Oklahoma Mistress a Murderess?

Clara Belle Smith was 16 years old when she met Jake Hamon in 1910 in Lawton, Oklahoma. Or maybe 17. Perhaps 18.

Clara Smith Hamon

In any event, Clara was about two decades younger than Hamon. The married father of two was making a fortune in oil and railroads in America’s newest state – and he was smitten.

Ten years later, Hamon was dead, and Clara was on trial for her life.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Jake Hamon

In 1911, Hamon moved from to Ardmore, about 100 miles southeast of Lawton, and brought his wife Georgia, son Jake Jr., and daughter Olivebelle. He also brought Clara, who was working as his private secretary.

Georgia soon figured out what was going on and relocated with her kids to Chicago. She refused to divorce her husband.

Clara started accompanying Hamon on all his business trips. To make hotel reservations less suspicious, he paid a nephew to marry Clara (and divorce her later) so she could legally register as “Mrs. Hamon.”

Thanks to his wealth, Hamon was becoming a rising star in the Republican Party, first in Oklahoma and then on a national level. Reports say he passed out $1 million in bribes (about $16 million today) to ensure the Republican National Convention of 1920 nominated Warren Harding for president.

Hamon and Clara lived in adjoining suites in the Randol Hotel in Ardmore. On the evening of Nov. 21, guests heard loud noises coming from the Hamon rooms. Then Hamon stumbled down the stairs into the hotel lobby, bleeding from a wound to his chest.

He managed to walk to a hospital two blocks away, and a surgeon removed a bullet. Hamon said he shot himself while cleaning and loading a .25 caliber pistol. The gun was so small it could fit in the palm of his hand.

Hamon’s condition worsened over the next few days. Near death, he changed his story. He said he was lying in bed when Clara came to him, laid her left hand on his head and shot him with the pistol she held in her right. He died Nov. 26, five days after the shooting.

By this time, Clara had fled to Mexico.

Prosecutors charged her with murder and adultery.

A newspaper in Claremore, Oklahoma, wrote that Hamon’s funeral was the largest ever held in the state and gushed, “There was perhaps no man in the West who had more personal friends than the deceased. And few people did more for humanity.”

Clara was persuaded to return to Ardmore to face trial, which took place over 10 days in March. She testified he was drunk the night of the shooting and choked her, kicked her, beat her, and threatened to slit her throat with a knife.

Clara said she took the .25 caliber pistol from her purse. When Hamon bashed her with a chair, the gun went off. She said she didn’t remember pulling the trigger.

Prosecutors argued that Clara had forced herself on the oilman. She testified Hamon had been promising to divorce his wife and marry her for the past six years. Public sentiment supported Clara.

Jurors voted for acquittal, agreeing with the defense argument that Clara acted in self-defense. One juror told a reporter Clara’s only mistake was “the fact that she did not kill Hamon ten years ago.”

“I’m the happiest person in the world,” Clara said after the verdict.

The very next day, she announced plans to go to Hollywood and make a movie about the case. She made good on the promise, starring as herself in the film “Fate,” directed by John Gorman.

The movie came out in early September 1921, but few theaters would show it. The film industry called for a nationwide boycott, arguing “Fate” exploited Clara and took advantage of “cheap sensationalism.”

 Ardmore banned the movie, prompting the Daily Press to run an ad telling readers the film would be shown at the “Aeroplane Hangar” outside of town, with Steve’s Bus and Baggage offering round-trip rides for 25 cents.

Clara married John Gorman, the film’s director. They divorced in 1925, and Clara faded from the headlines. It appears that all copies of “Fate” were lost or destroyed. A publicity photo survives, showing Clara struggling with the actor portraying Hamon, John Ince.

Scene from "Fate" starring John Ince as Jake Hamon and Clara Smith Hamon as herself

On a trip to New York in 1913, Hamon met John Ringling of Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus. Hamon promised to name a town in Oklahoma after Ringling if he would invest in a railroad venture there. The entrepreneur did, and the town of Ringling, Oklahoma, was born.