A form of chloral used by photographers was administered. An overdose was given and death resulted where unconsciousness only was planned.
In the cell formerly occupied by Francis Abbatto, who was executed for an atrocious murder, Woodward is acting like a crazy man. In another wing of the jail Mrs. Edith Barber, his alleged paramour, refuses to eat and the authorities believe she is trying to starve herself to death.
Authorities Rest
Independent of Woodward’s latest confession the authorities have built such a stone wall of facts against him that at the conclusion of yesterday’s work the officials practically took their first rest since the discovery of the crime.
Mrs. Annie Irving Keeler, who was retained to defend Woodward, has withdrawn from the case, it is said on the advice of her physician. It is known, however, that at an interview with Woodward in jail yesterday he abused Mrs. Keeler.
Mrs. Woodward, mother of Paul, has been released from jail after making a complete statement and giving the law officers the right to enter and search her home at will. County Detective Smith yesterday found several more important witnesses.
Wanted to See Prosecutor
On Friday afternoon, while Prosecutor Lloyd was in consultation with George M. Beringer, the expert chemist, Woodward expressed a desire to see the prosecutor. He was taken to the latter’s office and in a half hour’s conversation talked freely of his crime. He said he had known both the boys for a long time. Attaches of the prosecutor’s office say Woodward thought the boys’ parents were wealthy and that it would be easy for them to get possession of a large sum of money. It was an easy matter for him, with the wonderful tales of adventure he had read, to so fill the boys’ heads that it would be no trouble for him to lure them from home, drug and rob them and have several hours’ advantage of flight before the discovery of the crime.
Left on Wednesday
Last Wednesday was fixed for the departure of the trio. They left according to schedule, going by trolley to West Collingswood. The Prosecutor has traced the trio along the White Horse pike and at a stop made at the Cyclers’ Rest, where soft stuff and pies were purchased from Miss Lillian Martin. Then they entered the field. Here it was that a drink was suggested, according to the authorities. Filling a can Woodward, after pretending to drink, gave it to the boys. Between them they emptied it. The Jennings boy fell unconscious on the spot. The Coffin boy wandered away. Shortly afterwards, the authorities say, Woodward robbed their bodies, came to Camden and wrote a letter to Mrs. Barber, which the authorities have. When arrested he had just returned from her home, near Marlton, N. J. The watch which the Jennings boy wore has not been recovered, although the authorities are on its track and expect to get it.
After being taken back to the jail yesterday Woodward began to act queerly. At times he would wave his hands and arms like a windmill. He followed this by jumping to and fro like a hobby-horse in action. He varied this by crouching on the floor of his cell and barking like a dog. At night he screamed and yelled until sleep was impossible for the rest of the prisoners. A threat of Jailor John Lee to lock him up in the dungeon caused him to cease.
Coroner Litchfield said last night that the analysis of the boys’ stomachs will not be completed for two weeks and that the inquest will not be held until that date.
Morphia Killed Two Camden Boys
Philadelphia Inquirer —
Chemist Beringer Makes His Report to Prosecutor Lloyd—Another Witness in Murder Case
George M. Beringer, the chemist who made an analysis of the organs of John Houseman Coffin and Walter Price Jennings, who were found dead near Haddon Heights, two weeks ago, has made a report of his findings to Prosecutor Lloyd.
It was stated yesterday by an official in a position to know that Mr. Beringer found traces of enough morphia in each of the boys’ stomachs to kill a man. What seems to puzzle the authorities is to learn in what manner it was administered. It is not believed it was given them in a liquid and there were no traces of food such in which it could have been secreted.
The authorities yesterday discovered another witness who saw the three boys together in the field a short distance from where the bodies were found. They refuse to divulge his name.
No day has as yet been fixed for the trial of the alleged murderer, Young Paul Woodward, but it is believed if Prosecutor Lloyd’s health will permit the case will be disposed of early in November. Woodward spends most of his time in smoking cigarettes and discussing with all who will converse with him his chances for being sent to State prison.
Must Now Produce Woodward in Court
Philadelphia Inquirer —
Counsel for Paul Woodward, the young man accused of the murder of John Coffin and Price Jennings, two Camden boys, yesterday applied to Judge Garrison, at Mount Holly, for a writ of habeas corpus for their client. The application was granted and made returnable Friday next at Camden.
It is said the object of Woodward’s counsel is to make the State show its hand as to the evidence it has against the alleged youthful murderer. In all probability the indictments will be presented and the writ dismissed.
Woodward Writ to Be Argued To-day
Philadelphia Inquirer —
The rule granted by Judge Garrison last Tuesday to show cause why Paul Woodward, the youthful Camden murderer, should not be released on habeas corpus proceedings will be argued in Camden to-day. The indictment against Woodward may be presented and the case hurried toward the trial which will take place this term.
Prosecutor Frank T. Lloyd was able to be at his desk again yesterday after an attack of rheumatism.
Young Woodward Indicted by Jury
Philadelphia Inquirer —
He Is Charged With Robbery and Murder in the Bill Presented to Judge Garrison
Two indictments against Paul Woodward, charging him with the murder of John Coffin and W. Price Jennings, the two boys whose bodies were found in a field near Haddon Heights, October 4, were presented before Judge Garrison in Camden yesterday by the grand jury. In the indictments it is charged that Woodward caused the boys’ deaths by administering strychnine. The motive for the crime is charged in the indictment as robbery.
Following the presentment by the grand jury Judge Garrison heard argument on the writ of habeas corpus obtained by Woodward’s counsel last Tuesday. At the conclusion Judge Garrison announced that he considered the two indictments sufficient to warrant the court in refusing bail. He then declined to make an order for Woodward’s release on bail.
Wednesday, November 12, was set down as the date for the trial.
Philadelphia Inquirer - October 26, 1902
Is Paul Woodward a degenerate?
He is a young man of superb physique, but a perusal of the story of his crime and the study of his appearance arouse in many persons a feeling that is one of combined aversion and commiseration. Paul Woodward's face is a face that haunts one like a nightmare; no photograph can describe its weak lines.
His chin is retreating, his nose thin and prominent. His narrow forehead, or that pitiable excuse for one, slants back at a sharp angle like an ape's and forms a ridge that runs into a dwarfed cranium. His eyelids are half closed except for occasional intervals when he looks at you. There is a constant tendency toward a dropping of the lower lip, and his hair, which is straight and very thin, is brushed down until it hangs over his eyebrows.
Woodward's Past Life
Paul Woodward's past life has been practically purposeless and poorly employed. He has attended school, but little. He has always been loitering about saloons and engaged in shady notions of young blood and morally corrupt ideas of criminality.
Three experts -- an alienist and two detectives -- each of whom has made a separate study of degeneracy -- assert that Paul Woodward is a degenerate. Dr. Stearlin G. Wood, one of Philadelphia's foremost physicians and a man of wide study, from an examination of the prisoners' appearance, says he is a degenerate of the second order, so far as moral capacity. He stated that the fact that a youth of good physical condition should under the circumstances commit a crime of this character is indicative of low nervous function and of one who simply goes along in the line of least resistance, a man incapable of feeling moral distinctions.
Opinion of Expert Detective
County Detective Smith said: "My opinion of Woodward is that he is mentally deficient, though not insane. He is a man who profited from crime only in proportion to his depraved nature, not because he has strong anti-social instincts, but because he is deficient, incapable of work, and incapable of thought. He may have no remorse, and he may have, for he is not of a defiant type of character."
In his judgment Paul Woodward's crimes are of the lowest type. "I have seen boys that were worse degenerates, deficient, but good in a measure. Woodward appeared to be a boy of mean, petty type of character, but of an instinct to that of a sneak. I have been brought in contact with him since his first arrest. I am of the opinion that he has already been in a reform school. Shortly after his liberation from this institution he murdered the Miller lad in the same barbarous manner as he had tortured the others. The murder of the two boys committed on October 1 resulted in his being convicted and it was there established that he was responsible for the death of several other Camden children."
Degeneracy Explained
Authorities on criminal anthropology say that there are two causes for degeneracy. In one, as stated in his work on "Crime and its Causes," by Lombroso: "Degeneracy in criminals is sometimes inherited and sometimes acquired. It is inherited when the criminal is descended from insane, drunken, epileptic parents; it is often acquired: the criminal adopts and deliberately persists in a life of crime."
It may be said Paul Woodward is a degenerate through inheritance or habit -- a question which the court and not short of moral reform. It is reasonably certain that he is a representative of that abnormal type which stands for a very low grade of development in the scale of humanity. Every line of his countenance spells a corrupt moral and physical organism, while his career confirms his degeneracy.
Jurors to Try Woodward
Philadelphia Inquirer —
Sheriff Sell, in Camden, yesterday drew a special panel of forty-eight jurors, twelve of whom will try Paul Woodward, charged with the murder of John Coffin. The trial will begin November 12. Woodward will be arraigned to-day before Judge Garrison to plead to the indictment charging him with murder.
Woodward Says He Is Not Guilty
Philadelphia Inquirer —
Paul Woodward, in Camden yesterday, pleaded not guilty to the indictments charging him with the murders of John Coffin and W. Price Jennings, the two Camden boys whose dead bodies were found near Haddon Heights a month ago.
Woodward was taken from the county jail to the court-room, where Justice Garrison was waiting to hear the plea. The accused youth did not give any evidence of emotion.
