Casper Daily Tribune Newspaper, March 15, 1921, Page 5

(Continued from Page 1.) ponakany ‘He usually drank wasn't usually crazier been in all ot MP. away from him for 24 more hours, I could go to California and wait for him to sober up and come to me look- ing the sweet, Kind lover he had been vefore. He came in as Bill came in. Bul poured the ice water in the piteh- er. Mr. Hamon paced up aid down, running his hands through his hair as he did when he was agitated, and the minute BM went out and the docr was hardly closed when Mr. Hamon Aaid with an epithet, ‘Where have yet been?’ and grabbéd me at the same time, and choked me and he choked me until T was blind and I could not seem to think.” CHOKED AND HIT HER, WITNESS DECLARES. “Now, Miss Ciara,” interrupted ‘W. PB. McLean, of her counsel, “just a minute.” “TY will finish the story, Mr. Me Lean,” shé said. “He choked me and hit me, and somehow he threw mo over on the bed by one of his kicks and after he got me on the bed he beat me and slapped me and slapped me and hit me two or three times and took me by the foot and jerked me off the bed on my back and I have been oper- ated on in the back and it hurt me extremely; and he took pains to kick me in the back and ho kicked moe and choked me and I struggled to get up and he choked me again and backed me up against the window and choked me again and again and slapped me; and then he wasn't satisfied with that and he twisted the skin on my hand;| 0! he bent my fingers back and tried to break them and then he sald, ‘I will cut your throat,’ and he reached for his Knife. The Knife had fallen out of the afterncon while he was lying on tho bed and‘I picked it up and put it over on the table after he walked out of the room; then when he did not have the knife in his pocket he reached for the knife I had given himoon @ little gold chain and somehow, some way, that knife wasn't there. He looked around and meantime he was choking and beating me very bad. I cannot remember all of it. It is téo much for anybody to re " "bla ‘he make any remarks to you?” Mr. MéLean asked. HAMON THREATENED HER WITH KNIFE. ‘ “Well, I arm getting to that, Mr. McLean,” she replied, continuing, “I am getting to that. He said, ‘You have beron riding with somebody, haven't you?’ and I said ‘No, you know I haven't.| I know that he knew I hadn't... He was crazy drunk. When he didn't find his gold knife, he saw @ knife over on the dresser he had given me a long time ago, an old knife of his, just.to sharpen pencils and use around the room, and I had it sharp- ened. . It wae very, very sharp. reached for that knife and sald ‘I would just as soon slit your throat as draw on this cigar.’ Anyway when he reached fof that knife I knew the ¢onsclously, or somehow reached back and in. my purse on the window sill and got my little gun. I asked him to stand back and let me pass.” “Well what did you do with the gun, with the pistol, when you got hold of it, what id you do with it?” McLean asked. “What did I do with it, what would anyone do. with it if they thought their life was in.danger?" she replied. “Never mind that, what did you do with it? her counsel asked. held it on him,” she went on. “He did back away sort of behind a chair and put his hand on the back of the chair. He did not raise his hands. I didn’t ask him to. I passed him too. I backed around to the door between our rooms and then I Went to the door to get out? Holding my hand like this (Indicating) to back up to the door to unlock it, he had locked it when Bill when out. 1 could not see him for he was a little back of the) corner of the bathroom so When T unlocked the door I had to let hitn out of my sight. STRUCK HER WITH CHAIR; GUN WENT OFF. “And understand, when I unlocked the door to go, in that instant he turned off, the ight, raised the chair to strike me and did strike me. I could see from the light of the hall through the transom. He struck me with that chair and the gun went off. ‘The defendant left the stand and walked “before the jury box to Iilus- trate her version of it, “And I was unlocking the door like this and holding the gun on We Spotless cleaning, hand price. 