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Show MRS. HAMON SAYS SHE SHOULD HAVE HURLED ACID IN CLARA'S FACE Trial of Young Woman Charged With Murder of Million- I aire Oil Man Is Opened; Question Opened as to How ' Much Can Be Said of Relations Between Victim and Girl Prisoner. A RbMORE, Okla . March 10.- The trial of Clara Smitli Ilamon, charged with the murder of Jake L. Hamou, millionaire oil man add Republican national committeeman of Oklahoma, licgan shortly after 9 o'clock this moxbing. Judge Thomas W i hampion is presiding pre-siding The asc is generally regarded as Oklahoma's most celebrated cele-brated murder trial. Hamon was shot and killed last, fall. The court room which had been virtually empty until a few minutes he-fore he-fore thc trial opened, filled rapidly When the trial started every -'at was filled and persons were lining the walls on all sides .'ii.- v-i.wa niiiun n,i:iiuu, iocs uc- fcndanl. and mother and sister, took seuis behind her counsel. Several friends came up to where she sat and shook hands with her. The defendant held a final conference confer-ence with her counsel late last night, and S P. F reeling, attorney general of Oklahoma, worked far Into thc night completing h Ls plans for the state's case Both sides agreed that the length of thc trial depended upon the tactics adopted In examining veniremen for Jury service and the rulings of Judge' Champion as to tne length of timc-i which might be consumed In examinations. exam-inations. In pre-trial statements each side noted that the Judge may rule to throw- presentation of testimony open to ail facts which either side might wish to bring out. covering a period Of several years, and including H'i-mon's H'i-mon's alleged association with Clara Smith Ilamon. STATE IS OPPOSED. Speaking for the state. Attorney General I-'r.-eling -aid, however, that an effort would bo made lo have the court rule that no evidence regarding the alleged relation between Hamon and the defendant further back than twenty minutes before the shooting occurred, might be introduced, and in another statement, V "llllnm P McLean and Walter Scott, of counsel for the defense, expressed similar views. Mrs. Hamon, widow of the oil magnate, mag-nate, has announced her intention of appearing as a witness for the state and attending all sessions of the trial, and a seat has been provided for her. Clara Smith obtained the name Hamon Ha-mon by marriage to Frank Ilamon, nephotr of thc man she is accused of killing. mow BAR! S i n i 1XGS Mrs. Jake L. Ilamon said her greatest great-est fear was that the defendant would go free. She said she felt to a greater extent than ever that years ago when hc-r husband and thc young woman first became acquainted c'ne should have taken some action. In that she was deterred, however, she declared by the fact that she was a Christian woman and could do nothing of violence vio-lence r,g.tii.it the then Miss Clara Dar-ton Dar-ton Smith. Mrs. Hamon. as. tears welled into her eyes, said that time and again she had contemplated some action to break up the associations of her hus-baad hus-baad and Miss Smith, but could not bring herself lo that point. DEB l ED I BLROU W ID Mrs. Harnon said that many, many times she had debated with herself whether to throw acid in Clara Smith's face, to disfigure her so slo- would not be so beautiful and attract the attention atten-tion of Hamon. but that she never could bring herself to that point "i h, n I only had." said she. "I might have had him and these children chil-dren might have bad their father." SEES CLARA'S CLOTHES M-. Hamon spoke in bitterness of Mrs. Clara Smith Hamon. referring to her as a "vampire." who repeatedly had refused to consider Mr. Hamon's expressed Wishes to end their association. associa-tion. Mrs. Hamon s-ald that on one visit to the rooms in a local hotel occupied oc-cupied by Mr. Hamon an.l Clara Smitli Ilamon she had gazed in amazement upon the fino clothes thoro and that she had taken away a pistol she found on Clara's drivsei LARA i T) l.l STORY Clara Smith Hamon will take the Witness stand at her trial on the charge of murdering Jake ilamon. She will say that she shot and killed I the oil multimillionaire and Hcpubli-can Hcpubli-can national committeeman in self-defense. This is a synopsis of her story: "I was 17 an unsophisticated clerk in a store. Jake Hamon came Into tho Istore time and again, under the pretext pre-text of making purchases at my counter. coun-ter. "Finally he lured mc to his office 'by pronase of a better position. 