After listening to the reading of both indictments Woodward answered “not guilty” in a firm voice.
Prosecutor Lloyd then moved for the trial to take place Wednesday, November 12.
Woodward Placed on Trial To-Morrow
Philadelphia Inquirer —
To-morrow morning Paul Woodward will be placed on trial before Judge Garrison in Camden, charged with murder of John Coffin, whose body, with that of Price Jennings, was found October 1 near Haddon Heights.
Woodward’s counsel and Prosecutor Lloyd had a conference yesterday. The latter stated he had fifty-seven witnesses to be heard. Woodward is confident of being acquitted.
Woodward’s Trial Today
Trenton Evening Times —
Camden Lad Accused of Killing Coffin and Jennings.
By Publishers’ Press Direct Wire.
Camden, Nov. 12.—Just seven weeks ago today John Coffin and Price Jennings, two Camden lads, left their homes without informing their families of their destination. After being missed for twenty-four hours, search was instituted and four days afterward their dead bodies were found in a field near Haddon Heights, six miles from Camden.
Today Paul Woodward, who was seen with the boys in the neighborhood of the scene of their death, the evening before, was placed on trial charged with the murder of John Coffin.
After the formal preliminaries the work of empanelling the jury from the special venire of forty-eight citizens was begun. There was an unusual number of jurors who could not change their convictions formed from newspaper reading, and the result was the panel was exhausted with only ten men in the box.
Woodward on Trial for Coffin Murder
Philadelphia Inquirer —
Less Than Six Weeks After Alleged Crime Case Is Called in Camden Court — The Prisoner’s Appearance — What State Will Try to Prove
Six weeks ago yesterday John Coffin and W. Price Jennings, two rosy-cheeked Camden lads, left their comfortable homes for a boyish romp in the country. Three days later their bodies were found lying half concealed among a wild growth of bushes in an uncultivated field near Haddon Heights.
Yesterday Paul Woodward, termed a cigarette fiend and a reader of trashy novels, was placed on trial in Camden before Judge Garrison, on indictments charging him with the murder of John Coffin.
Directly the doors of the court room were opened a crowd of men and women made a mad rush for seats, and the constables with difficulty restrained them. In a few minutes every seat had been taken and the throng awaited expectantly for a glimpse of the accused youth. The space reserved for members of the bar was filled, too, with many lawyers interested in the outcome of what doubtless will prove one of the most famous murder trials in Camden county.
Court Opened
A few minutes after 10 o’clock Judge Garrison arrived, court was formally opened and Prosecutor of the Pleas Frank T. Lloyd read the list of the State’s witnesses, nearly sixty in number. In the meantime Constable Christman had been dispatched for Woodward, and before the Prosecutor had completed reading the list of witnesses the accused youth appeared by way of the “Bridge of Sighs,” which connects the county jail with the Court House.
Immediately he was the cynosure of all eyes, but he did not appear to heed the gaze of the spectators. Pulling up his trousers with a sailor-like motion he walked buoyantly to his seat in the prisoner’s dock. His counsel, Lawyers Robinson and Daniels, of Philadelphia, and William Rex, of Camden, greeted him with, “How do you feel, Paul?”
He Couldn’t Kick
“All right; I can’t kick,” he replied, nonchalantly, and he settled himself down in the chair until only the top of his peculiarly shaped head was visible. He was less excited than many spectators. He had the appearance more of an undersized boy than a man—he is 25[?] years old, and not 19[?], as has been stated.
His hair, jet black, was plastered down on his head with scrupulous care. In fact, he very evidently took more pains in arranging his hair than his clothing, which was ill-fitting. His low-cut vest had fancy gilded buttons as large as a quarter, while his trousers, the same he wore when apprehended for the crime, were of a coarse material, navy blue, and several sizes too large for him.
Prisoner’s Parents There
Shortly after court convened, Woodward’s parents appeared, accompanied by a little girl, said to be Woodward’s sister. The family occupied seats among the spectators, taking keen interest in the proceedings.
Prosecutor Lloyd moved the indictment against Woodward for the murder of John Coffin. The other indictment, charging him with the murder of Price Jennings, will not be pressed unless in the event of an acquittal in the Coffin case. After Lawyer Rex had introduced his Philadelphia colleagues, the task of securing a jury was begun. The entire panel of forty-eight was exhausted when only ten jurors had been selected. A special panel was called before the other two were secured.
As finally selected, the jury composes the following: George Asay, Voorhees township, foreman; William Powell, Gloucester township; William Anderson, Pensauken; Charles Eisley, Waterford; Thomas J. Atkinson, Fourth ward; Wilson English, Tenth ward; Harry Avis, Second ward; George H. Stinford, Sr., Fifth ward; John M. Hyde, Twelfth ward; William Heggan, Tenth ward; John St. Clair, Third ward; Charles S. Hess, Fifth ward.
Case Presented
It was two o’clock in the afternoon before Assistant Prosecutor F. Morse Archer opened for the State. He said the State would show the cause of death to be the result of strychnine poisoning; that on the Monday and Tuesday preceding the disappearance of the boys Woodward was seen loitering about the Linden public school inquiring for Coffin and Jennings; that he met them the following Wednesday at Front and Penn streets and was heard to make an appointment to meet them in the country; that he did meet them on the White Horse pike and was seen entering the lane off Chew’s Landing road to the spot where the bodies were found. Mr. Archer also said the State would prove the defendant appeared at the Coffin house the day following the disappearance of the boys and offered his services to locate them. He said it would be proven Woodward showed a friend valuables and money taken from the bodies before the boys were known to be dead. The State would offer statements made by the defendant and on the strength of the above a verdict of first degree was asked.
First Witnesses
Clarence Krewson and Harry Patton, of Haddon Heights, were the first witnesses called. They told how they came across the body of Jennings lying under a chestnut tree while they were returning from a blackbird hunt. They described the general appearance of the body and said there were no evidences of a struggle.
Mary Ward, colored, told how she had found the body of Coffin while piloting a newspaper man to the spot where young Jennings lay.
County Physician William S. Jones described the postmortem examination. He said he did not ascertain the cause of death. There were no external marks or bruises and nothing to indicate as to how the boys had met death. He testified to removing the viscera of both boys and turning them over to Chemist George M. Beringer in hermetically sealed glass jars.
Professor William C. Copeland, of Jefferson Medical College, told how he had made an autopsy on the bodies. He said they were carefully examined for evidences of external bruises, but none were found. He said there were some marks of discoloration, which probably resulted from postmortem changes. There were no evidences of death from unnatural causes.
Judge Garrison adjourned court until this morning, when Professor Copeland will resume his testimony.
Frog Killed in Jersey Court
Philadelphia Inquirer —
Queer Experiment in Trial of Youth for Murder of Two Boys
By Associated Press to The Patriot.
CAMDEN, N. J., Nov. 13.—A frog was poisoned in court to-day to show a jury the agonies of a human being dying as a result of being poisoned with strychnine.
Paul Woodward, who is alleged to have lured two boys, Brice [sic] Jennings and Paul [sic] Coffin, from this city, into the woods, and having caused their death with strychnine, was on trial, and Professor Marshall, of the University of Pennsylvania, was testifying. He took some of the poison extracted from the liver of Paul [sic] Coffin and forced it into a live frog.
The jury and all others in court became intensely interested. In a few minutes the frog went into convulsions. The professor explained the action of the drug as the frog, writhing, exhibited all the agonies the boy had suffered as he died. The experiment caused a sensation in the court room.
Woodward Bought Poison, Says Druggist
Philadelphia Inquirer —
Telling Points Brought Out at Woodward’s Trial
Fellow-prisoner in county jail swore that Woodward told him he (Woodward) placed strychnine poison in water, which the Coffin and Jennings boys drank.
Druggist testified to having sold strychnine poison to Woodward.
Philadelphian swore that Woodward, after the alleged murder, showed him a silver watch and a ring, the latter inscribed “Brother to Fayetta,” and the prisoner asked the witness if he had heard of the murder in Camden.
Miss Fayetta Jennings, aunt of Price Jennings, testified that on the day he disappeared he was seated in her room in which there were some envelopes containing small sums of money. After he left some of the money was found missing, as well as a ring inscribed “Brother to Fayetta.”
Fellow Prisoner Tells of a Confession Made by the Alleged Murderer — Relatives of Dead Boys Give Damaging Testimony
“He said he put the poison in a can of water and gave it to the boys who wanted a drink,” said David J. Horgan, yesterday, star witness in the murder case of Paul Woodward, who is being tried for his life before Judge Garrison, in Camden, on the charge of killing John Coffin and W. Price Jennings. It was the culmination of many important points brought out by the State against Woodward.
First a witness was produced who proved Woodward had purchased strychnine from a Camden drug store on two separate occasions. Then his actions on the day of the murder were traced by witnesses whose testimony could not be shaken.
Horgan, the last witness called during the day, was the most important and Prosecutor Lloyd through him scored a point against the defendant.
Horgan is a Gloucester saloonkeeper serving four months in the county jail for illegal liquor selling. To him Woodward told how he had killed the boys. The witness said he had spoken to the defendant several times since he has been confined in the jail, both their cells being on the third tier. Woodward asked him if he thought he would be hanged. Horgan told him he did not think so. Then Woodward told him the story.
