Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1908-08-17
A TRAGEDY.

Capt. Peter Hams, jr., Of the Forty
eighth Company, U. s. Coast Artillery,
accompanied by his brother. Thornton
Hams, q magazine writer. went to the
Bay Side Yacht Club at Flushing. N.
Y, Saturday afternoon, waited an hour
until William E. Annis, q member OF
the club, came 10 with his racing sloop
and then Thornton Hams held the crowd
back with o revolver while bis brother
fred six shots from 3 magazine pistol
into the body of Annis. Then the two
men gave up their revolvers and, sitting
down on the veranda Of the yscht club
house, waited for policemen to come.
Captain Hams made an informal state
ment to the police, in which ne ssid
that his wife, whom he Is suing for q
divorce, has been intimate with Annis.
Hams sometime since publicly made
the threat thst he would kill on sight the
man he held responsible for his domes-
tic troubles, Capt. Hams is a son of
Brig. Gen. Peter O. Hams, u. s. A.,
retired. Annis, whom Capt. Hams
brother had accused of hsving been i'm
properly attentive to the captains wife,
died in the Flushing Hospital few
hours after the shooting. A crowd of
gayly Ore, ssd women and yschtsmen,
among whom was MIS-. Annis, witnessed
the tragedy. She vsinly tried to warn
Annis of danger. Annis's lsst words
we're that the slayer killed the wrong
man.
Mrs. Hams ssys that Mr.. Annis was
entirely innocent of the charge, against
him made by Capt. Hams 10 his petit
ton, and that the charge against him is
merely incidental TO the conspiracy
against her.
"There wss never any lost love between
Thornton Hams and myself, said Mrs.
Hams last night. During the early years
of my msrrisge he was forbidden to our
house. He was jealous of the success of
Mr.. Annis and he attributed the rejec-
| lion OF many OF his own contributions to
the influence Of Mr.. Annis. We think
that he hiss been urging Peter on to do
the shooting. Although Capt. Hams
has violent, ungoveruable temper, there
is great deal of lOod in him and he
would not have done this II he had not
been Influenced by his brother.
Captain Hams elOped with his wife,
Miss Claudia Libbey, Of Winthrop,
Mass in 1900, when she was q school
girl Of 16 So far as Is known they
had lived happily together until last fall,
when Captain Hams received lettss
from his brother, T. jenkins Hainr,
that caused him to come from tna
kPbilippines to the United States esrly ia
June OF this yesr TO inquire about his
wife, whom he had left at Fort Hamilton,
IN. Y. Assertions made by the brother
concerning the wife caused break be-
tween them, 80 bitter that their father
intsrvened and made personal investi-
CATION. After he had completed his in
quiry be laid facts before the son that
caused him to file petition for divorce.
Tho captains parents at once took
charge of his three children and took
them to their country home for the sum-
mer. Capt. Hams WAS transferred yes
terdsy from the Flushing police station
to the Queens county jail, at Long Is
land City. A preliminary examination
into the shooting will be held today.
The killing OF "Ned Hsnnigsn by T.
Jenkins Hams while out sailing near
Fort Monroe, II years ago, will be re-
called in connection with the rresett
case. Hams claimed thst Hsnnigan
threatened his life. He was scqui ted
but the verdic. was not popular. The
case was fought on the line OF self-defense,
although a woman figured cOnspicuOusly
in the events leading up to the homicide.
Army officers here today are highly
indignant over the attitude of Mrs. Hams
over the Annis killing and her expressed
hope that "lhe law will hang them
both" is strongly criticised, Mrs. Hains
is quoted thus on her husbands crime
aud the causes that led up to its psr.i-
culars an alleged signed confession that
w. E. Annis WAS the father of her un-
born child; "There is no comics sion in
existence. / had nothing to confess.
did sign a document, the contents of
which knew nothing, but | did it be-
cause | was forced to.