The Spokane press. [volume] (Spokane, Wash.) 1902-1939, 1908-09-02
BRASS BUTTONS AND BLOODSHEDI
BY MARLEN e. PEW.

Special Correspondence to The Press
WINTHROP, Mass, Sept. g.
There is torture unspeakable in the
breast of young woman who lives
with her aged parents in a little
white cottage which fronts the
ocean in this place. She is Mrs.
Claudia Hams, wife of Captain
Peter Hams, U. S. A., who murder
ed William E. Annis in New York
as sequence to the domestic
tragedy that for several years has
made the principals in this un-
happy circumstance wretched.
AS the object of legal action
brought by her husband looking to
permanent separation, Mrs. Hams
bore her position with fortitude.
Hef father in law, General Hams,
and his wife have insisted on keep.
ing the children at oFrt Hancock,
and, though this separation seemed
at times unbearable, still Mrs.
Hams was not in desperation. Her
answer to the charges of infidelity
made in her husbands complaint
were merely answered by her by a
general denial. But when her hus-
band and his brother murdered Will
liam e. Annis, the alleged CO.
respondent, the woman's terror and
anguish knew no bounds, and to-
day she is guarded over by her
parents who fear that she may do
away with herself.
The former pretty belle-matron
of the eastern forts to which her
husband has been assigned is
broken and lives in terror of the
exposures and gruelling investiga-
ton that confront her. She is the
woman in the case" and upon her
will center the fierce lights of pub
lie morbidity, tearing the secrets
of her life from her breast and
barring her very soul thoughts to
the world. Whatever mistakes she
may have made to her friends she
is an object to be deeply pitied.
Here is the story of the lure of
brass buttons and gold lace. 1t is
a story not without parallel, for she
is one of long list of victims of
that peculiar feminine attribute,
which causes the afflicted to 60
blind in the glare of a regalia on
man and accept the buttons and
forget the hand Of love.
AS Browning thought and wrote
Of love, Claudia Hams never expe-
rienced it with her husband. She
was not yet II when she married
him. Now she is but "a, the mother
of three children-Peter, born 10
months after her marriage; Hamil-
ton, now 4, and the baby, now IS
months old. Her mother charged
her with the doubt of love when
the buttons were first in her eyes.
She was too young, the mother
said, to discriminate between love
and temporary fascination. Then,
after year of married life she
was quarreling.
The captain met Claudia at
lawn party near Fort Banks, where
he was then stationed. The girls
father, Charles H. Libby, lawyer,
now employed as legal adviser by
a Boston grocery firm, was con-
cerned about Hams, then a lieu
tenant, marked attentions to
Claudia.
The girl semed fairly carried
away by thoughts of the dashing
young army officer, and even neg
lected her studies at high school.
With her girl friends she frequent
ly visited the lieutenant at the mill
tary grounds. When Mr.. and Mrs.
Libby learned that their little girl
in short dresses was secretly en-
gagged to marry Hams and that an
was planned, they called
the couple before them and with
drew their objections to the mar
riage. The ceremony was perform
ed at the house where Mrs. Hams
now lives in terror of her situation.