Horgan’s Story
“Woodward said he met the boys at the Haddon avenue station on Wednesday afternoon,” said Horgan. Then Woodward said they went out the White Horse pike and stopped at the Cyclers’ Rest, at West Collingswood and bought three pies and three bottles of soda water. Then they continued their way to Haddon Heights and to the field where the bodies were found.
“At that place Woodward told me he got a can and filled it with water. He said he put the poison in the water and gave it to the boys, who wanted a drink. I asked Woodward how he had left the boys. He said they were sitting in the field and both were complaining of headache. He left them and said he was going to Haddonfield for a doctor. What he did after he got there Woodward did not say.”
Horgan also said Woodward told him he secured $12 in bills, a gold ring, a silver watch and breastpin from the boys. He spent one dollar, but the Saturday morning following he dropped the balance of the money, which was in a pocketbook, and the jewelry in the Delaware while crossing in a ferryboat.
Prisoner’s Actions
All during the testimony Woodward moved about in his seat and when Horgan spoke of the method of administering the poison, the accused youth gave a low, nervous chuckle. His face reddened and he appeared to be more moved than at any time previous during the trial.
The first witness called yesterday by Prosecutor Lloyd was Isaac G. Seibert, a drug clerk, now at Trenton, but who was formerly employed at Collins’ Pharmacy, Third and Arch streets, Camden. Seibert is one of the most important witnesses for the State, because through him was established a missing link in the chain of evidence, namely, just where and how Woodward purchased the poison.
Seibert said he had seen the defendant before at Collins’ Pharmacy. He said he sold Woodward strychnine on two occasions, once in the summer and again sometime before the murder. He sold on each occasion from two to five grains of strychnine. Woodward gave a plausible excuse saying, on his first visit he wished to kill a cat. When he returned the second time he said the previous dose had done no good and he wanted more.
Major Edward Coffin, the grandfather of John Coffin, was next called. He said he lived on a farm near Ashland, N. J. Woodward was there last August while Major Coffin’s grandsons were enjoying their vacations, and the boys became friendly.
Brother Testifies
William Coffin, a brother of the murdered boy, said he saw Woodward the Monday preceding the tragedy, and he asked young Coffin as to the whereabouts of his brother John. On the following Thursday Coffin again saw Woodward, who said John knew of a boy who had $800, and they were going South. He asked to be employed to find the boys and wanted a railroad ticket. Coffin identified a watch shown him by the Prosecutor as one belonging to him. John had a similar watch, he said.
Mary Eiler, a school girl, said on Wednesday, October 1, she was coming home from school, and at Front and Penn streets saw John Coffin and Price Jennings in company with a young man who she since recognized as Woodward.
“I heard Price Jennings say he would meet Woodward at a place in the country,” said the witness.
At Cyclers’ Rest
Lillian Marshall, daughter of the proprietor of Cyclers’ Rest, on the White Horse pike and Collings road, said that on Wednesday, October 1, two boys came to her father’s place. They bought three pies and three bottles of soft drinks. Afterwards a third boy came in.
“Who was the third boy to come in?” was asked.
“Paul Woodward; that’s him there,” said Miss Marshall, pointing to the defendant.
She said John Coffin paid for the drinks and pies.
John C. Farmer, colored, a gardener employed by James Carroll at Haddon Heights, said he saw the defendant twice on Wednesday, October 1, once when he was driving the Carroll family to the railroad station and again on his return. On the latter occasion he saw the boys had turned into the Lippincott farm and had stopped in a woods. Woodward was sitting on a rail pile. The following Saturday Farmer saw the body of Jennings in the field and at once recognized it as one of the trio of boys he had seen.
Mrs. Coffin Testifies
“Mrs. Coffin,” called the Prosecutor, and there was a hush as the mother of the murdered boy appeared. She was in deep mourning and when she threw back her heavy black veil a sweet, motherly face was seen. She shook with emotion and occasionally wept bitterly. Many spectators were moved and half the jurymen turned away with their eyes filled with tears. Only Woodward looked on with his stoical nonchalance.
Mrs. Coffin, amid sobs, said she had seen her boy on the Wednesday of his disappearance when he came from school. He took out a little silver watch and asked if he could get it fixed. Mrs. Coffin was shown a watch, but she said it belonged to her other boy, similar to the one owned by John. On the morning following John’s disappearance, Woodward visited her and she asked him if he knew where her boy was. Mrs. Coffin said she cried and Paul said: “Don’t cry; he’ll come back.”
Later the same day she again saw Woodward. On this occasion he was well dressed. On his previous visit he was dressed like a tramp.
Father on the Stand
William Coffin, father of the boy, was called and said he had seen a man answering Woodward’s description loitering about his house early the Thursday morning suceeding [sic] the murder. This was between 3 and 4 o’clock. Mr. Coffin had not gone to bed because of worriment over his boy. He heard some one in his vestibule, and, hurrying down stairs, saw a figure resembling Woodward several doors above.
William F. Smith, a news agent at the Haddon avenue station, said Woodward wanted to buy his watch. Woodward said he expected to have some money about the 1st or 2d of October.
James Sheiding, who has been locked up since Friday, October 10, as a witness, was placed on the witness stand. He said he talked with Woodward the afternoon of October 3. At that time Woodward said he guessed there was a murder in Camden as two boys were missing. Later the defendant pulled out a ring and wanted him to pawn it for $4. Again Woodward pulled a watch from his pocket. This was a silver watch, the same as the one belonging to young Coffin’s brother.
Telltale Ring
Lee Hubert also testified to seeing a gold ring in the possession of Woodward on the inside of which was engraved: “Brother to Fayetta,” the latter the aunt of the Jennings boys.
Miss Fayetta Jennings said when Price, the missing boy, disappeared he took with him about $9 from a box and also a ring in which was engraved “Brother to Fayetta.”
Joseph Jennings, father of one of the murdered boys, told of giving the ring to his sister Fayetta.
After County Detective John Smith had testified to getting a duplicate watch and ring from the Coffin and Jennings home, David Horgan was called.
When court adjourned until this morning Woodward was blazing with anger. Especially did he berate Horgan.
It was stated Woodward will probably be placed on the stand next Monday.
The frogs which were injected with acetic acid and strychnine on Thursday by Dr. Marshall to demonstrate the action of the poison on the system, were alive yesterday and had apparently fully recovered.
Detective Smith.
Prosecutor Lloyd.
Joseph Jennings Identifies the Ring.
Daniel Horgan.
Cycler’s Rest.
Woodward’s Parents on Stand; Boy in a Rage
Philadelphia Inquirer —
State Rests Its Case and the Defense Opens With an Effort to Prove an Alibi. Father and Mother Say Paul Was at Home
A Characteristic Pose of the Prisoner as He Sits in the Dock. Woodward’s Mother Testifying. Witness Myers. Woodward’s Father on the Witness Stand.
“I wish I had a good gun; I’d get a bead on Lloyd and plug him sure,” Paul Woodward is said to have remarked yesterday to Constable Christman as he crossed the “bridge of sighs” from the Camden Court House to the county jail at the conclusion of the fourth day of his trial on the charge of killing John Coffin. He was angered at the merciless cross-examination of his mother by Prosecutor Lloyd during the last half hour of the session.
A few minutes before court adjourned he leaned over to Lawyer Robinson, one of his counsel, and uttered a string of oaths.
“Be quiet; I insist that you do not talk,” urged the attorney.
“He’s got no right to talk to her that way, and I won’t stand for it. He didn’t do that to the other witnesses,” replied the prisoner as he resumed his crouching position in the chair and glared defiantly at the Prosecutor.
After offering the dead boys’ clothing, the plan of the country at Haddon Heights and the watch and ring introduced in the case, Prosecutor Lloyd at 10.35 o’clock said: “The State rests its case.”
Defense Opens
Lawyer Maurice Daniels, of counsel for the defense, occupied but a few minutes in opening the case to the jury. He said the defense would prove that Paul Woodward could not have been on the White Horse pike when the State’s witnesses say he was, and that it was highly improbable the boys died from strychnine poisoning. He concluded by saying that every moment of the time of Paul Woodward, from Wednesday, when the boys disappeared, until his arrest, would be accounted for by reputable witnesses.
Charles May, of 221 Benson street, the Woodward home, said that on Wednesday, October 1, Paul was home until after 11 o’clock in the morning. He went out for a short time and returned, as was his custom, to do errands before dinner. Dinner was eaten at about 3 o’clock. After that time Paul did not go out. On Thursday Paul went out to look for work, and came in at 11.30 in the morning. He stayed in to dinner and spent the rest of the day mending clothing and shoes. Friday he went to Philadelphia to pay lodge dues, and did not return until Saturday afternoon.
Two Days Missing
On cross-examination the witness could not tell what the defendant did on the Monday and Tuesday preceding. He finally admitted that “Paul was generally home if he wasn’t in the country.”
Thomas Woodward, the boy’s father, said he is employed as a watchman for the Reading Railroad Company and worked at night. On October 1 he got home at 7.45 in the morning and Paul was there. When he got up at 11.30 o’clock Paul was still there. Paul took dinner with him at 3 o’clock, and was still at home when he started for work at 5 o’clock. On Thursday he was out in the morning, but remained in the remainder of the day. Friday he went to Philadelphia and returned on Saturday.
