The s at the end of towards in 𝓞 appears to be an incorrectly written s rather than an aborted s. The same kind of defective s is found at the end of the plural stones three lines later in 𝓞: “they fought with stones & with arrows” (Alma 49:2); the plural stones is obviously the correct reading. Here in verse 1, Oliver Cowdery correctly copied towards into 𝓟. And all the printed editions have towards. As explained under 1 Nephi 5:22, the earliest text has instances of both toward and towards, with towards dominating.
Summary: Maintain the s-final form towards in Alma 49:1, the apparent reading in 𝓞.