Henderson, Herman: 1903

Herman Henderson was killed by Sam Hamm, aged about 20, at Ninth Avenue and Twenty-fourth Street in Altoona on April 10, 1903.  The two men, along with Chip Myers and perhaps others, were drinking a keg of beer in the woods in the Ninth Ward on the day of the murder.  A boxing challenge was made, and gloves were put on.  Henderson, who was something of a boxer, was the victor, but Hamm was angry about it.  He caught up to Henderson about noon on the corner mentioned above, and greeted him with the insulting, “Good-bye, nigger.”  He shot him in the body, and Henderson died instantly.  Hamm fled the scene, and was never captured.  The revolver he used was preserved in the police relic cabinet in City Hall.
Two years later, on April 16, 1905, a telegram was received at the home of Mrs. B. Hamm at 2525 Beale Ave.  It came from Alexandria, Virginia, and stated:  Sam Hamm is dead at Emergency Hospital, No 2, St. Louis, Mo.  If you have him insured send for his body.  Signed, ABLE DOUGLASS.
Chief Tillard was informed of the telegram and wired his counterpart in St. Louis.
Source: Altoona Mirror, April 17, 1905
This was not the last distressing telegram Mrs. B (John) Hamm would receive at that address.  The March 22, 1906 Altoona Mirror notes that she received a telegram on Tuesday that her son, George Hamm, had been shot and he wished to see her before he died.  No other details were provided, but the writer did note that Hamm had been arrested just a week before in a mistake for Sam Hamm, his brother.  The Altoona Mirror of March 23, 1906, noted that George been shot while interceding for a friend and was not expected to live.