The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1908-11-10
DID NOT KNOW THAT HIS BROTH
Err WAS ARMED.
TRIED TO GET Hlv AWAY
i. >. Hains says That He was IN
aware that Annis War At the Boat
House,i That His Brother Fired
Without Warning. sss

Queens county Jail today made q state
ment IN which he gave sadditional9d de-
tails Of the circumstances mn ediatelly
preceding and leading up to the mur-
defstof William e. Annis by Captain
Peter A. Hams, Jr.. at Bayside. l.. L.
Thornton Hams was present at the
thine Of the shooting and is charged
with having assisted his brother
lin the commission Of tie crime by
holding on at the point ola revolver,
members of the Bay Side Yacht club
who.had attempted. to SO to the as
Isistance OF Annis. Both brothers are
under Indictment for murder in the
first degree.
While Thornton Hains, unshaven,
collarless and with a. strand Of rope
about his waist doing service as a
belt, was relating his grim story. the
captain, gaunt and unkempt, stood less
than; ten feet away, his long monkish
bath robe trailing the floor, his eyes
staring ixedly at the white walls of
his prison. He took no part in the
conversation.
There have been so many untfuths
circulated concerning Peter and my
SELF" said Thornton Hams, that I
must ask the Associated Press to. set
us right in the eyes Of the world. I
am no desperate and neither is Peter.
"On the day of the shooting l ina
gined Annis to be in Mount Vernon.
Neither Peter nor I had any idea that
we would run across him at Bay Side
Ever since the terrible night when my
brothers wife admitted her wrong do
ing with Annis, / had been Peters
constant companion. General Hams
feared that Peter would kill himself
and 80 he gave him over unto my
keeping. 1 took him with me to live
and 1t took his mind on his trouble.
] took him out days at a time. cruis-
Ing in a little motor boat l had"
Thornton Hams then told Of his in
tention to buy a site along the water
somewhere and this led him to Bay
Side.
They have made much of the fact
that we went armed" he continued.
Gas far as Peter is concerned, I did
not know that he had q gun with him.
ut was not until after he had used
it on Annis that 1 realized the situa-
ton, as for me, the gun l had is the
same / carried for IA years. Most Of
my life has been spent at sea, where
primitive passions rule and where men
in their cups need more than words to
subdue them.
"They have also said that when we
arrived at the Yacht club our first
move was to ask where Annis was.
There was never any thing said
further from the truth. We had not
been on the ground long, however,
before the name of Annis came to our
ears. I Immediately began to urge
him to come away. He would not be
persuaded, however, and after a while
I gave up trying.
1t was so unexpected and it all
happened SO quickly that I was power
less to interfere. AS soon as Annis
came up to the float Peter opened
fire. twas over in a minute. A dozen
men rushed for him and / saw the big
lboatman grab him by the throat and
then | pulled my gun.
y certainly had no feelings of afRec-
ton or regard for .Annis, but I had
saved him from being shot by Peter
once before. and I would have done
sosagain il i had had the chance.
"The night that, Peters wife made
the written acknowledgement Of her
misconduct with Annis she asked that
Iaget word to Annis of what had hap
pened. Annis vas expected at the
fort the next day and she wished to
warn him to stay away. She wrote
the letter and gave it to me. Peter
had seen her give me the. letter, how
ever, and guessed to whom it was
addressed. Before 1 could rempnstrate
with him he had torn it open and read
its contents. It said: All is over be-
tween Peter and me- He knows every
thing. Don't come tomorrow Peter.
put the letter in his pocket and said:
Il want him to come. l have some
thing to say to him.
From his tone 1 knew, that he
meant to shoot Annis on sight.
II determined that the only way to
prevent a meeting between the two
was to drug Peter. I went to DIR.
Wilson, theppost surgeon and got him
to give me a double dose Of choral
When we got back to the house I
persuaded Peter. to take it, keeping
him in ignorance of what it was. When
Annis came the next day Peter was
still under the influence of the opiate.
Annis saw Peters wife and left again
for New York. Twenty minutes after
he had gone Peter awoke."
WEST VIRGINIA RESULT.
WHEELING, w. Va, Nov. with.
the total vote for candidates for pres