Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1908-12-30
LOVE FOR ANNIS
CAUSED TRAGEDY
WITNESS IN HAlF'S CASE TELLS
FAMILY SECRETS
DECLARES HUSBAND MADE CON-
FlpANT OF HIM
Wife Told Captain She Did Love
Victim, According to a
Personal Friend
of Both

FLUSHING, L. l., Dec. 29.-The
marital troubles of Captain Peter c.
Hams. ir, and his story of the es-
arrangement with his wife, Claudia
| Hams, came out in the trial of Thorn
/ ton j. Hams today, when Samuel c.
Reid. a government building inspector
at North Chicago, related converse
lions he had last June with Captain
Hams, making known the causes that
led to the separation of the captain
and his wife.
The testimony of what Captain
Hams said was permitted by Justice
Crane as having a bearing on the
mental condition of the army officer at
that time.
Mr.. Reid stated that Captain Hams
told him that his wife had confessed
that she loved Annis. Captain Hams
evinced signs of great mental dis
tress in the narration of his troubles,
the witness said.
Mr.. Reid is said by counsel for the
defense to be a brother of Princess
Rospiglosi of Rome and comes from
Kentucky. He is a grandson OF ).
c. Reid, who commanded the privateer
General Armstrong in the battle OF
Fayal, Azores, during the war of 1917
Knew Brothers Well
Reid said he knew the Hams broth
ers from childhood.
Mr.. Reid said:
"Captain Hams told me he went to
Fort Hamilton and found his wife, who
wanted to know why he had returned
home. why, Claudia, your reputation
| is at stake. I have come from the
utter ends of the earth to save you.
I have heard gossip of you and Annis
the captain said. His wife told MN
that the gossip was ridiculous
Mr. Reid said the captain stated he
| invited Annis to dinner to SHOW that
he did not believe the gossip.
Witness said Captain Hams said his
/ father told him there were things to
| be investigated and that he Captain
Hains) again spoke to his wife and
| she replied:
''I do love Billy Annis."
Mr.. Reid further testified:
1.-The captain said his wife then told
him all, that she loved Billy, and not
| him.
ct could not understand 1t, said
Captain Hams. The night before she
gave me her caresses and told me that
| it was not So
Mr.. Reid described Captain Hams
appearance. Witness said that Cap
| tain Hams frequently expressed de-
sire to die, and said that Thornton
Hams had been so good to him.
Says Captain Sighed
Mr. Reid said the captain sighed,
moaned and quoted from Kiplings
''Vampire" and said he never under
stood the poem before, but he did SO
now.
Minnie Rhone, a negro woman, who
is cook in the Hams household, related
the occurrences in the Hams home
which, she said, she told Capt. Hams on
his return from the west.
The witness said Mrs. Hams was in
toxicated at the house with Mr.. Ann1s
and that the wife of the army captain
turned somersaults and Mr.. Annis
smacked her.
The cook said she told the captain
that his wife smoked cigarettes and
that she went automobiling with Annis
and stayed away all night.
what did the captain do when you
told him that?
The witness jumped from her seat
and gave an exhibition of how the cap
tain acted, crying out "Oh, my God!
Did she do that? What will become of
my children?"
;rWhen did you tell Capt. Hams all
this?" asked Justice Crane sternly.
1.-THE night he came home from the
Philippines" was the reply.
The witness said she told Capt. Hams
that Mrs. Hams had told her she loved
"Billy" Annis for five years and that
she did not know what love was when
she married.
The cook further testified that Mrs.
Hams called Annis papa" and her
affinity" and on one occasion Capt
Hams young son called Annis papa"
The witness said she told all this to
Capt. Hams. She said she told the
captain that Annis made himself at
home in the house and he hid when
someone called at the house.