Mother Testifies
“Mrs. Bella Woodward,” called Mr. Daniels. Instantly all necks were craned. Mrs. Woodward entered the court room in an unconcerned manner and took her seat in the witness box. She testified in a firm voice, and only displayed feeling under the cross-examination of Prosecutor Lloyd.
She said that on Wednesday, October 1, she left Paul at home about 10 o’clock in the morning and went to Philadelphia to attend to some lodge matters. She returned about 1.45 in the afternoon. Paul was not there, but came in a few minutes later. After dinner at 3 o’clock he did not go out until the next morning. Thursday morning she gave him $2. He went out and purchased a pair of shoes and came back in the afternoon, about 2 o’clock. He spent the balance of the afternoon mending his clothing. He did not go out at night.
Friday she gave Paul $5 to go to Philadelphia to pay dues amounting to $4.16 to the Home Circle, an organization of which her husband is a member. He did not pay the dues and did not return until the next afternoon at about half-past 1 o’clock.
Knew Mrs. Barber
Continuing, Mrs. Woodward said she knew Mrs. Edith Barber very well; that she had visited her for a period of seven weeks; that she intended to give her a silk dress and that she had two real estate agents looking for a farm for her which she wanted to purchase with money she was to get from an estate.
“I think it was on July 9 that I gave Paul money and sent him to Collins’ drug store to buy some strychnine,” said the mother. “We had thirty homing pigeons and the cats were killing them. I told him to give his name and address to the druggist. We put the poison on bread and butter and placed the pieces on the top of the pigeon house. It stayed there three days and as the cats wouldn’t touch it I took the pieces down and burned them.
“About the first week in September I sent him to the same place to purchase more strychnine. He got it and when he returned we put it on meat and placed the meat on top of the pigeon house. The next morning we found one dead cat, the meat all gone, and we haven’t been bothered with cats very much since.”
Paul’s Age
“How old is Paul?” asked Prosecutor Lloyd on cross-examination.
“Twenty-four last April,” was the reply.
“Didn’t you tell me in my office that he was only 18?”
“Yes, sir.”
“In the face of the fact that he is 24 you told me he was but 18?”
“Yes, but I wasn’t on my oath, then.”
“Then you said what was not true?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Have you ever been convicted of crime?”
“No, sir.”
Were you not tried in the Court of Quarter Sessions of Philadelphia in June, 1895, for obtaining a carpet valued at $56 from Edward Whitehall by the false representation that you owned the premises 1313 Mt. Vernon street, Philadelphia?”
“No, sir.”
“Did you not serve nine months in the county prison for that crime?”
“No, sir.”
The Boy Angry
It was at this time that Woodward, who was eying the prosecutor like a hawk, made strong objections to his counsel as to the manner in which his mother was being examined.
The prosecutor then took up a certified copy of a record and asked her a number of questions on the same subject. She denied all knowledge of the crime and the names of the witnesses.
At the conclusion of the cross-examination Mr. Daniels handed her a silver watch and chain, which she said belonged to Willie May and was the same one Paul took to Philadelphia.
Mr. Daniels also handed her a plain gold ring. She said it had been Paul’s for over twelve years, but he had not worn it until three years ago, because it was too large for his finger.
“Where did you get that ring?” asked the Prosecutor.
“A young man gave it to me.”
“His name, please?”
“Joseph Harback; he was in prison in Philadelphia and we did him a favor.”
This concluded the testimony of the day. The ring introduced by the defense contains the letters “C. K.,” engraved in old English. Court adjourned until to-morrow morning.
Woodward Spent a Quiet Sunday
Philadelphia Inquirer —
Apparently Buoyed Up by the Efforts of His Counsel, Who Now Have Their Inning
Paul Woodward, the young man on trial for his life before Judge Garrison, charged with the murder of little John Coffin, spent a quiet Sunday in his cell in the Camden county jail. He ate his meals as usual and gave no evidence whatever of being affected by the ordeal through which he has passed since last Wednesday. Since the defense has opened its case he appears to be more cheerful, presumably expectant of something occurring before the end of the trial that will strengthen his chances of acquittal.
The trial has caused more comment in Camden than anything since the time Eli Shaw was accused of the murder of his mother and grandmother some years ago.
There was great surprise manifested when Lawyer Daniels, in outlining the defense, said it would be proven Woodward could not have been present when the crime was committed, and the subsequent attempt to prove an alibi. Woodward may be placed on the stand to-day and it remains to be seen how his story will stand the keen cross-examination of Prosecutor Lloyd. One of the features of the trial has been the manner in which the jury has noticed every move and characteristic of the defendant as he sits in the prisoners’ dock.
The jurymen were yesterday taken out for exercise. They were accompanied by constables and walked about the streets for some time.
Several letters have been received at the county jail, where Woodward is incarcerated, from persons who are desirous of securing the young man’s brain in the event of him being convicted and hanged.
Woodward Smiled When He Heard Death Verdict
Philadelphia Inquirer —
Camden Trial Came to a Sudden End With the Jury Returning a Conviction of Murder in the First Degree, After Deliberating Less Than an Hour
Attorney Robinson Making His Address to the Jury. Paul Woodward in Foreground.
Interior View of Camden Court House in Which the Case Was Heard and Which Has Been the Scene of Many Famous Murder Trials.
Paul Woodward was last evening found guilty of murdering little John Coffin, whose body, with that of W. Price Jennings, was found in a field near Haddon Heights on October 4. Woodward’s trial began last Wednesday before Judge Garrison in Camden.
The jury retired at 3.45 o’clock, after a brief charge by Judge Garrison. At twenty minutes to 5 o’clock an agreement had been reached, but it was two minutes to 6 o’clock before Judge Garrison arrived, he having gone to his home at Merchantville.
In the meantime Woodward had been brought into the court room, and after the jury had filed in he was told to stand up. He arose without a tremor, looked at the ceiling, at the Judge and then turned to the twelve men who had his fate in their hands. His peculiar features lit up with a broad grin when the County Clerk said:
“Jury look upon the prisoner; prisoner look upon the jury.”
Guilty of Murder
Then when the jury was finally asked for its verdict and the foreman had solemnly announced “Guilty of murder in the first degree,” Woodward, apparently unmindful of the import of the words, turned to his counsel and laughed with a low chuckle. Each juror was polled and each man repeated “guilty of murder in the first degree.”
“The prisoner may retire,” said Judge Garrison, and with a sidelong glance at his counsel Woodward was led across the “bridge of sighs” to his cell in the county jail. He laughed loudly and slapped his custodian on the back in a playful mood, as if the whole proceedings had been a joke, but when he reached the jail he let go a tirade of profanity against the Prosecutor and those who appeared against him. He remarked that he did not care what became of him, all he cared for, he said, was his mother.
Motion for New Trial
Lawyer Rex immediately made a motion for a new trial, Judge Garrison stating he would hear argument on a date to be set. The jury was then discharged.
One of the features of the last day was the reappearance of Woodward’s mother, haggard, careworn and her eyes swollen with weeping. She was recalled to testify she had sworn falsely on Saturday when she denied even having been convicted of crime.
The climax in the defense’s case occurred in the morning, when Woodward, the defendant, was placed on the stand to testify. When he took his seat his eyes roamed about the room. He looked everywhere except in the direction of the jury. He admitted he was with the murdered boys, but denied absolutely having killed them. The alibi the defense tried to build about him during the period of the boys’ disappearance, was practically destroyed by contradictions made by Woodward concerning his movements. All the statements he made to Prosecutor Lloyd immediately following his arrest, he said, were false. He said he told the different stories because he was “scared.” The defense also tried to prove both boys were alive on Friday, October 3.
The defense called Dr. J. A. Leuf as an expert. He described the effects of strychnine on the human system. He said there were several other poisons that might have similar effects.
No Rebuttal Testimony
To the surprise of the assemblage no rebuttal testimony was given, Prosecutor Lloyd at once beginning his argument. He spoke for over an hour and at times was eloquent. He said the State asked for nothing but a first degree verdict, as the facts developed could have no other result consistent with the oath of the jury. It was a case of premeditation because there was first, an attempt at robbery, and second, because there was an attempt to do great bodily harm. The State, he said, had proved the crime against Woodward and followed him almost to the death bed of the boys.
Lawyer Robinson opened for the defense. He spoke for over an hour. “Paul is not guilty and if you follow the evidence you must acquit him,” concluded the defense.
Judge Garrison’s charge lasted just four minutes. He explained the law covering the case. He said anyone administering poison for robbery was guilty of murder in the first degree. If, however, it was not proven to the jury beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant administered the poison, then he should be acquitted.
The jury then retired at 3.45.
Another postal card was received yesterday, asking for Woodward’s brain, but these seekers after the convicted man’s gray matter will be disappointed.
Thinks Woodward Is Deficient
Philadelphia Inquirer —
That Paul Woodward, the Camden murderer of John Coffin and W. Price Jennings, is mentally deficient is likely to be made the basis of a plea by his counsel for commutation of the death penalty in his case before the Board of Pardons. That his conduct since conviction has been such as to furnish some ground for the appeal is believed by some of those with whom he has come in contact.
Far from being impressed by his terrible position Woodward laughs and jokes with his jailers.
