The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser., 1921-04-01
CLARAHAM0NI is
FREED BY JURORS
Acquitted of Murder of Jake L.
Hamon, Oklahoma Million
aire and Politician.
VERDICT QUICKLY REACHED
Is Announced by 73-Year-OId Foreman
After Taking of Only One Ballot.
Gasps and Falls Forward, but Re-
covers and Thanks Deliverers.

Ardmore, Okla.-Clara Smith Ha-
mon was acquitted of charge Of hav-
ing murdered Jake L. Hamon, Repub-
lican National Committeeman from
Oklahoma and railroad and oil pro-
moter.
The jury took the case at 4.30 p. m.
and returned to the courtroom forty
minutes later. B. f. S. Loughridge,
aged seventy-three, foreman, said only
one ballot was taken, a secret one,
confirmed by a rising vote.
Clara Hamon obtained the informa-
tion fully seven minutes before the
verdict was rendered in open court
and sat, surrounded by members Of her
family, half smiling, half afraid to be-
lieve the mods of assurance that were
bent toward her.
When Judge Thomas w. Champion
mounted the bench and received an af-
firmative response to his question,
"Gentlemen, have you reached YER
dict?' her eyes followed the motions
of the bailiff as he received the ver-
dict from Mr.. 'Loughridge and handed
it to the clerk to read.
Clara Hamon gasped audibly in the
tensely silent courtroom, dropped for
ward in her seat, only to be seized
from behind by her younger brother,
Jimmie" squeezed and violently kiss
ed. Tears came to her eyes, and the
other members of her family cried with
her as she crossed to the standing
jurors and, halting, thanked them for
their verdict.
81 am the bappiest woman in the
world" she said.
She used a secret passage from the
courtroom to escape the crowds which
threatened to overwhelm her with
congratulations She and members of
her counsel of six attorneys said she
was considering number of business
proposals. According to Walter Scott
of Fort Worth, one Of her counsel,
what she shall do in the immediate
future is undetermined.
None of the members Of the family
of Jake L. Hamon was in the court
room when the jury returned its ver-
dict. Mrs. Hamon, the widow, and her
nineteen-year-old son, Jake L., Jr., left
when the case was placed in the jury's
hands. Mrs. Hamon at that time was
in tears.
Mrs. Hamon attended all sessions of
the trial, except two, clad in deep
mourning and sitting directly opposite
Clara Hamon. Not once during the
entire trial, which began week ago,
did the two women appear to be con-
scious of each other except on the
days they testified, when each regard
ed the other closely.
Mr.. Hamon was shot on the night
of November 81 last as the culmina7
tion of what was brught out in evil
dence introduced at the trial as being
a vicious fight with the young de-
fendant He was shot once through
the upper right body with a % cali
Der bullet and died five days later.
Clara Hamon Immediately left Ard
more, department on November %. 1t
was established during the trial H.
she left upon instructions of Mr..
Hamon as he lay upon a hospital cot.
Frank L. Ketch, former business man.
ager for Mr.. Hamon and now admin
istrator for the Hamon estate, furnish
ed her $1,000 under direction Of Mr..
Hamon.
She went to Chihuahua City, travel
ing part way across Oklahoma and
Texas by automobile, and trying in
effectually once to obtain an airplane
for her flight. She surrendered to the
Carter county sheriff at Ell Paso and
returned to Ardmore on Christmas
Day.
The states case was based upon al
legged dying statements of Mr.. Hamon,
in which he was quoted as having said
that he had been shot by Clara Hamon
as he lay upon the bed in his own room
of the two they had together occupied
for number. of years in an Ardmore
hotel.