143 South Center iY, MARCH 15, 1921 Hamon, but he was just out of my sight for a minute and he got around the corner and the chair cam» down on me and it knocked the gun out.on the floor like that and it it off us coe or I pulled the trigger, Defense counsel requested thirty minutes so that the state oo read letters written to the defendant and which it de- into the record, Immediately upon recess Mrs. Hamon, the widow, joined Attorney- General Freeling in the task of read- ing the letters. “They all are old letters,” the widow said, after having read a half dozen or so, “They were written a way back in 1914 and 1916 when he really was infatuated with her. There are none written lately.” ‘When tho trial was resumed this afternoon, Clara said het marriage to Colonel Hamon’s nephew was for the former's convenience and that sho never lived with him a minut nd hot supposed they would live together.’ “I went under the name of Clara Smith part of the time and also un- x the name of Hamon,” she said. used the name Hamon for Mr. Ha- mon’s convenience, I have’ given checks signed Clara B. Smith when I-had them on the bank a8 Clara Hamor.” Sho told about having purchased the pistol with which Mr. Hamon was killed. She ‘said: “Mr. Hamon gave me thé money and told me to buy it. time had come, I unconsclousnly -or) Satisfy Particular People tailoring is not the cheapest. But we aim give you the best work and service in Casper at the fairest - We Call and Deliver Tim, the Tailor and Cleaner Over Campbell-Johnson Clothing Store “Upon the day Mr. Hamon was shot, after the pistol was fired . . . what took piace, what did you say to Mr. Hamon, if anything, relative to the light in the room?” queried her counsel. : FFERED TO WALK TO THE HOSPITAL. Clara replied: said, ‘Clara, you hit me; or hit) me,’ something like that, I don't re- member positively. I sald, ‘Mr. Harmon, ft am sure I didn't hit you." I said, ‘Lie on the bed and I will oall Dr. Hardy.’ I think I eaid Dr. Hardy; he was always our best friend. He said. ‘No, don’t; I can walk to the hospital.’ I said; ‘But I must call the doctor if you are hit, I must call the doctor;’ he said, ‘yes I am hit, Clara, I will go to the hospital my- raised“ hin vest to show me ; there was a spot of ‘big around (and-she curved her ane fo illustrate, break- ing down at thi# point and crying). “He left the room,” she said. “Il wil say it was an accident; it anyoné ask you about this tell them it is all right, I will make the expla- nations,” she quoted him. SPENT NIGHT IN OWN ROOM, SHE SAYS. She said after the shooting she ehanged clothing, which she said had been torn badly in the fight, went out and put away her motor car and re- turned to her room where she spent the night. “Now, the next morning, what did “I went to the hospital to see Mr. amon," she replied. “He had asked the nurse to call me.” She said she remained at the hos. pital only a few mintites and then went to Mr. Ketch's office, “Now, you heard Mr. Ketth’s state- ment on the witness stand as to what took place there. Was his statement practically the same in the main?" she was asked. “No, I can't remember all of his statement, but I know much of it was incorrect," she replied. Ketch, former business manager for Hamon and now administrator for the estate, testified he gave Clara $5,000 on Hamon's instructions, and had directed that she leave Ardmore and femain away. ‘The noon recess for two hours then ‘was ordered. TESTIMONY RESUMED THIS AFTERNOON. Reconvening of court this afternoon ‘was delayed by the crowd which had swarmed inside the bar. Clara Hamon was called to the stand at 2:07 p. m.. Clara did not answer questions in the dramatic tones in which she had detalled the story of the whooting of Flamon at the morning session, She spoke in a full, firm, low voleo and aid not waste words in her replies. “Mr. Haron held out his arms and pulled me down and kissed me and asked me to forgive him and said it never would have happenetl if-he had not been drunk,” she sald Hamon told her this at the hospital when she vis ited him the morning after the shoot: iny ier voice wavered and tears came into her eyes as she said that. She sald Mr. Hamon told her pressifig and high class Phone 467-R SHOOTING ‘ACCIDENTAL’ = CLARA HAMON ASSERTS should leave town to save scandal, but to come back that afternoon. She described the conference with Mr. Ketch at which she was given Money with which to leave’ Ardmore. Ghe sald she motored to Durant, Qkla., intending to return to Ardmore, but changed her mind and drove on south to Denison. From Denison she said she