Los Angeles daily herald., 1889-08-27
SCANDAL IN HIGH LIFE,
Sensational Stabbing ARRAY
at Atlantic City.
SOCIETY SHOCKED TO THE CORE.
The Murderess the Wife of One OF
New YOrk's Original
-Four Hundred"

Hamilton, today murderously assaulted
Mary O'Donnell, domestic in her en-
ploy, with dagger, inaicting wounds
which will probably prove fatal. Mrs,
Hamilton was arrested and will be held
to await the result of the girls injuries.
Mr.. Hamilton is detained as witness.
The cause of the quarrel between the two
women is not yet known.
The wife not only attacked the servant,
but cut the clothes nearly off her hus-
band. A party travelling with Mrs.
Hamilton as her brother, and known az
"Datty," is said to have been her lover.
sHRoUDED IN MYSTERY.
PHILADELPHIA, August pa special
to the Inquirer from Atlantic City says
Mrs. Hamilton is the wife of r. R. Ham,
ilton, said to be son Of General Schuy-
Ter Hamilton, of New York, and a
grandson of Alexander Hamilton. The
husband was in the room at the time Of
the stabbing. The whole affair is
shrouded in mystery. Mr.. and Mrs.
Hamilton secured and moved into a
suite of rooms on the second floor of q
cottage about five weeks ago. They
said they lived in New York and had
just returned from California. They
had baby and the woman who was
stabbed was its wet nurse. They had
every appearance of being wealthy
Mr.. Hamilton is large, handsome man
apparently about As years of age, and
his wife is a fine-looking woman several
years his junior. lie is lawyer by pro-
fsssion he said after his arrest, and con-
fesGed to possessing an income of SIS, 900
a year, but beyond that he would say
nothing that would reveal his identity.
Mrs. Hamilton was, upon the woman's
st,satement,
- ARRESTED AND LOCKED UP
Upon the charge of felonious assault,
with her husband, to await investigation.
The woman's wound, it is believed, will
be fatal. 1t seems to have been inflicted
by dagger driven in with great force,
as it passed through her clothing and
corset and apparently far into the fesh.
At the hearing Mrs. Hamilton was in
formed of the charge against her and
pleaded not guilty, and 10 O'Clock to-
morrow was the hour set for further
hearing. Meantime, neither the
wounded woman nor either of the de-
PENDANTS can be seen by any body, by
order of the authorities, and it makes
the clearing up of the mystery all the
more difficult. The wounded woman,
who was intoxicated, raved in the most
violent manner for an hour or
two after she was stabbed. She was
heard to say that an old woman who
had been calling upon Mrs. Hamilton,
was not her mother, as she was reputed
to be, and the man who came to see her,
pretending to be her brother, was not
such relative at all, and that Mrs.
Hamilton was
DIsREPUTABLE WOMAN
Before she married Hamilton. She
threatened the Hamiltons with dire
vengeance if ever she recovered from her
injury. She said to the doctor while her
wound was being dressed that
Mrs. Hamilton was jealous of
her and of everybody else. All
sorts of stories have been told about the
motive for the stabbing. One is to the
effect that the wounded woman herself
assailed the Hamiltons, and while they
attempted to wrest the weapoL from her,
she stabbed herself. This theory will
probably be used by the defense if the
woman dies, particularly as Hamilton had
evidently struggle with some one. His
coat was split open up the back and his
trousers had knife cut below the left
knee. He refused to make any explar-
ton as to how his clothes came
to be in that condition. When
locked up at the station-house
he was perfectly cool and collected,
inquiring if there was any charge
against him, and if he had to be locked
up. He seemed to be utterly Indifferent
as to what befell his wife, and asked no
questions concerning her. 1t appears
that Hamilton married without his
fathers knowledge and the latter came
on to investigate the character Of the
woman his son had wed, and who now
appears was disreputable woman. This
the servant told Hamilton today, when
quarrel ensued, during which the stab
bing occurred.
ONE OF THE 400."
New YORK, August 26.-The Hamil-
ton in the Atlantic City affair is Robert
Ray Hamilton, one of New York's As
semblymen, and one of the "400." The
Herald this msrning has special from
Atlantic City giving the following
DETAILS OF THE HAMILTON TRAGEDY:
As the guests were seating themselves
about the dining tables at the fashiona-
BILE Noll cottage, on Pennsylvania avenue,
at noon today, they were startled by the
cries of a woman and the smashing of
furniture on the second floor.
The whole neighborhood heard the
cries, and large crowd of ex.
cited men and women gathered
about the building. One of the walters
ran to the second floor and had the
courage to lick in the door leading to
the private apartments of Mr.. and Mrs.
Robert Ray Hamilton, of New York,
whence the sounds came from.
The picture beheld was a tragic one.
A handsome man, very much excited,
was in the middle of an elegantly fur
nished room, trying to calm and to hold
an enraged woman, who was struggling
for release. She held blood
stained dagger in her right
hand. A good looking Irish
woman lay stretched upon the floor in
pool of blood, and baby eight months
old was lying on the bed. The man was
Robert Ray Hamilton; the desperate
looking woman was his wife. The in
FAINT was their only child, and the vic
tim who lay upon the fl lor with
her intestines hanging from an ugly gaeh
in her abdomen, was Mary Donnelly,
wetnurse who had been with the couple
for some months. The woman was still
alive, but the doctors, soon afterwards
caliad in said fhara xuoa liftIa honQ nj