He does not want ordinary prison fare. He asked a turnkey if a convicted murderer was not entitled to have his meals, including wine, brought from a restaurant. When he was jocularly told that he was, he exclaimed:
“Maybe I won’t live high! Then, I don’t care for myself; all I care for is my mother.”
During the day he saw James Bland, who is accused of the murder of James Morrisey. To Bland he said:
“Oh! don’t you get gay; you won’t eat your Christmas dinner either.”
Woodward Desires No Spiritual Advice
Philadelphia Inquirer —
Counsel for Paul Woodward, convicted for murdering John Coffin, have little hopes of getting a new trial for their client. The Board of Pardons may be asked to commute his sentence.
When asked whether he wanted a spiritual adviser yesterday Woodward replied: “No. I guess they could do me no good.”
No New Trial for Murderer Woodward
Philadelphia Inquirer —
Counsel for Paul Woodward, convicted of murdering John Coffin, will not ask Judge Garrison for a new trial to-day, as they had announced.
The Board of Pardons will be appealed to, when counsel will try to prove the irresponsibility of the convicted man, who may be sentenced to-day.
Woodward to Go to Gallows on January 7
Philadelphia Inquirer —
Camden Murderer Hears His Doom With a Smile, Then Curses Wildly
VISITED BY PARENTS
They Tell the Prisoner an Effort to Secure Life Imprisonment Will Be Made
Justice Garrison in Camden yesterday sentenced Paul Woodward to be hanged on January 7 for the murder of John Coffin and Walter Price Jennings near Haddon Heights on October 1.
Smiled, Then Swore
When sentence was pronounced Woodward smiled. As Sheriff Mines escorted him across “the bridge of sighs” he uttered vile curses and said that everybody connected with the case was a liar and that he was innocent. The prisoner’s counsel withdrew the motion for a new trial. The death watch will be placed on duty to-morrow.
Visited by Parents
Yesterday afternoon the condemned man was visited by his father and mother, who buoyed him up with the statement that every effort will be made to have the Court of Appeals commute his sentence to life imprisonment. So far the young murderer has refused to have a spiritual adviser.
Judge Garrison named the following as the court jury to attend the execution: Patrick Harding, Frank S. Albright, William J. Paul, Thomas Walton, D[avid] E. Barry, Edward Wilcox, Drs. William H. Iszard, J. F. Leavitt, William H. Knowlton, William Miles and George H. Chapman.
Death Watch on Woodward
Philadelphia Inquirer —
The death watch was yesterday placed on Paul Woodward, the young man in the Camden County Jail under sentence of death for murdering John Coffin and W. Price Jennings. He is under surveillance day and night. Yesterday he acted queerly, as though making an effort to have his jailors believe him insane.
Woodward Had Many Vices
Philadelphia Inquirer —
Some Things That Prosecutor Lloyd Held Back
From the Prosecutor’s office in Camden it is learned that much more evidence was in hand than that which was presented against Paul Woodward, convicted of murdering John Coffin and W. Price Jennings and who is under sentence to be hanged. The Prosecutor had knowledge that Woodward blackmailed a South Camden woman and her husband, almost resulting in a separation. Then he is said to have proposed to a young man a scheme of operating a “knock-out” resort.
One of his plans for getting money, it is said, was to play detective by going to certain women, telling them of misconduct on the part of their husbands and demanding a fee for watching the latter. Then he would turn around and work the same scheme on the men.
Were His Ruin.
Kalamazoo Gazette —
Cigarettes Make Him a Demon and a Murderer.
Camden, N. J., Nov. 28.—“Cigarettes have been my ruin. I will never smoke another,” said Paul Woodward, the condemned murderer of John Coffin and Price Jennings, who has been sentenced to death.
“Since I was a small boy I have smoked those things,” Woodward continued, "and they have driven me crazy. Yes, I am dangerously crazy. I do things against my own will. Sometimes I feel some demon within me that impels me to do injury to my dearest friends.
“I am going to stop smoking cigarettes from now on. I want to be a different man before I die. I do not expect to have my sentence commuted to life imprisonment. In fact, I would rather be hanged than stay in jail all my life.”
The turnkeys at the county jail say Woodward has not spent an hour while awake without a cigarette in his mouth. He falls asleep with them in his mouth.
“Cigarettes Made Me Dangerously Crazy”
Salt Lake Telegram —
So Says Paul Woodward, the Condemned Murderer of Two Boys.
PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 1.—“Cigarettes have been my ruin. I will never smoke another,” said Paul Woodward, the condemned murderer of Paul [sic] Coffin and Price Jennings, in the Camden jail.
“Since I was a small boy I have smoked those things,” Woodward continued, “and they have driven me crazy. Yes, I am dangerously crazy. I do things against my own will. Sometimes I feel some demon within me that impels me to do injury to my dearest friends.”
Good Price for Expert Testimony
Philadelphia Inquirer —
Camden county will have to pay $3100 for the expert testimony which figured in the State’s case in the murder trial of Paul Woodward, who was convicted of murder. The bill was presented to Auditor George, of the Board of Freeholders, yesterday. The bill is divided as follows:
Dr. Marshall, toxicologist, $1200; Geo. M. Beringer, chemist, $1200; Dr. Coplin and assistants who performed the autopsy on the bodies, $350; Professor Hobart Hare, medical expert, $300, and $50 for sundries.
Murderer Woodward Visited by a Minister
Philadelphia Inquirer —
Rev. Gilbert R. Underhill, rector of St. John’s P. E. Church, Camden, visited Paul Woodward, the condemned murderer, in the Camden county jail yesterda[y] and had a long talk with him. After the interview Woodward expressed himself as well pleased with the clergyman’s visit and said he liked the minister better than any of the others who had called.
To one of the jailors he said he realized that he must die and when the time came he would walk unflinchingly to the gallows.
Woodward’s mother and sister, the latter a pretty girl not yet out of her teens, and a student in a Philadelphia college, called on the doomed man yesterday and spent several hours with him.
Will Try to Save Woodward’s Neck
Philadelphia Inquirer —
An effort will be made to-day by counsel for Paul Woodward, the Camden youth, under sentence to be hanged January 7, for the murder of John Coffin and W. Price Jennings, to have a special meeting of the Board of Pardons held to present Woodward’s case. The board will be asked to commute Woodward’s sentence to life imprisonment on the ground he is mentally unsound.
Annoys Prisoners With “Music”?
Philadelphia Inquirer —
Paul Woodward, the Camden youth under sentence to be hanged January 7, is the bane of the inmates of the county jail. Some days ago visitors gave him a few pennies. With the money he had Death Watch Voigt purchase a tin whistle and a mouth organ. With these instruments, which he cannot play half well, he annoys the inmates of the jail all night long.
Murderer Given Talking Machine
Philadelphia Inquirer —
Woodward, Condemned Boy Slayer, Operates Phonograph in the County Jail
IS HAVING LOTS OF FUN
Familiar Strains Ring Through the Cells to Youthful Prisoner’s Great Delight
Paul Woodward, sentenced to be hanged on January 7 in the Camden jail, asked permission of Sheriff Mines to have a talking machine in “Hangman’s Row” so that his fellow-prisoners might not be annoyed by his attempts to perform on a whistle and harmonica.
The request was granted. Last night the strains of “Lead, Kindly Light,” and “Abide With Me,” followed by a number of Sousa’s marches rang through the jail. The prisoners joined in the chorus of the songs. The condemned man got a whole lot of delight out of the phonograph, which he manipulated until a late hour.
Plenty of Amusement for Young Woodward
Philadelphia Inquirer —
Between his tin whistle, mouthorgan and gramaphone and book of “Arabian Nights,” Paul Woodward, the youthful Camden murderer who will be hanged January 7 for murdering John Coffin and W. Price Jennings, spent a busy Sunday. His new diversion, the gramaphone, was of course his main attraction. He has about eighty records of songs, speeches and orchestral music. These selections broke the monotony to many scores of prisoners, the squeaky voices and musical notes being heard all over the jail.
Woodward has given his whole thought to his amusements. If he dreads January 7 he gives no evidence of the fact.
Pardon Board on Woodward’s Case
Philadelphia Inquirer —
Governor Will Reprieve Prisoner If Action Is Not Taken by December 24
Special to The Inquirer.
TRENTON, N. J., Dec. 16—The case of Paul Woodward, the condemned Camden murderer, is to be considered by the Court of Pardons. This was promised to-day by Governor Murphy to Lawyer Fred A. Rex. Governor Murphy says if the case has not been reached when the court adjourns, December 24, he will grant Woodward a reprieve until some action is taken.
Mr. Rex’s ground for appeal is that there was some intermarrying of relatives in Woodward’s family which might justify a degree of insanity that would warrant the commutation of the condemned man’s sentence.
In the jail at Camden Woodward continues to amuse himself with his gramophone. He is sanguine of getting his death sentence commuted. He eats and sleeps regularly and apparently does not worry in the least.
Knife Found in Woodward’s Cell
Philadelphia Inquirer —
Its Discovery Apparently Explains the Murderer’s Declaration That He Would Never Be Hanged
The seeming confidence with which Paul Woodward, sentenced to be hanged January 7 in the Camden county jail for the murder of the Jennings and Coffin boys, expressed himself that he would not be executed was easily accounted for when in a search of his cell the other day a pocket knife with an edge as keen as a razor was found.
