Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1889-08-28
ATLANTICSTRACEDY
Mrs. Hamilton Committed to the
Mays Landing Jail.
SENSATIONAL DEFENSE PROMISED.

AZ Present che Public Appetite for Seam
dal u Satisfied hy the startling Char
acssr ~ the Case-The story oE tha
Crime - Told in Court-A Hidden
BIotive-ATr Hamilton Liberated on
Bail-what Is known Of the mamll-
tons IN New York.
ATLANTIC CITy, Aug. 28.-Never be-
fore Ia the history Of this gay watering
resort did q crime excite such absorbing
interest as that Of the wife Of Robert
Ray Hamilton. the wealthy young New
Yorker. and never before was our un-
pretentious city hall crowded by such an
eager throng OF people as Il was when
the prisoners were brought before Judge
Irving for q preliminary hearing. The
wealthy guests from the big hotels for
got their accustomed dignity and reserve
and joIted and pushed IN amongst the
plebeian throng, questioning right and
left and peering at the well dressed and
aristocratic looking Robert Ray Hamil-
ton. the scion of one Of the oldest, wealth
lest and proudest Of New York families,
and Jewel bedecked, who sat weeping by
his side with her head leaning heavily
on the walnut rail which surrounded the
magistrates platform.
Tho Scene in Court.
Judge Irving sat on the bench with
| Prosecutor OF the Pleas Joseph ThOmp-
son at his side. Counsellor Samuel e.
| Perry appeared for Mrs, Hamilton, the
woman who had murder0usly assaulted
Mrs. Mary Donnelly, her child's nurse,
who Is reported to be in dying condi-
/ tion. Mrs. Hamilton and her husband
sat close together. His face looked hag-
1 gard, and his whole bearing was that Of
man who was not used to the hard
/ cramped quarters of a criminals cell.
| Mrs. Rupp, proprietress Of the NOll cot
tage, where the tragedy took place, was
also present and in tears, for she had
never been before police magistrate,
and was distracted at the undesirable
notoriety both she and her cottage had
been brought into. The old woman who
! poses as Mrs. Hamilton's mother was
Hitting around the corridor Of the city
hall giving her version Of the crime.
Queer Family Circle.
She is Mrs. Hamilton's confidential
adviser, and wields powerful influence
over this once gay queen of the New
York demi-monde. She kept the house,
or fiat, at No. Ill West Fifteenth street,
where Hamilton's intimacy with his
present wife ended in marriage which
| made him q social Outcast, and it Is her
son, Joshua Mann, by her first husband,
| who figures in the sensational affair as
| Mrs. Hamilton's lover. She, her fair
haired, ugly, and repulsive son, and a
daughter, who keeps well in the back
| ground, have Jared luxuriously at Ham
ilt0n's expense ever since and long be-
4 fore this marriage. Her son il known
| in the family" circle as ssDotty," and
| through the conniving Of his vice with-
| cred mother, he has spent the greater
part of his time in Mrs. Hamilton's So
ciety.
Hamilton on the Witness Stand.
At the preliminary hearing the hus-
/ band of the prisoner at the bar was the
first called to testify. He said he was
| Robert Ray Hamilton, Of New York
| city. q member Of the New York bar,
and the husband Of the woman who had
stabbed her nurse, Mary DOnneliy. His
wife'F nnne, he said, was Evangeline
Hamilton. formerly of New York city.
He has one child. 5 months old, Of
which she is the mother, but he refused
TO state how long he had been married
10 her. He was present when the stab
bling occurred. 1t was done, he said,
with Mexican dagger in the hands Of
his wife. He would not tell the cause
Of the stabbing, but said the nurse had
bern discharged by his wife. After re-
peatedly refusing to give the date Of his
marriage 20 the woman IN custody, the
witness was turned over for examina-
ton 10 Capt. Perry counsel for Mrs.
Hamilton.
Sensational Revelations Yef 70 Come.
The captain arose and said: II viii
not make any cross examination al
present. as my questions and their
answers might uncover the defense tc
be set up by the two prisoners, and, a
it il d perfectly good one and need moi
Be known, we viii keep Il quiet until
the last moment. when the assault viii
be proven to be perfectly iustiiiablf
under the real circumstances surround
ing the case They are sensational il
I the extreme, and when narrated vii
put an entirely new and different phase
4 on the case.
Policeman Rsiddaa's story.
Officer William Biddle was nee
called and said: II am . police officer ol
Atlantic City. j was summoned to No
135 South Tennessee avenue to arrest 1
woman I was told she was on tn.
] second floor. When I entered the cot
tage / went to the room designated, anl
saw 1Ira. Hamilton, who appeared
greatly excited and terror stricken
There w0a blood on her hands and
clothes. The moment che saw me shl
I said: + sent for you, and want yOu 4
Il arrest fanf woman down stairs She /.