The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1909-05-20
ARMY CAPTAIN APPARENTLY uN.
CONCERNED WHEN COURT
SENTENCES HIM.
UAWR|TTEN LAW" IS SCORED
No Effort by Prosecution to infiict Elk.
treme Penalty-AppeaI to Be
Taken to the Higher
Courts.

Flushing, New York. - Standing
| apparently the most unconcerned man
| In the court ROOM seeming by his ap.
| athletic attitude hardly to realize what
| II all meant, and after listening to one
OF the most scathing arraignments OF
| the so-called unwrltten law ever heard
| in court of justice, Capt. Peter G..
Mains. Jr., U. s. A., heard himself con.
| demned to hard labor In Sing Sing
! prison for n term Of not less than 8
nor more than 1G years for the killing
of William Z. Annis at the Bayslde
Yacht club last August.
Tho former dapper army officer, a
ghost Of his former self and seeming.
ly troubled and weighed down by his
own personal sorrow, made no demon
stratlon at any time, and as soon as
sentence had been pronounced sank
heavily into a chair His aged father,
Gen Peter C. Hams, and his brother
| Nal T. ]. Hams, who were in the
| court room, also took the sentence
stoically.
II is expected that counsel for the
convicted captain will apply TO the
courts at once for writ Of reasonable
doubt and then carry the case to the
higher courts.
No Opposition to clemcncy.
That the sentence was made very
light was due In part to the fact that
District Attorney De witt, who sc.
cured the conviction, made no effort
TO oppose the plea for clemency, made
by Attorney Eugene Young.
Justice Garretson, after entering his
chambers, gave an audience to Attor.
neys Mcintyre and Young, who had
with them Davidson Bennett, the law
yer who prepared the confession
signed by Claudia Hams at the cap
taln's home in Fort Hamilton.
Wher court convened Mcintyre
made the usual motion for new trial.
which was overrulcd. Mcintyre then
sought an arrest of judgment on the
grounds that at the time the crime
was committed Capt Peter C. Hams
was O soldier in the United States
army and that the supreme court o.
the state OF New York had no jurls.
dIctlon over him. This motion was
denied also
Young then made plea for elem
ency on all the grounds brought out
at the trial, urging the great mental
strain which Capt, Hams had been
under following the discovery OF his
wifes alleged unfaithfulness and de-
claring that his reason has been plain.
~ dethroned when his wife made
scandalous charges against him In her
counter petition and answer to his
suit for divorce.
"Urwritten Law" ls Scored.
Looking straight at the prisoner,
Judge Garrctson began his arNign.
mcnt of the unwritten law.
1.-THE view that a man can take the
law into his own hands to right any
real or fancled grievance is abhorrert
to all thinking people" said the elder
~ jurist.
at must be a source of qualification
to all right thinking men that the jury
that so patiently listened to all OF the
evidence in your case saw there no
justification for murder The law pro.
vides proper punishment for all who
transgress Its mandates and no human
being is superior TO the law, as It is
laid down, In the statute books.
mo one has the right to take the
law into his own hands and punish
those who have either really or in
fancy wronged him.
"You have had a fair and impartial
trial and have been convicted upon
the evidence. 1t is my duty to i'm
pose sentence. The sentence OF the
court is that you, Peter C. Hams. shall
be confined In the states prison at
Sing Sing for a term of not less than
s years and not more than 16 years at