motored to Dallas, where she tried to get an airplane to San Antonio. She said she could not get a plane tor an hour and that the ship did not look safe, so she started to motor to San Antonio. She said she was acting on instruc- tions of Mr. Ketch. CARRIED ONLY ONE PISTOL ON FLIGHT. She sald Everett W. Sallis was her pistols as he had said. Bho seid she was driven to Cisco, Texas, where she bought @ rafiroad ticket for El Paso, Tex. She said she went to faurez, Mexi- ©, across from Fil Paso, and remained there three days and then went to Chihuahua City. ©, Clara waid when sho left Oklahoma ehe was not fleeing from a crime she had committed, but left because Mr. Ketch told her to. She very emphatioally replied, “I did not," when asked if she had told Sallis she had shot a man, and that nothing had been said to Sallis about her having shot a man and that no discussion on the subject of weapons best for killing men took place. “Tf that 1 true, I want to kill my- said she told Hamon when he said he had been shot, and that Hamon took the pistol from her. She said she did not want Mr. Hamon to die. Her voice wavered again. DECIDED TO RETURN TO ARDMORE AGAIN, “Leave and never come back,” Clara said Kétch told her, but that when her uncle, Ben Harrison went to Her, She decided to return to Ard- more. “While in old Mexico, did you meet # fellow going under the name of Sam Blair,” Mr. McLean agked. “I did," Clara replied. She said she had read what purported to have been an interview with her, and that it was what she had told the court this morning. She sald she never had gotten any money except $125 from her oil and motion. picture properties, owned jointly with, respectively, the Hamon estate and Ketch. “He certainly was not," Clara re- Plied, when asked if Hamon was shot while lying on a bed. “I certainly did not,” she replied when asked if she had placed her hand on Hamon’s head and fired the #hot which killed him, LIVED WITH HAMON NEARLY NINE YEARS. -: On cross examination she said she ‘was. 29. yoars old and next October \would be 80, and ‘had veon living with | Mr. Hamon eight or nine years,’ “No, sit, not when I began living with him,” Clara said, when asked if she was 17 when that arrangement Hamon two years. She said she frequently went to Kansas City to meet Mr. Hamon while she was atten a school at Lexington, Mo., but that he did not come to Lexington. She said he would meet her at Fort Worth. CLARA NOT JEALOUS . OF MRS. JAKE HAMON. ‘No, sir, I was not,” Clara saif When asked if she were jealous of Mrs. Jake Hamon. She had admitted she knew mn was married and the father of two children. Attorney General Freeling read a letter intro duced yesterday in which Clara said, “I will stop .it one way or another.” She explained that meant she was ready to quit Hamon at any time and permit him to return to his family. “Well, I expect I was, but I don't recall why at this time,” she answered when asked if she had been jealous of any other woman except Mrs. Hamon. it the Enid matter or Mrs. H., Which keeps me away?" Clara said meant was it @ trial at Enid Hamon ‘was in, or Was it Mr. Hamon’s wife’ “He did always,” Clara said whi attorney General Frteling asked if Hamon had promised to marry her. “Were there any children born of this elation?” Attorney General ARDMORE, Okla., March 15.—The trial of Clara Smith Hamon, charged |) t McKibbin hats Advertisers may holler their heads off but you and I get a McKibbin at It’s all anyone should pay. Mall Us Your KODAK FINISHING Quick Service THE PICTURE SHOP ° . Che Casper Daily Cribune reom with teats streaming from her eyes. The outbreak of applause | and Clara’s Breakdown came after W. P. McLean of defense counsel, replied heatedly to H. H. Brown, special Prosecutor, who had told the court: “Well we are willing for the jury to know how they took it, the old ‘woman and all. “old woman,” remark had said that he wanted the jury to know how the entire Smith family “took’ the association of Clara with -Colonel Hamon. “That old woman, as he calls her, ‘will be on the witness stand and can testify, and she is, in my judgment, as good @ woman as has given birth to any lawyer in this case.” AUDIENCE LetruRED ON DECORUM BY JUDGE. ‘The court ordered the room cleared after the applalse ceased, but the spec- tators were reluctant to move. After efforts of deputy sheriffs and bailiffs to