Several times had the officials searched the cell thoroughly as they supposed. Each time Wodward [sic] met their efforts with a mocking laugh. Convinced that there was something hidden one of the “watch” placed his fingers in a pipe in the cell and pulled forth the knife. Woodward has not done very much talking since—except to his favorite keeper.
During the past few days his mother, baby sister, elder sister and minister have spent many hours with him.
The jailors say that Woodward pays very little attention to any of them. They seem to think the strain is telling heavily on him and that before the day of execution he will collapse. They say he spends the greater portion of his time in asking and solving riddles.
Last night Woodward’s mother and younger sister visited the jail and took home his phonograph, horn and records.
Trying to Save Woodward’s Neck
Philadelphia Inquirer —
The New Jersey Court of Pardons, in secret session, yesterday, gave a hearing to counsel for Paul Woodward, the Camden murderer, who is under sentence to be hanged on January 7. Counsel asked for a commutation of sentence on the ground of insanity.
The court postponed decision in the matter until next Tuesday, in order to give counsel an opportunity to present testimony.
Murderer Woodward Had Merry Christmas
Philadelphia Inquirer —
Paul Woodward, the youthful murderer in the Camden County Jail under sentence of death for killing John Coffin and W. Price Jennings, spent a happy Christmas.
It was a happy one because he had plenty to eat—stewed chicken, mince pie, candy, etc.—and also because he has an idea he will not be hanged, at least on January 7.
Last Effort to Save Woodward
Philadelphia Inquirer —
Lawyer Frederick A. Rex, counsel for Paul Woodward, the youth under sentence to be hanged January 7 for the murder of John Coffin and W. Price Jennings, will go to Trenton to-day to ask that Woodward’s sentence be commuted to life imprisonment.
Woodward’s counsel has little prospect of getting anything favorable from the Board of Pardons, however.
Woodward’s Last Hope Vanished
Philadelphia Inquirer —
Court of Pardons Refuses to Interfere in Case of Camden’s Condemned Murderer
Special to The Inquirer.
TRENTON, N. J., Dec. 30.—The Court of Pardons in special session this afternoon refused to interfere in the case of Paul Woodward, now under sentence of death in Camden for the killing of the Coffin and Jennings boys, and aged Mrs. Woodward, mother of the condemned youth, was sent back to her home a broken-hearted woman with the assurance that nothing short of a miracle will prevent the hanging of her son next week.
Lawyer Rex sent a letter to the court announcing that he had been unable to secure the additional evidence he expected and that it was not possible for him to present the case as he had anticipated. Prosecutor Lloyd, of Camden, then recited the events leading up to the sentencing of the youth and the application for commutation of sentence was dismissed.
Mrs. Woodward came to Trenton early to-day and remained at the State House until she was convinced there was no hope for her son.
Murderer Woodward Unconcerned
Philadelphia Inquirer —
Paul Woodward, who next week will be hanged for murdering little John Coffin and W. Price Jennings, spent the greater part of yesterday in his cell at the Camden county jail reading his Bible. While apparently unconcerned, he is being closely watched to prevent him from committing suicide. Sheriff Mines yesterday sent out invitations to the execution, January 7.
Unconcerned at Death’s Approach
Philadelphia Inquirer —
Despite the fact that Paul Woodward, Camden’s youthful murderer, has but a few days to live, he is in no wise affected. His appetite is as good as when he was first incarcerated. He is living high, being supplied from a near-by restaurant by order of Sheriff Mines. Yesterday he was visited by his father, mother and youngest sister. Later Rev. John Warnock called on him.
Woodward’s Last Sunday on Earth
Philadelphia Inquirer —
Listens to Religious Services in Jail and Threatens to “Call Down” Ministers
Paul Woodward, who has but two days more before he will be hanged for the murder of John Coffin and W. Price Jennings, spent his last Sunday in his cell at the county jail in Camden reading and smoking. He listened to the devotional services held in another part of the jail with apparent interest, but remarked: “If those preachers say anything about me I’ll call them down.” Woodward ate an enormous dinner ordered from a near-by restaurant, consisting of stewed chicken, fried oysters, rolls, coffee and other things.
The authorities seem to be of the opinion that Woodward will create a scene when he goes to the gallows next Wednesday. He is in much better physical condition than the day he was first incarcerated for his terrible crime, and unless all signs fail he will go to his death without being “carried on a chair,” as he recently remarked.
“I’ll Be a Dead One”—Woodward
Philadelphia Inquirer —
Nearing Day of Doom, Camden Murderer Facetiously Addressed a Grand Juryman Yesterday
With a little over twenty-four hours between him and eternity, Paul Woodward, the youthful Camden murderer, who will be hanged to-morrow morning for the cruel murder of two boys, continues his nonchalant manner.
After a brief visit from his father and mother yesterday Woodward took out his harmonica. A few minutes later the jail was filled with the strains of “In the Good Old Summer Time.” Then he took a turn at several marches. These selections were a prelude to his midday meal. This consisted of roast lamb, sweet potatoes, French peas, one-half dozen raw oysters, minced onions (raw), stewed fruit.
During the afternoon he was visited by several grand jurymen. One asked him if he realized his position.
“Yes, certainly,” said Woodward. “Wednesday I’ll be a dead one.” Then he turned on his heel and walked to the end of his cell.
Everything has been completed for the execution. The scaffold has been thoroughly tested.
Yesterday Woodward turned over to Sheriff Mines a signed statement in which, it is said, he declares his innocence. The Sheriff gave the paper to Rev. Mr. Warnock, the murderer’s spiritual adviser, who was requested by the condemned man to make its contents public on the day of his execution.
Woodward’s Nerve Fast Leaving Him
Philadelphia Inquirer —
Paul Woodward will be hanged at the Camden County Jail this morning, shortly after 10 o’clock, by Sheriff Mines, for the murder of two boys. Unless he regains his wonted nonchalance he will undoubtedly create a scene.
The condemned youth arose yesterday early, ate a hearty breakfast and read the newspapers. Then he whiled away the morning by playing popular airs on his harmonica.
When the dinner hour approached he said:
“Well, this will be my last dinner. It’s up to me to eat and I want my favorite dish. It’s rabbit.”
He enjoyed his meal with evident relish.
In the afternoon Rev. John Warnock, his spiritual adviser, visited him. Woodward listened to the clergyman with rather a bored expression.
Later his mother, father and two sisters took their farewell leave of the condemned youth. The women were much affected, the mother being supported from the jail. After his relatives had gone Woodward nonchalantly smoked a cigar and began reading a novel. Then he gave several selections on his harmonica.
Last night his appetite was as keen as ever. After his meal the doomed youth began to show the first signs of weakening. He sat in his hammock reading a prayer book. At times his lips trembled and his eyes filled with tears. This is the first evidence of emotion Woodward has shown.
Woodward Hanged To-Day
Wilkes-Barre Times —
CAMDEN, N. J., Jan. 7.—Paul Woodward, the youthful murderer of the boys, John Coffin and W. Price Jennings, was hanged at 10:01 this morning.
Sheriff Christopher J. Mines conducted the execution, which was his first, with decency and dispatch.
The crime for which Paul Woodward forfeited his life was the murder of two boys, John H. Coffin, and W. Price Jennings, aged 11 and 14 years, respectively. The former was the son of Wm. Coffin, division freight agent of the Pennsylvania railroad company and the latter of Joseph Jenkins, the well known leader of the Third Regiment band. [The line or lines joining crop 1 to crop 2 are not in the crops.] both of this city, on Wednesday morning, November 11 last. The boys left home ostensibly to visit the Trenton fair. As they did not return home that night the police were informed and a general alarm sent out. The following day the bodies were found near Haddon Heights. At once, the police set to work to apprehend the murderer. Woodward was indicted by the grand jury October 24 for poisoning with strychnine for the purpose of robbery. The trial lasted five days, the jury convicting him in the first degree November 17, only one ballot being taken. A reprieve was granted by Governor Murphy to carry the case before the board of pardons, but the latter refused to act in the case and the law took its course.
Woodward met his death bravely and without fear. For over an hour previous to his execution he sat in his cell playing on a harmonica, the Marseilles hymn and In the Good Old Summer Time as calmly as possible. He ate for breakfast ham and eggs. The Rev. John Warner called later and administered the last rites of the Episcopal Church. Woodward was busy smoking a cigarette during the march to the gallows, but it was taken from him before he reached the foot of the scaffold, where a guard wiped his face with a handkerchief. While standing on the trap he said to Sheriff Mines: “I would like to say something, please.”
The sheriff quickly arranged the black cap, adjusted the noose and pulled the lever, swinging Woodward into eternity. His neck was dislocated and his heart ceased beating at 10:11. The body was cut down a few minutes later and removed to Philadelphia, where it was interred.
Paul Woodward Goes to Gallows
Philadelphia Inquirer —
Murderer of Two Camden Boys Was Executed Without Creating a Scene
DECLARED HIS INNOCENCE
Floral Offerings From the Family, Body Was Interred in a Philadelphia Cemetery
Paul Woodward.
Just fourteen weeks to the day after the commission of his crime Paul Woodward, the murderer of John Coffin and W. Price Jennings, boys, was hanged at the county jail in Camden yesterday by Sheriff Christopher J. Mines. The youthful murderer walked to his death with a ghastly countenance and quivering lip. The drop fell at 10.03 and ten minutes later physicians pronounced him dead.
