The Bon Homme County independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1904-1913, 1908-11-12
CAPTAIN HAMS
IDOLIzED WIFE
Brother Tells of Shock at Dis.
covery of Wife,s Relations
With Annis.

Hams, indicted with his brother. Cap
tain Peter G. Hams, IT., for III murder
OF VIM. II. Annis, gave to the World
an exclusive signed statement In de-
Tense OF his brother Peter. which in
part follows:
my brother, Captain Hams, was al
ways a delicate, high-strung, nervous
child. His was a most sensitive and
generous nature. With q high sense of
honor, he was gentle n obedient,
tractable and our mothers pet. / re-
member once when he was q small boy
he accidentally killed a bird. He cried
over the bird all that day and was
much upset. This was not normal for
q boy. p.
When, a little later, Peter went with
General Hains in a lighthouse tender,
he fell down the open main hatch and
landed on his head In the hold. He was
insensible until the next day and after
ward acted queerly. The doctors We're
afraid for him to go to school until he
was well into his teens, and he was
far behind the other lads in his studies
until his natural diligence and perse-
verance brought him to the front.
sit is only just that the public know
these facts, for II will show beyond any
possible doubt that the horrors he has
lately undergone, that would shake
strongest man, would naturally
uESdSA HIN uOWAh .Et@.. r..
o. A Nervous Child. .
Poor Peter never took part in any
of the usual games of boys, He would
sit at home and read or draw pictures.
A defect in speech caused by a ner-
vous affection made him timid with
more robust lads. 1t affected him so
much that he devoted several years OF
study on how to overcome 1t, and
finally did so by q method which made
talking very difficult indeed.
1.-THE way he accomplished it was to
keep time to his talking by tapping on
a table with his finger. He talked slow
ly, and at every syllable there swas the
tap-tap-tap Of the finger. 1t was diff
fcllt indeed, for Pete to keep it up, but
he stuck to 1t until he had mastered the
defect In speech. &c.,. IL.
Always Pete had the highest sense
Of honor as a boy and never was
vicious or bad. Once a beggar came
into the house, and Pete u%pbraided him
told a pitiful tale Of starvation and
misery, and then a revulsion of feeling
came upon the lad. He gave the mendi-
cant all the money he had n with
tears In his yes insisted that the beg
gar wear his overcoat, a costly gar
ment.
''These incidents simply go to show
IIo kSIlCIOUo IAAlDAA9SSs liz llS lllold Ill
tone Of his nature. That he was weak
minded when he grew up was absurd.
That he ever showed the slightest dew
tation from the high ideals and moral
atmosphere of his early youth is also
not true. His conduct to his wife was
always loving n most affectionate,
and the opinion among all his friends
is that he was a model husband and
father. In the perfect ohscurity OF his
own conscience he always believed good
Of every one else, n this in my opin-
ION shows the true side OF a mans ma
ture. Evil he never thought Of. Vice
was a thing unknown. He never drank
except as a gentleman may.
HE never knew his wife was ad-
dicted to the alcohol habit, as her own
testimony shows. Believing good Of
the slightest suspicion of the woman
he loved and honored.
II, seldom ven to Fort Hamilton
even when Pete was there, but several
years back, when my own wife was
alive and we were all together in Gen
eral Hams home, / a state positively
that there was no drinking, no smoking
of countless cigarets and gambling.
Peto never had but one love affair.
That was with Claudia. She was the
only oma he had yer really known,
and she was to- him something far
above human-his idol. OF course,
some men and women of the world may
laugh at this romance, but 1t was typi-
cal of his nature, the soul of a Raleigh,
q southern gentleman-a soul she never
could understand
The public has overlooked the fact
that the packet of letters, some of
which have been made public, were not
received by Captain Hams until his
return to San Francisco, just prior to
his sudden and wild departure for New
York.
That the doings chronicled in some
OF them are not typical OF army life is
emphasized by the fact that the cap
tain became frantic, and on receiving
other letters from his wife was upset
so completely that he boarded the first
train for New York. He would run
home at once n see just what was
taking place, and, if she had gotten into
trouble, try and get her out Of it at
once. The tales of wild revels appalled,
him.
1T Is wrong to blame MIN for loving
and trusting the woman the way he
did, loving and trusting her SO that
nothing could shake his faith until he
had heard the story from her own lips.
She told him hat she had loved Annis
for, years and had used Peters high
ideals to fool and deceive him.
II LdS DGSi sdiO I1dL lie SnOulQ
never have left her and gone to the
Philippines. This is absurd. He had
sworn to do his duty as a soldier, and
If every soldier refuses duty because
his wife cannot be left alone, what can
be the answer? But, in this case. she
urged him to go. He was talking with
her before going about resigning and
going into private life, but she urged
him to go, begged him not to think Of
giving up the service What more
natural that he should leave her and
the children in a comfortable home,
well provided for, among friends, while
he answered the call OF duty? What
more could a man do for the woman
he loved?
What a her thoughts be OF her
children? To be sure they are cared
for by General Hain-s. But what is
physical comfort to the mental agony
they must endure when they are old
enough to know? When my own little
Mollie, my little orphaned daughter,
cries for me as she does every night,
Papa, papa, come to little. ,MoIlie,' it
is dear little Peter who takes her in
his baby arms and soothcs her ia sleep
~ 1T, GUN 1tftIz - r H.