Omaha daily bee., 1921-03-10
ClaraHanaon
Is ReaIo
F.
Trial of Alleged Slayer of Oil
Magnate and Politician Will
Open at Ardmore
Tomorrow. -
Bitter Fight Expected

Ardmore, Okl., March 9.-Thc
stage is set for the drama in which
two women will tell of their love and
suffering for one man.
Clara Smith Hamon, the girl i'll
the triangle. will fight for her life.
Mrs. Jake Z. Hamon, the wife in
the three-cornered drama, will fight
for the name her children bear.
Confident of acquittal, the girl to-
day waits the opening of her trial
tomorrow for the murder of Jake
L. Hamon, Oklahoma oil king and
republican national committeeman.
The widow of the oil king is ex-
pected to arrive today witt, At
torney General Frelling, who will
conduct the prosecution and Frank
Ketch, administrator of the Hamon
estate, prepared to play the star role
for the state.
Will Be Sensational.
The trial will be As sensational as
first forecasted, it was indicated to-
day. Predictions as to the length of
the trial vary from one to three
weeks. .....
All depends on the success of the
prosecutions efforts to prove that
the oil king on his death bed ac-
cused Clara Smith Hamon of having
deliberately shot him after threats.
To prove this the state is expected
to depend chiefly o. the testimony
of Frank Ketch, busSOSs manager OF
the oil kings property. The Rev.
T. ]. Irwin Of Lawton, Okl.. the
clergyman who oficiated at lannon's
funeral. and Ernest Dunlap, one of
lannon's business associates.
Defense Well Armed.
Against their word will be the tes-
tinlony of prominent witnesses for
the defense, who will declare they
also talked to the dying man and will
deny that he made any such accusa-
ton against the girl as the prosecu-
ton claim. There also will be the
story Of the girl herself, the only liv-
ing witness of the tragedy. Two
hundred witnesses have been sum
moned.
The defense will introduce the
statement given to the newspapers
by ketch in whicl, he quoted the oil
king as saying that he had shot him
self accidentally while cleaning a
pistol. The success of the states
case, it is pointed out by the girls
friends, depends chiefly ON Ketch's
ability to explain his statement and
other peculiar acts on his part.
The majority of the prosecutions
witnesses will be called in rebuttal,
III effort to show up the girls past
and refute her statements that she
was an innocent country girl of II,
when Hamon, man of AZ, lured her
into an illicit love affair.
Cali Venire of $50.
A special grand venire Of $50 has
been ordered. The prosecution is
confident that jury will be secured
within a day. The general opinion
is that it will take at least a week to
find r. men i'll the county who have
not formed an opinion in the case.
Ardmore is preparing to receive
the largest crowd of visitors in its
history. The little town, with its
atmosphere of the zippy west and its
accent of the languorous south, does
not relish the notoriety the case has
given it. but intends to outdo itself
in hospitality. T..
District Judge Champion has an
nounced that suitable provisions will
be made in the little court room for
the army of scribes expected at the
trial. notwithstanding efforts OF At
torney General Freeing and young
| Jake Hamon. the l8-year-old son OF
the dead oil king, to prevent reserva-