remove them, the court reversed | itself, but gave a lecture on court room decorum. Clara Hamon could not compose her- self suMciently to return to the courtroom and a one-hour recess was ordered. “I don't care what they do with me.” she said as she wept, “but they must let my poor old mother alone. After the outbreak had subsided, Bud Ballew, a deputy sheriff, took the grown son of one of the attorneys connected with the prosecution from the courtroom and searched him for firearms but found rione. SISTER OF CLARA TESTIFIES FOR DEFENSE, Mrs. V. B. Walling, sister of the defendant, had just left the witness| stand when the remarks of the counsel Precipitated the outbreak of applatise. Mrs. Walling testified that Clara Hamon was born in 1893 and is 27 years old, but a few moments later said that she was about 29. “Did you know Jake Hamon during his life-time?" she was asked. “Well, I knew him, yes, sir, but T/ wasn't very well acquainted with bim.| I only saw him a very few times," she id you know of the improper re- lations existing between him and your sister?” McLean asked. “Not for several years after they began,” she said. “Clara's throat was bruised very much and finger prints were deeply impressed,” the witness testified in re- lating that Clara went to her home in Wilson, Okla., on the morning after the shooting. bruise was on her chest and head and she complained of pains in her hands and arms.” “Your husband worked for him, didn’t didn’t he?” she was esked. “He did, but he doesn’t now,” Mrs, ‘Walling replied. “Knowing all of these facts, all of the relations which existed between your sister and Mr. Hamon, you let your husband work for him and lived in his house?” Mr. Brown asked. “It wasn't his house,” she said, ‘was on the-lease.' “Well, he controlled it, managed it, is that right?” counsel asked. “Yes sir,” Mrs. Walling replied. “And knowing those facts you con- tinued to live theré and‘work for him? the attorney asked. “Yes, sir, we did; we were fribndly and he treated us nicely,” the witness replied. “tt FATHER TRIED TO KILL HAMON ONCE. On direct examination, Mr. McLean asked: “Do you remember your father coming up here to kill Jake Hamon and about the sheriff disarming nim “Yes, sir,” Mrs. Walling replied. “The state objected and was sus- tained. : “We want to take an exception on the last ruling of the court,"’ Mr. Mc- Lean said. “The prosecuting attorney brought from this young woman that they all knew about the agsociation of Jake Hamon and the defendant., “Now that applies to the father. ‘We think the action of the father is admisaible by reason of the fact that! all knew it.” reraark, “Well we are willing for the jury to kriow how they took it, the old woman and all,” which led to the outbretik. The court record at this point shows cheers by the audience: At 10:55, five minutes before the re- cess period was over Clara Hamon re- turned to the courtroom, apparently composed, and whispered to her niece and the young son of Mr. MeLean, who were seated on either side of her. CLARA HAMON IS LAST ON STAND. ARDMORE, Okla., March 15.—Clara Hamon ‘today was to go on the wit- ness stand to defend herself against the charge of murder for the shooting of Jake L. Hamon, Republican na- tional committeeman from Oklahoma and an ofl and railroad millionaire. Her counsel announced that after few other witnesses had been sum: moned the defendant would tell her story to the jury, as the summing uc of the case for the defense. Counsel previously had declared the defer ould be that the shot which killed the oil man wae fired while he was in a drunken condition and wh! he was making an attack upon the defendant, probably while he was brandishing a chair. Sheriff Garrett, toxtifying for the defense yesterday, declared told him he aid not want Clara Hamon prosecuted for the shooting, that he did it himself, accidentally, | One of the nurses described the last | meeting between Clara Hamon and) Jake Hamon, in the latters ‘room at the hospital. The nurse said she called Clara Hamon on the telephone and told her| to come tothe hospital. Hamon, she} testified, held out his arms to Clara when she arrived and drew her to him and kissed her. When Clara left, the nurse said, Hamon asked her to come} back during the afternoon. Final arguments in the trial, it is ‘expected, will be made Wednesday and the case may be given to the