My Wife & My Father

Hot Springs was proud of Sid McMath, home-town boy, ex-Marine officer, winner of the Silver Star, courageous politician. As prosecuting attorney, he had broken the 20-year rule of Mayor Leo Patrick McLaughlin, whose bland refusal to enforce the law had made Hot Springs a sanctuary for every gambler, gangster and fast-dollar man in the country. As soon as he took office on the first of the year, the new prosecutor closed Hot Springs' gambling spots and got McLaughlin himself indicted for corruption in office. McLaughlin did not even try to run for reelection. Dopesters rated Sidney S. McMath, 35, the hottest thing in Arkansas politics, a sure bet for governor in 1948.

Early one morning last week, Sid McMath rushed into his office. His shirt and trousers were rumpled, his face haggard and unshaven. The reporters were waiting. McMath had two folded sheets of yellow paper in his hand. On them, he had written a statement in pencil:

"I Grieve." "This is a tragic occurrence. I grieve for my father, my mother, my children and my wife.

"My father has been running my farm, coming to the farm in the morning and returning to his home in Hot Springs in the evening. For years he has been an excessively heavy drinker. When he drank, like many men, he underwent a change in character. Lately he has been drinking more and more. Drinking caused him to become irrational, abusive and violent.

"Monday, when I was in court in Mount Ida, my wife, Anne, had to call the sheriff's office after he had maltreated and badly bruised her.. . ."

"She Loved Him." "Yesterday he started drinking again after I had left town. He returned to our home in my absence. He started mistreating one of our horses. Anne pleaded with him to stop. He became enraged and violent, and threatened to kill the horse. He also threatened her. She ran into the house to get away from him. He followed her, threatening and cursing and with his fist clenched. She picked up my .45 automatic, which I keep in my desk.. . .

"He started into the house after her. She became hysterical with fright and began firing. Anne had never fired a weapon before in her life. I know she did not intend to kill my father, because she loved him as we all did. She would not have intentionally killed even to save her own life.. . ."

That was about all there was to say, except to ask that a special grand jury be called to investigate the killing. Judge Clyde H. Brown, McMath's close friend and law partner, who had run and won with him in last November's election, said he would do that.

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