Evening star., 1909-05-10
Trial of Capt. Peter c. Hams
May End Today.
ATTORNEYS TALK TO JURY
Mother of the Defendant Greets Him
Affectionately.
CONVENTIONS OF MR.. MCINTYRE
Lawyer Declares the Shooting of
William Z. Annis Was Not Pre-
meditated Nor Intended.

| COURTHOUSE. Flushing, L. l., May
10.-The last stage Of the trial of Capt
Peter c. Hams for the murder OF William
| E. Annis August Is last was reached
| today When court opened nothing re-
mained to be done except the arguments
OF counsel and the charge by the judge,
and as the Judge had asked counsel to
limit their speech TO three hours each II
looked as IL the case would be in the
hands of the jury by evening.
| Capt. Hams was brought to the court
room this morning long before the pro-
ceedings started. He did not seem Sc
preoccuped today as heretofore. He
looked about him with eyes which ap-
peared to see and understand. He ap.
peared to be less haggard than he was
last week He had on q new suit of black
clothes, with the trousers neatly creased
His beard was trimmed nicely and his
hair carefully brushed. On the whole, he
looked better than any day since his trial
| started.
Mother Greets Defendant.
| Mrs. Virginia Jenkins Hains, mother
Of the defendant, entered the courtroom
just before the session opened. She was
with her husband. the general. The
mother appeared very much agitated. She
walked to where her son sat facing the
| jurymen. and, throwing her arms about
whispered In his ear and he seemed to
reply. This was the first time since the
trial started that the mother has spoken
| to her son. But the son made little
| response to the mothers greetings.
After the talk with the defendant the
mother took a seat between her husband
and Maj. Hams, where she could observe
every action OF Capt Hains. Thornton
Hams was not In court, nor were any
| of the defendants children.
There were more women among the
| spectators than at any time since the
| trial began and there were no vacant
seats. as the news that Mr.. Mcintyre
would sum up had gone abroad.
Shooting Not Premeditated.
| It was 1920 o'clock before Justice Gar
retson ascended the bench. all rising at
his entrance including the defendant. Mr..
Mcintyre at once began to speak.
THE shooting arose out Of fortutous
meeting" he declared. 'In it's nature 1t
| was purely accidental. 1t was not de-
signed premeditated nor intended"
| Mr.. Mcintyre then detailed the negotia-
tions Thornton Hams had carried on
with Jesperson & Bugge, the real estate
dealers. for the purchase of property on
Long Island.
After spending some time in detailing
the movements of the brothers on the
| fatal morning the lawyers voice grew
| louder as he reoounted the fact that
Thornton Hams purchased return railroad
| tickets between Bayside and Long Island
City. Pointing at the pale-faced defend
| ant, who sat with his head on the back OF
the chair. his eyes staring at the ceiling,
L Mr McIn 10
| had murder in his heart-if Thornton
| Hams had murder In his heart-do you
| suppose that they would have purchased
| return tickets from Bayside? How could
| sane men hope to return again IL 1t was
| their purpose to commit an act Of homi-
| cide?"
Indulges in Pathos.
| Pathos then permeated the speech for
| q time. The three children OF the de-
fendant we're brought In and the lawyer's
voice shook with emotion as he painted a
picture Of the children orphaned If their
father were convicted. In fearful strains
he described the age OF Gen. Hams and
his wife. who have climbed to the apex
Of the mountain and are descending the
western slope of life. Their sun Is soon
set," he went on. They have nearly
reached the age Of three score years and
ten. What. will little Peter the Sd do
when
OBJECTED to-" Mr.. De Witt interrupted,
who added that he could not quite see the
relevancy OF the reference to Peter Hams,
| Sd.
Justice Garretson seemed to take like
view of the matter, for he held with Mr..
strong plea for his client on the ground
| that he was mentally irresponsible at the
| time OF the shooting.
Asks Several ouestions
He read the testimony Of Dr. Coombs,
| a states witness. to the effect that all
| insane persons show nationality at times,
and made point Of that. After making
| the most Of such experts testimony, Mr.
Mcintyre asked why Funke, Mrs. Annis
and other witnesses who testified at
the trial Of Thornton Hams were not
| called in this trial
why was Mrs. Annis kept away on
| rebuttaI?" he exclaimed. why was Ste
| vens not called to characterize the con-
duct. the department. the manner and
| the speech Of this defendant at the time
| OF shooting?
ish boatman. in this trial? Was it be-
| cause they feared that under the sane
tity OF an oath he might testify that
Capt. Hams was irrational?
L
took the defendants pedigree at the sta
ton. Was 1t because they feared he
might testify In manner different to
what they desired?'
District Attorney Objects.
District Attorney De Witt was on his
! feet with frequent objections. Some of
them came while Mr.. Mcintyre was reach
| ing a rhetorical climax. Many of the OBJ
jections were concerning minor mac
curacies and Justice Garretson told the
district attorney not to interrupt unless
| his objection was important.
| The Jurors sat uneasily In their seats
Some looked at counsel steadily, others
with furtive glances.
The parents and brother OF the accused
all neryousiy toyed with their chins. They
were very agitated. In fact, as the last
struggle In the long case was proceeding
everybody in the inclosure seemed agi-
Etated and nervous except Dan O'Reilly.
dence.
Mr. Mcintyre seem.d to be on the point
| of invoking the "unwritten law" when he
went into unrestrained detail in discussing
| Claudia Hams confession, but he avoided
| any direct assertion of justification on the
| part of his client and worked up to a
climax suggestive that the circumstances
| were of a nature to make insanity inevi-
table.
Court Cautions Counsel.
Once Mr.. Mcintyre was cautioned by
Justice Garretson that he was overstep-
ping the boundary line. and when he said
| Il am not pleading the unwritten law. but