100 YEARS AGO

Settling the “Ward estate”

The latest chapter in the case of the murder-suicide of married Broadalbin banker Walter A. Woods and his 23-year-old lover, Charlotte Olmstead Buell, wife of Indian Lake farmer George C. Buell, moved to Albany, as family members of both deceased parties met with Broadalbin Coroner Scott Monthony to settle the $10,000 “Ward estate” deposited in the National Commercial Bank and Trust Co. under the name of Arthur J. Ward, and made out to Charlotte Ward. That was the name Mrs. Buell was to be known by in the Albany love nest planned by the two, with the money allowing them to start their lives anew once they both left their spouses. The coroner was in custody of the funds pending the clearing-up of existing litigation. Mrs. Woods had begun efforts to recover the money, while Charlotte Buell’s mother claimed the $10,000 was a gift to her daughter and that she was now entitled to it.

— Times Union, May 19, 1922