The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1920-12-08
Wife of Dead Mans Nephew
Says Clara Smith Was
Husbands First
Wife.
PAID $1,100 PER MONTH
Also Says Jake Hamon Gave Wife
$1,000 Per Month to Stay Away
and 500 to His
Nephew.

UNITED Press Leased Wire Service
SACRAMENTO, Calf. Dec. s.
Charges that Jake Hamon, million
aire, Oklahoma, politician, alleged to
have been murdered, paid his wife
$1,000 a month to stay in Chicago and
mot bother him." were made in an
interview with the United Press today
by woman who claims to be Mrs
Ruth Walker Hamon, wife of Frank
L. Hamon, nephew of the dead poll
tician.
Frank L. Hamon is the divorced hus-
band of Clara Smith Hamon, sought
as the slayer of Jake Hamon.
! Mrs. Ruth Hapsep@told the United
Press tfatAJuKe :f4amon paid her hus-
band $100 a month to marry Clara
Smith, so that the latter could legally
carry the name of Hamon. In this
way, Mrs. Ruth Hamon said, the re-
lations of Jake Hamon and Clara
Smith were calculated not to excite
suspicion.
/ Crank has nothing to do with Clara
Smith Hamon, I am sure" said Mrs
Hamon. He married her as a con
venience for his uncle and received
800 for it. He told me he did not
live with her.
Before the shooting, which followed
his disappearance, l received a tele-
gram at Murietta Springs, from my
father in San Antonio, Texas, that
Frank was going to Cuba. | believe
he will stop with a friend, j. f. Carr,
at Havana, if he does go to the island.
"The entire mess is the result OF
"a family trouble, l believe said Mrs
Hamon. "The mother of Frank was
intent on separating US because she
was afraid l would come into some
of her property when sse died. she
owns the st. Elmo ranch near Vaca
will. California, where she is now liV'
ing.
while Clara Hamon was stopping
at our house in Tucson, Arizona, she
received several kilograms from Jake
Hamon all O (which implied that she
was his wife.
81 do not think Frank is in any way
implicated in the shooting, although
+ do not know. At times he acted
as if he were insane. At other times
he treated me tenderly. | love hlm
although l don't know why I should
We have been mraried more than
two years.
D., Frank tried to make me believe
during the first few months OF our
marriage that he married Clara Smith
while under the influence of liquor
and later divorced her. | became SuS
!picious when he received monthly
500 checks from his uncle. He I'M
ally admitted that it was his compen
sation for having married Clara Sn1tE
in order to give her the name Of
Hamon so that she might live VIII
his uncle without fear Of gossip.
Clara Hamon came to visit us anc
during her stay received several leie
grams from Jake Hamon. She
showed me a small pistol on one oc
casion which she said she was keep
ing as protection
Il am positive that Frank dld no
20 to Clara Smith HamOn. He
has simply disappeared, as he said NJ
would, for a year. in order TO put M
ON probation following charges o!
his mother that l was dope f1enh
and ran around with other men.
Mrs lannon's story was some"ha
confused. She spoke of being II
Murietta Springs and later in Los An
geles, where she learned of the shoot
, ing. Another statement she mad
declared she was in Sacramento duI
ing the time of the shooting.