The Washington times., 1921-03-07
WHITE HOUSE .
HAMON|S GOAL
Slain Oil Millionaire Aimed to
Be President, His Slayer
Reveals.
tcontinusd from First Pass.)


Mr.. Harding selected for his cabinet.
and at least one of them 10 only .
half-wit." she added
Clara Smith named the alleged
half-wit in the Cabinet. who had I'M
pressed her so unfayorabiy. Having
been associated so dosely for many
years with Mr.. Hamoh. she Is exceed
ingly keen along political lines.
found her smiling and self con-
troIled. somewhat pale. perhaps from
= recent cold. apparently confident of
her acquittal and eager for the trial
to proceed without postponement.
She Is a young woman of twenty
eight. fairly good looking. not
beauty. She uses excellent language
and gives tho impression OF being
moderately well educated '-..
Having talked with many pervons
In Ardmore. politicians and plain
citizens, Republicans and Democrats.
and having been more or less familiar
for years past with the political and
financial career of Jake Hamon. my
net impression 10 that this man whose
earthly existence was ended by
single bullet from q small caliber
automatic pistol was an exponent OF
super-audacity such as the world sell
dom sees
AMBITIONS IN POLITICS.
his amDtlonS IN poIn unouCe Ahu
politics were Napoleonic. He was one
who smashed through. Defeat appar-
emily had no place In his lexicon.
His was the will to win. Back of that
will was the absolute belief in his
ability to achieve success In his un-
dertakings, to make his dreams come
true, no matter how preposterous
some of them might have seemed to
persons Of calm judgment reared out
"a a L. y h.
ern Oklahoma
To know and understand Jake
Hamon, one must know and under
stand southern oklahoma That he
swAyed Oklahoma as whole, politf-
cally. Is not to be disputed: but 1t Ii
southern Oklahoma that was the
natural element of Jake Hamon.
And southern Oklahoma is q little.
though loud. world unto itself. In
order that the reader may visualize
Jake Hamon as he was, II 10 essen
tial that southern Oklahoma be set
forth before the eye in its raw naked
mesa. past and present
Therefore you are invited to como
with me for q brief survey Of south
ern and more particularly OF south
western Oklahoma as 1t has been and
as 1t is.
Jake Hamon was born and reared
and educated, speaking enthusiastically.
In Kansas. His mature life. his ac-
tive career. his destiny. his fate, these
things belong together to the south
ern part OF this old Indian country
and this new Commonwealth. New
places of residence, Lawton first then
Ardmore. were his.
TWO PHASES OF LIFE.
Two distinct phases Of life were his.
the first in and around Lawton, the
second around Andmore. For q dozen
years he was Identified With Lawton,
a pioneer town far to the west of
Ardmore- For some ten years Ard
more. an old Indian town capital OF
tho Chickasaw nation, was his head
quarters In and from this latter
town he operated in finance and poll
tics.
Leaving aside for the present the
socially unconventional aspects Of his
personality and career. let US take
note of his activities as q money
getter and his aspirations toward po-
litical mastership-his Napoleonic
craving Of power and empire.
1t is only by gaining self acquaint-
ance with this general section of
Oklahoma in it's making and in it's
matured activities that one may be
able to regard the Hamonistic aspIra-
tions toward the Presidency as any
thing other than a lugubrious atti-
tude of self-conceit.,
The first week Of the August of
1901 witnessed the opening to home
stead settlement of the Wichita
Kiowa-Comanche Indian lands In
Southwestern Oklahoma The pres
ent writer personally witnessed that
unique dramatic performance. The
first big land lottery sponsored by
Uncle Sam was the drawing at Ell
reno, Okla, for homesteads. more
than 100000 persons having filed
their names in the hope OF having
those names drawn out of a huge
barrel-like apparatus early enough in
the big gamble to entitle the drawee
to choice of one in about 12OO
quarter sections of virgin Indian land.
From Elreno, capital OF the county
where AL Jennings, later a convicted
outlaw. pardoned from prison by
President Roosevelt, was county at
torney. ! voyaged overland in a
prairie schooner to the Government
town site far to the south named in
honor OF General Lawton, who had
fallen lighting in the PHILIPPINES
CAMPED AROUND TOWN.
Camped around the LAwton town
site. where began next morning.
August g. 1901, the auction sale of
city lots. were about 10000 men.
women and children, in tents, every
community industry being repre-
scented. / was there as a stan cor
respondent of the st. Louis Post Dis
patch, my business being to get i'm
pressions and report facts. with me
on the trip from Elreno were two
young lawyers from Cincinnati Vic
and Charley, their surnames l have
forgotten. They pitched their tent
in the last available space on the
mile-long tented avenue just south OF
the townsite and hung out their
sign as a law firm.
Charley went to Guthrie. the Ter
ritorial capital, to get a notarial com
mission and seal. Vic, in his absence,
attended a meeting on the townsite,
where a local bar association was
organized He came back to the tent
disgusted
Say" said Vic, there's only 327
lawyers here already" Most OF them
were young lawyers and most OF
then folded THAR tents preaeptlv apd