Woodward arose at half past 6 o’clock yesterday morning, after a sound sleep. He sent for the Prosecutor, to whom he protested his innocence.
Rev. John Warnock, the condemned man’s spiritual adviser, was offering the last words of consolation when Woodward was summoned by the Sheriff. Clad in a neat-fitting black suit, and with his hands manacled behind him, he was escorted to the execution room by County Detective Smith, Death Watches Paul and Voight, and Rev. Mr. Warnock. The court and Sheriff’s juries were awaiting with bared heads. Sheriff Mines stood near the foot of the gallows as the prisoner entered the door leading to the jail corridor.
Woodward, pale as death, had just a moment’s time before Sheriff Mines took him by the arm, led him up the thirteen steps to the platform, adjusted the black cap, knotted the rope, and a moment later the trap opened. Woodward shot down until his feet nearly touched the floor. The rope twisted and the body swung around for a few minutes. The physicians present said death had been painless. The body was taken down at 10.42, placed in charge of undertakers and deposited in a handsome casket, on the lid of which was
PAUL A. WOODWARD, Died January 7th, 1903, In his 25th year.
In a cab the family followed the hearse to a Philadelphia cemetery, where interment was made.
Just before the execution took place two floral pieces were taken into the jail to be placed on the casket. It was reported that they were sent by Woodward’s family.
One was a pillow of carnations and roses having in the centre in immortelles the word “Innocent.”
The other was a palm-shaped arrangement of greens and white carnations, tied with a satin ribbon on which were the words “Too Soon.”
Those who witnessed the hanging were surprised at the cool manner in which the murderer conducted himself just before the execution. He had been fully expected to make a scene.
The statement sworn to by Woodward before J. Fred George, notary public, was given out after the execution. It was a lengthy document. The youth admitted meeting young Coffin and Jennings, but said his original intention was not robbery. The two boys and he, he said, had agreed to rob several houses in the country.
The boys weakened and refused to be a party to the robberies. Then, according to the statement, he decided to kill the boys for self-protection. He said he had provided himself with pies in advance and the poison was placed in them.
Two other statements were given out by Woodward. Both were rambling stories and contradictory.
Murder Case Finally Closed
Philadelphia Inquirer —
The last chapter in the murder of John Coffin and W. Price Jennings, for which Paul Woodward was recently hanged, was enacted yesterday when Prosecutor Lloyd directed County Clerk Patterson to cancel the indictment charging Woodward with the murder of young Jennings. It was done simply to make the records in the case complete.
Philadelphia Inquirer — February 22, 1903
Strangest Scientific Experiments Ever Conducted for the Purpose of Treating Crime as a Disease and Eventually Eliminating the Entire Criminal Class
THE United States Government may within a short time establish a laboratory for the study of criminals which will be the most remarkable of its kind in the world. If the bill just favorably reported on by the Senate Judiciary Committee is acted upon by Congress and goes into effect as a law, this country will be in possession of an institution where criminals of all classes will come under the keen eye of scientific experts.
They will be diagnosed, measured and classified by celebrated criminologists and the data secured will be used in giving the malefactor himself an accurate criminal rating, precisely as the hospital patient who submits to an examination by specialists is pronounced either curable or incurable.
The new criminal laboratory is to be established at Washington in connection with the Department of Justice and its existence is the expression of the most advanced twentieth century ideas on the subject of criminology. Amazing as the statement may sound, the aim of the laboratory will be the suppression of habitual criminals, social evils and the defective and pauper classes, with the ultimate view of eliminating the criminal altogether.
The project, pruned of its technical details, is in substance as follows: A lawbreaker convicted of some grave offense will be hastened to the Laboratory of Criminology. Here he will be photographed, measured and thumb-printed by the most modern devices. Apparatus even in advance of those employed in the famous French Bertillion system will be applied, but more than this — the data secured will be utilized not only for purposes of future identification, but for reference and comparison.
The criminal's antecedents will be thoroughly investigated. It will be ascertained whether or not his criminal traits are hereditary. Was his father a criminal? What is his family history? Were any of his ancestors drunkards, insane or epileptics? These are only a few of the questions which will be asked.
Diagnosing a Criminal
Then the man's cranium and physiognomy will be analyzed. They may be normal or decidedly the contrary. If the latter, it must be determined whether he belongs to a degenerate type. The outlines of his cranium will be carefully compared with those of great criminals, men of genius and with those of the ape. Every dip and curvature of the features will be noted, taking into account the low forehead, receding chin and abnormal ear, but these measurements instead of being jotted down at haphazard will be scientifically recorded and afterward averaged up to denote the intellectual capacity of the subject.
An X-ray photograph will determine the relative size and configuration of his brain. His length of limb, breadth of hand, total height and muscular ability are all to be set down and when every measurement has been made and every important fact concerning his past life secured, the laboratory will file away a valuable report which can be used to advantage in comparison with other criminals.
As there are degrees of crime, so the law has decreed certain gradations of punishment. The mission of the Laboratory of Criminology is to determine to a fine point precisely in what degree a malefactor is responsible for his offense, and to compile statistics for use in the future adjustment of the penal codes of prisons and reform institutions.
Responsibility in crime is a subject which has lately engrossed public attention. The law courts may decide that a man is guilty of a certain crime, but it remains for men of science to say just how far a man is guilty from a medical standpoint and to prescribe methods of reform in addition to the legal penalty inflicted.
Dr. Arthur MacDonald, specialist in criminology for the Bureau of Education, and probably the most noted criminologist in this country, is the inventor of a number of instruments used for purposes of experiment upon criminals. These instruments are divided into four classes as follows: For measuring the bony structures of the body and the muscular development. For measuring the nerves in connection with the mental state. For measuring the degree of emotions indicated through movements of the chest in breathing and the flow of blood through the arm. For measuring the degree of suggestibility during the hypnotic state.
Shortly before the execution of the murderer, H. H. Holmes, a few years ago in this city, Dr. MacDonald interviewed and experimented upon this celebrated criminal in his cell, using eight separate apparatus, four of which are shown on this page. Dr. MacDonald had previously experimented upon school children and in this connection he says, in a recent report: "As education concerns the moral, mental and physical development of individuals and society, it may be said to ameliorate the elements that tend to social degeneration. Therefore the instruments used in the study of the socially diseased man will apply as well to the normal man."
The experiments upon school children were made with a view to ascertaining the exact conditions constituting a "normal" child, and from this to set a standard for determining degenerate and criminal types.
The two most interesting instruments applied to Holmes were the plethysmograph and the kymographion. In describing the latter, which is shown in operation in the lower left-hand illustration, Dr. MacDonald says: "This instrument is for the purpose of measuring the mental and emotional states upon the movements of the chest. Actors locate the seat of the emotions they simulate in the chest. A silk band is drawn closely around the chest; a little air-tight cylinder with a delicate film over both ends — a hook being inserted in each film — is attached by loops to the end of the silk band; from the cylinder extend a couple of yards of thin tubing, which is inserted into an air-tight tambour. Upon the head of this tambour, or drum, is hinged a delicate bamboo splinter, which rises and falls with every breath, and which, when pressed against a revolving cylinder bearing a sheet of smoked paper, scratches a series of wavy lines."
The diagram shows the result of the experiments upon Holmes. Dr. MacDonald continues: "It will be noticed that the waves in all the lines are smaller than those in regular breathing, the first line. In other words, the emotional states lessened the breathing. Reading philosophy, multiplication and hating affected the nervous breathing most. This is what generally happens, with the exception of the feeling of hatred, which in most people is a wavy line, but with Holmes it was the most intense line, that is, it absorbed his interest most. The feeling of love had but little more effect than reading the Bible, which had the least effect of any upon his physical states when we compare the line with the regular breathing line."
Another most interesting apparatus is the plethysmograph. It is similar to the kymographion, but instead of showing the fluctuations of breathing during various emotions it records the flow of blood. With the plethysmograph the arm of the person being experimented upon is encased in a large glass tube filled with water, the open end being sealed with gutta percha. Any variations in the normal flow of blood is shown by the fluctuation of water in a slender glass tube, this movement being in turn transmitted to a small weight, which rises and falls with every pulsation.
Experiments with this instrument have demonstrated, among other things, that the sight of a pistol had little or no effect upon a brutal murderer, whereas in a normal man the weight rose and fell violently, giving involuntary testimony of strong emotional disturbance. Applied to pupils in schools the plethysmograph can be made to indicate what studies cause the most mental exertion, those which are the most pleasing and those for which the pupil has the greatest aversion.
The plethysmograph is the invention of a criminologist named Mosso, but it has been much improved by the Bureau of Education, as, indeed, have all the delicate apparatus used in the study of criminals in this country.
The little instrument at the top of the page, called the aesthesiometer, is used to determine the delicacy of touch or physical sensitiveness. Anyone can try this experiment with two pins upon the palm of the hand. If, with your eyes closed, you can detect the touch of two pin points when placed together, then you are physically sensitive. Ordinarily the two points when close give you the impression of being stuck with but one; if they have to be spaced far apart before you feel two separate impressions of pain, then you may be said to be physically obtuse. Refined criminals are sensitive to the touch; in coarse, brutal natures the reverse is true.
With the palate meter the height of the palate is determined. A high palate is a sign of criminal instincts. In Holmes the palate was unusually high.
