Morgan County republican. (Versailles, Mo.) 1906-1914, 1909-05-20
ARMY CAPTAIN APPARENTLY UN.
CONCERNED WHEN COURT
SENTENCES HIM.
"UMWR|TTEM LAW" IS SCORED
No Effort by Prosecution to Infict Elk.
treme Penalty-Appeal to Be
Taken to the Higher
Courts.

Flushing, New York. - Standing
apparently the most unconcerneG man
In the cOur room, seeming by his ap
athletic attitude hardly to realize what
1t all meant, and after listening TO one
OF the most scathing arraignments of
the so-called unwrittcn law ever heard
In a court of justice, Capt. Peter C.
Hams, Jr., u. S. A., heard himself con.
demned to hard labor in Sing Sing
prison for a term of not less than 8
nor more thar 16 years for the killing
of William Z. Annis at the Bayside
Yacht club last August.
The 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
stration 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,
Maj. T. J. Hams, who were in the
court room, also took the sentence
stOically.
It is expected that counsel for the
convicted captain will apply to the
courts at once for a writ of reasonable
doubt and Their carry the casc to the
higher courts.
No Opposition to Clemency.
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 c%lcmcncy, made
by Attorney Eugene Young.
Justice Garrctson, after entering his
chambers. gave an audience to Attcr-
neys Mcintyre and Young, who had
with them Davidson Bennett, the law.
yer who prepared the confession
signed by Claudia Hams at the cap
tain's home in Fort Hamilton.
When court convened Mcintyre
made the usual motion for a now trial,
which was ovcrruled. Mcintyre then
sought an arrest of Judgment on the
grounds that at the time the crime
was committed Capt. Peter G. Hams
was a soldier in the United States
army and that the supreme court OF
| the state of New York had no juris
diction over him. This motion was
denied also.
Young then made a 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
wife's alleged unfaithfulness and de-
claring that his reason has been plain
" dcthrOncd when his wife made
s%candalOus charges against him In her
counter petition and answer to his
suit for divorce.
"Unwritten Law" Is Scored.
Looking straight at the prisoner,
Judge Garrctson began his arraign.
mcnt of the unwrittcn law.
1.-THE view that a MAJ can take the
law into his own hands TO right any
real or fancicd grievance is abhorrcnt
to all thinking people," said the elder
ly jurist.
at must be a source Of qualification
to all right thinking men that the jury
that so patiently listened 10 all OF the
evidence in your case saw there no
justification for murder. The law pro.
vidcs proper punishment for all who
transgrcss it's mandates and no human
being Is superior to the law, as 1t is
laid down In the statute books.
"No one has the right to take the
law into his W 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
hard labor"