jury ‘Thursday afternoon, it was sajd by counsel for the state. ‘The courtroom was ordered cleared by the judge after applause greet- ed a statement by W. P, McLean, counsel for the defense, attacking a remark by H. H. Brown, state coun- sel, when he referred to the defend- ant’s mother as “an old woman.” Clara and her mother and sister broke into tears and Clara was led from the courtroom with tears streaming from her eyes. In the furore an attempt was made to clear the courtroom but several minutes after the order not a soore of persons had departed. Some effort was made to exclude the press, but the bench ruled the press might re- main. Court adjourned for an hour from 10 to 11 a. m. after. the attorne; had made explanation of their re- marks which haG@ created the furore. ‘The ruling of the court that the bar would be cleared at today’s session of the trial brought practically the en- tire crowd to its feet except in the few. first ‘rows of seats. Spectators made more room by standing, the crowd Using the -wall aisles in larger numbers. F. L, Carter of Oklahoma City, an electric lineman, was the first wit- ness called by the defense when court convened at 9:15 a. m. The defense attempted to substantiate a statement charged against W. B. Nichols, form- er chief of police of Oklahoma City in testimony that Carter had over- heard Nichols say “he held Hamon's hand until thé end came and .the ‘wound was accidental.P Carter admitted he heard Nichols make such a statement. 3 C, 8. Wytes, a mvchanic, next took the stand. He testified to having aid- ed in mounting new tires ‘on Clara's motorcar, at her request the Saturday before the shooting. The witness was asked if he had noticed any bruises on her face or hands, and Sytes replied that she was holding one of her hands in a peculiar position. DEFENDANT BRUISED, NIECE DECLARES. Phyllis Walling, 14-year-old niece of the defendant, took the witness stand as the first witness when court re- convened after the recess following the attorney's ~‘ash. She said her aunt was at the Wal- of Turks in Smyrna and in Thrace. ,|they brough out the fact that they!Iing home on Monday, November 2%, Mr. Brown rosé and injected the/fore, and that the aftet Hamon was shot the night be- defendant bore bruises on her throat ahd her right hand was bruised. | ‘The defendant's mother, Mrs. J. L. Smith, of El Paso, Texas, took the witnesa stand. Sho testified Clara is her third child and is 29 years old, Tears stood in Clara’s eyes as her inswered” questions. Mrs. but She said Clara came to El Paso. on Thanksgiving day, 1920, and that her breast was bruised and that she complained of pains in her SKIN ALMOST TWISTED OFF GIRL'S WRIST Mrs. Smith said Clara's right hand was skinned and said the skin was almost twisted off the right wrist. Bhe said she had met Colonel Ha- mon at @ hospital where Clara was undergoing treatment. Mrs. Smith sald on one oocasion about six years ago. Mrs. Jake 1. Hamon came to door and asked her not to let Clara have anything more to do with Colonel Hamon. Sh¢ said she heard of no other re- lations between Colone! Hamon and her daughter except employer and stenographer on other occasions than that om which Mrs, Hamon came to the Smith home, which then was in Lawton, Okla. Mrs. Smith said that when Mrs. Jake Hamon came to see her, she had told Mrs. Hamon that Colonel Hamon was @ lawyer, and much old er than her daughter and asked Mrs. Hamon to talk to her husband. HAMON LOVED CLARA, WANTED TO MARRY HER. “I love Clara and I can’t give her up. I expect to marry her some day,” Mrs. Smith quoted Colonel Ha- mon a@ having said on one occasion He said he intended to ge separa- tion and marry Clara, Mrs. Smith tes. ufied. I got down on my knees and pray- ed,” Mrs, Smith said, “when I heard about the relations." Mrs. Smith's voice trembled Clara wiped tears from her eyes. NEW WEEKLY 1S and MADE OFFICIAL LEGION ORGAN State Executive Committee Lends Important Recognition to Pub- lication to Be Issued Here The Wyoming Weekly Review, which will make {ts appearance here About April 1, has been designated the oMcial publication of the American Legion in Wyoming, according to ac- and outside fition taken at the meeting of the ex- ecutive committee of the organization BOLSHEVIKI IN. RUSSIA LOSING CONTROL, CLAIM Soviet Troops Are Deserting in Face of Revolt and Disturbances Are on + Increase in Capital, Report 3 mnevinys STOCKHOLM, M rch 15.