The thermaesthesiometer, the large instrument to the right-hand of this page, records sensitiveness to heat and cold — whether a person is affected by a sudden draught, a blast of hot air and in how far the emotions affect the bodily temperature. There are numerous other instruments beside these, all of which, when applied to a criminal, will afford a whole volume of valuable facts concerning his moral, mental and physical being.
The new Laboratory of Criminology will be conducted as a bureau of the Department of Justice; it has no connection with the laboratory now being run under the Department of the Interior, but Dr. MacDonald, the head of the latter, will doubtless be chosen as the exponent of the new institution.
Responsibility of Criminals
It is not the intention of the Laboratory of Criminology to palliate the offenses of hardened criminals. First of all, like the Bertillion system, it will measure criminals from head to foot and these records, put against them for future identification, will have a deterring influence against the commission of further crime when they have been released from the penitentiary.
Murderers of the degenerate type — like Paul Woodward, recently hanged in Camden, and Hooper Young, sentenced two weeks ago to life imprisonment — who are adjudged medically insane, but legally rational and responsible for their deeds of violence, will not be excused under the new system on the plea of mental irresponsibility for the atrocities they commit. Criminals of depraved types, in whom reform is acknowledged to be impossible, will be sized up by all the delicate instruments of the laboratory. Their heads will be X-rayed; their intellectual powers accurately measured and their emotional capabilities for good and evil gauged with scientific precision. The facts gathered in this manner will serve to determine the relative proportion of criminal instinct in each.
Young boys in reformatories and men committed to prison on minor offenses will be subjected to the experiments. These statistics, compiled by studious hands, will be of inestimable benefit to future generations. By their use the refractory youth who commits his first trivial misdemeanor, but in whom there are discerned good signs, will not be condemned to the contaminating influence of a reformatory career. Men undergoing penal servitude for small theft will not have to work side by side at the prison bench with murderers. Punishment will be graded, not only according to the nature of the crime, but according to the inherent capacity for good shown by experiments.
If the scientific instruments denote that a man is mentally and morally capable of amendment, his surroundings in confinement will, as far as possible, be kept in conformity with this idea. Of course such a state of affairs may be a long way off yet, but in these times the prison reform idea is in its infancy and another century may have to roll over us before the penitentiary comes to be looked upon as a sanitarium of criminology as well as a place of incarceration.
The new Laboratory of Criminology, when realized as an actual fact, will represent the first practical step taken in this direction.
Is The Cigarette Responsible For Crime? — Philadelphia Inquirer, March 8, 1903
IS THE CIGARETTE RESPONSIBLE FOR CRIME?
Three Degenerate Cigarette Fiends Swell the Epidemic of Murders Committed Within the Last Few Months
IT WOULD seem to be a significant and striking fact that three murders of a shocking and brutal character, each taking place within a surprisingly short space of time, should have been committed by three cigarette fiends, all of whom were young men all of whom were victims to the cigarette habit.
PAUL WOODWARD LURED THE TWO LITTLE CAMDEN BOYS INTO THE COUNTRY LAST SUMMER AND ADMINISTERED POISONED PIE TO THEM.
WILLIAM HOOPER YOUNG MURDERED MRS. PULITZER IN NEW YORK LAST SEPTEMBER.
GEORGE NELK ACCUSED BY HIS SISTER OF HAVING KILLED HIS MOTHER ON THE 12TH OF LAST FEBRUARY, BY CLEAVING HER HEAD OPEN WITH A HATCHET, IN THEIR HOME IN GERMANTOWN, AND AT THE SAME TIME GUILTY OF A MURDEROUS ASSAULT UPON HERSELF WITH THE SAME WEAPON.
These three men all represent a single type of degeneracy and each is the other's counterpart. Young has just started to serve a life sentence in the New York State Penitentiary. Cigarettes slew the other two. The man who paid the penalty of his crime upon the gallows a short time ago. The halter that hanged him was the fiendish, leering vapor of the nicotine, which had long before strangled out his intellect and now came in the guise of the hangman's noose to strangle out his physical life. Nelk awaits a like fate, but whatever his punishment is to be, there will hang over him, too, at the end of the legal dispensation, the same poisonous vapor which robbed him and the others of the God-given power of thought.
Trio of Cigarette Crimes
That these three young men should have committed parallel crimes within such a short compass of time is merely a coincidence. All dissipated, all shiftless, all rendered mentally and morally corrupt by the deadening influence of impure and poisoned tobacco, it was chance that, in reality, brought them almost simultaneously into the notoriety of crime. But because of this it cannot be said that they alone are guilty of the cigarette habit in its worst form.
Young, Woodward and Nelk simply stand as the symbols of human wreck for which the deadly cigarette is too often responsible. It is true that every day men with nerve enough to commit murder — but many hundreds of them — idle, ne'er-do-well young fellows like this degraded trio — are daily crowding the reformatories, jails and houses of correction throughout the whole United States. Other hundreds, who have not as yet reached the reformatory stage of their careers, are to be seen nightly prowling aimlessly about the tenderloin of great cities or loafing on street corners, inhaling the poisonous fumes of cheap cigarettes.
Nicotine Debases
Nelk, Woodward and Young were cigarette fiends from early youth. Their ages averaged only a little over twenty-three years. The practice of smoking cigarettes, formed long before they had matured, clung to them in early manhood, and the debasing effects of the nicotine which kept their nervous systems continually saturated at last accomplished the full overthrow of their intellects.
However, according to the medical experts who testified at his trial, Young will eventually become insane, and through no other cause than the cigarette habit. Nelk, apparently, is of sound mind, and there could be no excuse for the ghastly butchery he had perpetrated. As for Woodward, it was proven incontestably that the entire foundation of his brain had been undermined by nicotine. When he came to trial the jury found him in full possession of rational powers and he is now paying the penalty of second degree murder with a life sentence. Setting aside the question of his immediate responsibility, the truth remains that had Young not been a cigarette fiend to the core of him he would never have dipped his hands in blood.
The facts that apply to Young are applicable to Woodward as was shown in the pages of The Sunday Inquirer some months ago. Woodward was a degenerate of the lowest type. Six months in jail had not changed him. He vanished with his rapacious appetite for the weed, and he smoked almost to the gallows' edge.
Nelk, the matricide, is a cigarette fiend of the same stamp as the two before him. A package of cigarettes was in his coat pocket when he was arrested. It helped to establish his identification as the man. While in prison awaiting trial he is reported to have become a victim to the positive source of pleasure, when cigars and cigarettes are taken away from him. In the jail in Flemington, on the train for Philadelphia to attend the preliminary hearing, and in the county prison throughout all the long days of his imprisonment he made the life of his keepers miserable by whining, imploring, howling and uttering imprecations in the name of his cherished dope.
Poisoned Tobacco
From numerous sources of authority, representing the most scientific and reliable views, The Inquirer has gathered together all the information available on the subject of cigarettes and just why and how they are injurious to the human system.
In the first place, cigarettes are not made of pure tobacco. There may be exceptions to this rule, but these are only in the expensive brands, smoked almost exclusively by men who can afford to spend the money. Among this class of men the true cigarette fiend is seldom seen, for the fumes of the fine Oriental cigarette are most appreciated by them in moderate quantities as a soothing climax to a good dinner.
It is the cheap cigarettes which contain harmful tobacco and still more injurious dope in imitation of the genuine Turkish article. Real Turkish cigarettes, such as we seldom or never see in this country, contain a very small percentage of opium, which is not really a menace to health at the rate of a cigarette or two a day at a sitting. The greatest evil in the cigarette is in the dope with which the cheap varieties are adulterated.
The greatest evil of the cigarette is not in the tobacco, which, if pure, would produce no especially harmful effects, but it is in the paper wrapper which encompasses the tobacco. The paper wrappers of cheap cigarettes are impregnated with poisonous chemical compounds which, when burned and inhaled, produce a series of malignant effects on the nervous system.
More Dangerous Than Arsenic
If anyone is skeptical of the information given to the world he would be wise to consult his nearest physician on the subject. They are, in fact, more dangerous than arsenic to those to whom they are habitually dispensed, followed by paralysis, slow derangement of the nervous system and of the judgment, leading to idiocy in some cases, to the criminal mania exhibited by Woodward, Young and Nelk in others, and the total annihilation of intelligence in still others.
In short, the man who is going to the bad, type Woodward, Nelk and Young, goes by this route: First excessive use of cheap cigarettes, then a gradual debasing of all higher moral instincts, next the lower forms of crime, lastly murder.
The Inquirer is not alone in this assertion; every large newspaper in the land has from time to time raised its voice against the cigarette and detailed its injurious effects. In every state of the Union there are laws restricting or forbidding the sale of cigarettes to minors, and among those who have made a long study of these conditions and who have exhibited moral degeneration and moral recklessness among youth, there is not one who doubts that the cigarette is one of the most tremendous and far-reaching evil influences which has ever vitiated the moral and physical well-being of those among whose ranks will one day be recruited the leading men of affairs of this Republic.
If anyone still questions the evil effects of the cigarette habit on the higher functions of mind, on intelligence and moral sensibility, let him study the careers of such men as Woodward, Young and Nelk, and the cigarette habit that dominated and finally destroyed them, and he will find in their degenerate careers the fullest possible confirmation of the position taken above.