The star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1908-1909, 1908-08-22
WIFE Of HAMS
WILL AID HIM IF
GIVEN CONFESSION
In Exchange for Document Got
ten Under Duress, She Says,
Will Be Witness.
BAYSIDE YACHTSMEN SEEK
VENGEANCE FOR ANNIS
District Attorney Records Their
Statements and SCOTS at
"BrainstOrm'' Defense.
Especial to the Evening start

NEW YORK, Aug. EFF 1t will
assist at all in the efforts to save my
husbands life I will take the witness
stand at his trial. today declared
Mrs. Claudia L. Hams. wife of Captain
Peter c. Hams, charged with the STAY
ing of William E. Annis.
Mrs. Hams said she would consent
TO go on the witness stand on condi-
ton that the confession she made Is
returned to her. 50 that it can be de-
stroyed. Frederick L.. Norton, Mrs.
Hains's Boston attorney, declared that
the signature to this statement was
obtained under duress, but acknowl-
edged h it would be hard to prove
it in a court of law. and added that
the easiest way out of the difficulty is
the elimination of the document alto
gether.
embers of the Bayside Yacht Club,
of which Annis was a member and on
the float of which Captain Hams and
his brother, r. Jenkins Hams. stood
when the husband fired the fatal shots,
are determined that the lead man shall
NC i6 saAhtA " ~ ~" -
the clubhouse they called on the widow
and promised active aid in the prose-
cution.
Mystery surrounds the disappearance
of two of the three challenge letters
sent by Captain Hams to Annis. These
lost letters are said to have contained
statements much more startling than
have been given out. They also are
said to nave contained mention of
other names besides that of Annis.
District Attorney Darrin told Comp
troller Metz that he would need about
$40, 900 more to complete the work of
the present year, including the prosecu-
ton of the Hams brothers.
Gets CIubmen's Statements.
Darrin does not believe that the at
tempt to establish a "brainstorm" in
this case will be successful, as he IS
confident that he can prove that the
Hams brothers went to the yacht club
with the express purpose of killing
William E. Annis.
Mr.. Darrin got together a dozen or
| more witnesses at the Bayside Yacht
Club and questioned each in turn.
What the witnesses had to say was
taken down by a ste~nographer. A sec
ond conference of the kind will be held
Oh Monday, the district attorney ex-
poets, when more witnesses will be ex-
amined.
Marie Louise Sulmande. the French
maid who kept house for T. Jenkins
Hams when he lived at Bay Ridge and
who still lives there with two children
! cop,r,nnly oinn0Se6 t0 he HalnS'S
legitimate offspring. has declared that
the younger OF the two children, a girl
J s months old. is her daughter, and that
Hains Is it's father. She expects Hams
to marry her as soon as he is released
from Jail, she said.
Maid Calls Him "Tony."
In discussing Hams, Miss Sulmande
speaks of him as Tony" She said
TONY used TO ak of matrimony 10
her while they lived together in the
Bensonhurst house, but before they had
had an opportunity to have a regular
ceremony performed it became neces-
sary for "Tony" to take her to a hos
pital. There. on December IL or Il
last-Marie Sulmande doesn't remem-
Der the date--a girl baby was born 10
her.
She hoes not remember the name of
the hospital I'm which she was confined.
She knows only that it was in Brook
lyn, and that when well enough TO
leave it she brought her baby back to
the Bensonhurst house. She and Hams
moved to Bay Ridge last May.
Major Hams, at Lawyer Mclntyre's
Office. declared that the French maids
story was "a malicious lie
THAT child is the son of Captain
Hams he said. "She was left with
> the woman by Peters mother some
! time after the captains separation from
his wife. My mother had Peters two
. Oldest children to take care of, and
thought the maid could look after tbs
!, other. | don't know what has possessed
the maid to give out such a prepos-
toro,,e fabrinatiop