—(By Associated Press, }——-Rué- sian bolshevik authorities seem to be losing contro! of the soviet troops, dispatches from Finland and Esthonia report. } Artillery fire from the fortress of Kronstadt was directed yesterday along the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland, between Oranienbaum and Petrograd. Bolshevit: artillery- men in Krasnaya Gorka sheiléd and, night and he emphatically denied Bol- destroyed the lighthouse at Tollbaaken | shevik reports that some of the Kron- of Kronstadt during the day. stadt forts had been captured by the A man who had just arrived from| Bolsheviki, He declared the garrison Kronstadt waa interviewed Sunday/of Kronstadt waa relying on getting food stores from the American Red P |jority of the reports regarding the | situation in Moscow are most gloomy, | the despatch added. | A fugitive, who arrived tin Reval | officers refused to participate in the = | operations against Kronstadt and that Officers for Coming Year Chosen) thousands of laborers have joined Gen- * ton Ishevil hi at Second Annual Meeting of eral Anionoff’s Bolshevik army in the south. Organization Monday It {8 vepevted soviet troops on the Nigh Rumanian front have been ordered to aght jthe Ukraine to suppress extensive ris- ot ings. ‘The situation in Odessa fs said to be critical, the garrison, with the exception of two regiments {solated near the harbor, have joined the | rebels. : Cross stntion at Viborg, Finland. are reported to be occurring hourly in Moscow and the soviot authorities | have massacred several hundred revo- lutionary sympathisers with machine | gtins, says a Helsingfors despatch to ito the Central News today. A ma- | LONDON, March 15.—Disturbances Ben Scherck of the See Ben Realty company was elected president of tho Casper Real Estate board at its sec: ond annual meeting held last night Other officers chosen were John M England, vice president; Howard W. Baker, secretar dA. P. sbitt, publicity director. The annual meeting markea the beginning of the board's second year and members expressed themselves as gratified with accomplibluments (of the last year. The hoard was organiz- ed primarily to enforce the “square deal” policy in real estate exchange and any complaints against its mem- bers are investigated promptly and acted upon. | During the coming year the board| will secure a number of out-of-town | speakers to keep in touch with the} general situation and has other plans | In mind which include assistance in | stabilizing realty values. ——— Subscribe for The Tribune——- —_—_— Seg a SB “iss Native # ry STOMACH, L Se won RY and! BOWELS, ‘They remove TEE in each box. | a, 0. BLISS CO. WASH. D. C. wae a _ BLISS ee 9 PIMP! SA his BES aLS Teneo at Thermopolis. ‘The signal distinctio# was paid the new publicatién which is to be a de- parture in Wyoming journalism be- caus@ it will best serve the interests of the exservice men and will make possible the widest publicity of their aspirations and acggmplishments. Other important “actions taken by the executive committee ihcludes the publication of a new constitution which was passed and advised by the committee. The committeemen were entertained by the Liberty club Monday afternoon and by the Thermopolis post of the American Legion last night. All mem- bers of the exeecutive committee were present at the Thermopolis gathering. pri scitinds>- Aa sae PERSECUTIONS MUTUAL CONSTANTINOPLE, March 15.— Charges and counter-charges of per- secution are being made by the Greeks and the Turkish Nationalists, the Greeks assorting that the Nation: alists are pefsecuting Greek priests in the Pontus district of Asia Minor, while the Nationalists charge that the Greeks are imprisoning large numbers cad 10c a cetedeteteeeeee chembeck’ Musik DANCE A, ee cetetetetntee Star Saree tae ge diese eso tce fae te ante McFarlane ayne and Bickford Songs Exhibition Dancing ST. PATRICK’S NIGHT Va TES PEN ME IN PRIZES See Sunday Herald and Monday Tribune Ads For Suggestions ADMISSION 25c TO ALL INTER Masks GARDEN = By yc ight of jele Ball VPN ENS Have Your Rugs Cleaned Now that the houscleaning period is here, you will want your rugs and car- pets cleaned. We have special machinery that will remove the dirt and spots and make your rugs look like new. 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