Jake Hamon the great railroad and oilman, funded the creation of Dublin’s third railroad. After much work and negotiation, the first passenger train arrived in Dublin on the Jake Hamon railroad known as the Wichita Falls, Ranger and Fort Worth in 1920. That would all change with his death. The recently built shops in Dublin would eventually be torn down because the funding stopped. There was much more to the story. Here is part of it: In 1911 Hamon met Clara Smith. He was charmed by her blue eyes and brown hair. They became lovers. Jake’s wife soon learned about the affair and instead of divorcing him, agreed to take the children and move to Chicago for $1000 a month.
To make it easier when traveling with Jake, Clara married Jake’s nephew Frank Hamon in 1917. She quickly divorced him retaining the Hamon last name. Jake and Clara Smith-Hamon returned to Ardmore, Oklahoma where they lived in two luxurious adjoining rooms at the Randol Hotel.
In 1919 Jake was Oklahoma’s Republican National Committeeman when he met candidate Warren G. Harding. Jake wanted to serve as Secretary of the Interior in Harding’s Cabinet. Harding insisted on Hamon bringing his family to Washington and leaving Clara in Ardmore.
Jake gave Clara Smith-Hamon 3 weeks to leave. While Jake was talking with a confidant in the Harding Administration, Clara came downstairs drunk, but was escorted back upstairs. Jake went upstairs to smooth things over. There was an argument and Clara pulled a gun out of her purse and fired. Jake stumbled downstairs with a bullet wound but insisted on walking to the hospital. He died 5 days later on November 26, 1920. (Weebly.com/ Wikipedia) The case went to trial on March 1, 1921 in Ardmore, Oklahoma. The trial lasted seven days. (Wikipedia/Jake L. Hamon) On the final day the case was submitted to the jury at 4:30 pm. The jury returned to the courtroom 40 minutes later. Only one ballot was taken, a secret one. After murdering her millionaire oilman boyfriend she was acquitted on the first ballot of killing the rich Oklahoma oilmanpolitician. The plea was self-defense and her attorneys described her as a victim of Jake Hamon. (New York Times, March 18, 1921) Afterward, she had a press conference on March 19th saying she was going to Hollywood. While there, she began a love affair with John Gorman, the president of Gorman Pictures. She starred in a film version of her own story. It fulfilled her life long dream of being a movie star. The 1921 silent movie “Fate” was based on the true story of Clara Smith Hamon. It was released in August of 1921.
Hollywood was already dealing with censorship problems. The League of America issued a resolution asking every exhibitor to refuse to show any movie based on the Hamon case. The next day the Affiliated Picture Interest passed a similar resolution. Associations in Colorado, Pennsylvania, Indiana and New York followed. Film workers refused to work on the production. Film labs refused to develop the film. Eventually workers were found that would make the film. (Kingsley’s Hollywood April 9th/ Word Press) Some cities refused to allow a movie to be shown that starred a murderer. There was a nationwide protest. All copies of the film were eventually burned leaving only one publicity photograph documenting that the film ever existed.
Clara disappeared into obscurity in San Diego, California. She died in December of 1962 bringing to an end one of biggest scandals in Hollywood.
The Randol Hotel in Ardmore burned on July 17, 1925.
Jake Hamon’s railroad in Dublin eventually closed in 1954 due to lack of funding.