1 "How I bated him after that: DOMINATED BY HIM I "For ten years 1 was dominated by Ihim. Dut 1 cams to love him. And I 'did everything posslblo to contribute jto his success. It was I who made many of the suggestions that men attributed at-tributed to his business sagacity. "But when ho reached the aptx of I power in richness and politics, he told line I must go. I agreed. I had my ruil-. ruil-. road tickets. I was going far away. "On that last evening together Ha-Imon Ha-Imon was drunk. He created a scene Ion the hotel balcony about G o'clock. I 'left him and locked myself In my room, Then I sent for food. He push-:ed push-:ed in behind the waiter. BATTLE IN ROOM He was enraged. H called mc a ''terrible name." Then h grabbed mo I by the throat with one hand and by the fingers with the other. He twisted my fingers to torture me. Finally I broke loose. ilamon reached for his knife and made a threat to cut my throat. He (Continued on Pag Two) MRS. HAMON SAYS SHE SHOULD HAVE HURLED ACID IN CLARA'S FACE (Continued from I'age Ono.j started to lunge toward me. with his fingers clutching the air grotesquely, i He grabbed a chair and struck nt mo. "At that moment I had my revolver revol-ver in my hand, pointing at him. and 1 1 was calling to him to utop. The 'chair struck tho revolver and discharged dis-charged It I did not pull the trlgg'-r though the weapon wns In my hand. VISITS HAMON ii.ini. Jiamoii iwi ac-en 111 nramuri UlS day after Hamon was shoL Before she disappeared she called at the Hardy Har-dy sanitarium, where Hamon liy. asked to see him alone, and was admitted. ad-mitted. What did they talk about in this last meeting? Her testimony may reveal re-veal Will the Witnesses who testified that they talked to hc-r on this dny say that they observed her to be bruised about the head and hands? When she Jerked her hands awa . she is quoted as having said, "the; were bleeding in every pore " story or FLIGHT For days after the shooting it was reported that she was still In ArdmorC. Every few hours someone would say, "I saw her '' She was "seen" In mar.y places. But she actually left Ard-more Ard-more the afternoon following the tragedy. She actually went from Ardmoro to Tmrant. Okln.. by train; from Durant to Dallas, Tex., by auto, where she changed chauffeurs; from Dallas to Cisco. Tex., by auto, from Cisco to Kl Paso by train "She gave the chauffeur who took her from Dallas to Cisco $260." says J, II Mathers, her attorney. "As she was riding with the one who took her from Dallas to CIbco. she-asked she-asked him Why he dld'nt wear en overcoat. over-coat. He replied that hc dld'nt feel that he could afford one "She gave him S&O for the coat. Then she gave him $250 when she left him to take her train." WORTH $250,000 Clara Hamon could afford to pay la chauffeur $300. She is reputed to be worth a quarter of a mlllloi sxel usli of any! tins might be Involved in :i Hamon will, nbout which there has been much talk. She Is also owner of an oil lease In the heart of the rich Hewitt field, which has potential poRslbilltleq ranglnc Up Into the millions. In dress her taste Is excellent. She possesses some wonderful jewelry, but I i wears little of it. Says one citizen, whose office was I near Hamon'a for several months. I "Maybe she was a clever vampire; lor maybe ahe was an Innocent Rlrl ensnared en-snared I know that she was always, modest in her manner and her appearance, ap-pearance, that Bhe never sought to force herself on anyone In town, that she went regularly from her hotel to I her work In llnmnn'4 nfflrc- t li : r sin. Ollndsd her own business.'' Nothing about the face of the, girl, or her dress, tells tlie story of the jllfe she lived. llr dark blue eyes are clear, and greet one frankly, her I wavy brown hair la modestly done up; she doesn't rouge; her voice is modulated modu-lated "They never would ha e found me," jShe says, "If I had not wanted to give , myself up. I whs safe in Mexico, and I had mmle friend who would have kept me there as long an I wunted to ' stay " Her 19-year-old brother, Junv s Smith) Is the one to whom Clara glr. the credit for persuading her to return. re-turn. 00 |