The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1908-12-03
MY MIND WAS A
BLANK WHEN |
SHOT ANN|S
CAPT. p. c. HAMS, JR.
PRISONER SAYS HE HAS ,A6soL-
UTELY NO MEMORY OF WHAT
HAPPENED AT 6AYslDE-
KILLED A cLU6MAN.
CAPT. p. C. HAMS, JR.
BY DOROTHY DIX.
lines Leased Wire servlce.)

BY DOROTHY DIX.
(Times Leased Wire service.)
NEW YORK. Dec. 3.-"f want you
TO say one thing for mel want you
TO contradict the assertion that has
been made that I still love Claudia II
Is monstrous- grotesQue-that should
have one particle OF lingering affection
for her after the way she betrayed me
and disgraced my little children"
So spoke Capt. Hams, In prison
charged with killing VIM. f. Annis.
his brooding eyes that never tighten
and never brighten, fixed upon the
table where his restless hands that are
never still for a single second, were
tracing meaningless marks upon the
soiled jail cloth.
He was the most pathetic figure on
earth-a young man broken on the
wheel OF fate In his youth, the Joy or
living quenched forever In him. old
In sorrow before he Is old In years. He
Is the tallest Of the three brothers, q
fine, soldierly. outstanding figure OF q
man that must have been handsome
enough TO have captured any girls
fancy when his face was lit up by
happiness, but now he looks wan and
pinched. as II some cruel wind had
blown over him and blighted him.
He is thin to the point OF emacia-
ton. His clothes hang on him loose
ly. His hands are transparent and
bony. The skin is drawn tightly over
his cheek bones and across his fore
head. He has the pale. ascetic look
of young monk who has tasted and
kept lonely vigils until he is ready to
faint from exhaustion. His face Is the
saddest human face ever saw, and
his voice, when he speaks. Is like the
voice OF a ghost, so fiat. SO nfeless.
so surcharged with deathless woe.
You do not need the doctor 10 tell
you that melancholy has marked him
for its own. YOU see Il an the croop-
ing figure and stricken face you hear
IL in the tired speech that trails OF
into forgetf,i,ness every now and then,
as TIE dim raeInory struggles to bring
hsck As. crs fact and then another.
ard tries to weld them into q coherent
whole.
Emerees From Eclipse.
Fer Peter Hams mind now IL slow.
~ emerging from the eclipse that
da-Aened Il on the day after his wife
shattered IFS universe by her confes-
sen tc HIN. He still remembers many
tairys on'y N part, and he is patheti-
cali7 nsg7'>ss, with twitching hands
aid trs0lsi:..I lips. that he cannot
Keep sti!, ID. al his efforts. But he
saws be- ~ better now-oh, much, much
bcttcr--:ha. he is beginning to sleep
a little.
1T 10 the first time have been able
to rest since I got those terrible let
tiers OF Claudias In San Francisco.
and II has done wonders for me.
hope to be well very soon now-if |
can only sleep"
Those letters-those terrible, ter
rible letters" he went on. his hands
fiuttering over the table. You know
had been gone for three months 10
the Philippines and back with trans
port, and | had not heard one word
from Claudia or my babies When l
reached San Francisco | was already
wild with anxiety about them. for she
had never failed to write before. and
so when I saw the great package OF
letters with her dear handwriting on
them, I fell on them like n famished
dog on a bone. But I could not under
stand them. Every one was filed
with accounts OF her smoking and
drinking and going about with Annis
and doing things that she never did
before that I knew Of. and then read
on to where she mentioned that Cos
sip was busy with her name. Then
knew something was wrong at home,
and II made me crazy.
"I rushed like a mailman to my SUI
perior officer and told him I must 60
home: that something dreadful had
happened, I didn't know what, but
must go, even IL had to resign my
commission to do so. He saw that
was awfully upset, and 30 he stretch.
ed a point and let me go.
IL can't tell you anything about that
trip. only know that was insane,
that I never ate nor slept between
San Francisco and New York: that
all that I thought Of was that Claudia
nv poor Claudia. was In trouble and
7 was going to help her. That way
came TO Fort Hamilton. and suppose
I looked like crazy person. when
burst IN upon her"
Bowed With Sorrow.
He stopped. face bowed on breast
the sorrow of sorrow upon him.
Coming to the time when. az alleged
Mrs. Hams confessed to him hei
wrong doing with Annis, Capt Haini
said:
After that I remember things onlJ
In part. I went to Tonys (his brother)
and we were together and I couldn'
sleep nor eat. would walk the foo!
night after night. wild with grief AM
shame, tortured beyond endurance
and then came that awful charge
Claudia made against me--a charge
that would make me an outcast among
my fellow-men. They told me Of tha'
and that Annis had put her up to IL
He had not only debauched her, bu
killed her every sense Of shame. fo'
in this monstrous charge she accuses
herself along with me. II was tot
much. I do not know what happened