By Paul King, BPA Founder & Researcher

One would think that a neck piercing in the 1930s would be the most surprising detail of any woman’s life, but not for our Piercing Pioneer, Georgia Perkins, a.k.a. Mrs. Jake Hamon.

Georgia was born in Kansas, where she  met her husband Jacob Louis Hamon, aka Jake. After Jake obtained a law degree, the couple moved to Oklahoma. In 1909, they had two children, Jake Jr. and Olive Belle.

Jake senior was a risk-taking, young Republican, who speculated on oil and railroads, both of which paid off, substantially

He became known as “The Oil King of Oklahoma.” Jake even brokered a deal to build a railroad with the famed circus entrepreneur, John Rigley.

From historical records, Jake’s character appears shady while he was the attorney general of Oklahoma. Rumors of corruption marred his political career from the beginning. Allegedly, he extorted gamblers on his road to building wealth and power. Soon after while lobbying in Washington, D.C., he was accused of attempting to bribe a Senator. By far, the most scandalous charges against him were for buying votes for Warren G. Harding’s nomination as the Republican party presidential candidate. The estimates for payouts ranged from $250,000 to $1,000,000 (approximately $3 to 12 million in today’s dollars). The backroom dealings were rumored to provide Jake and his cronies exclusive access to the oil rich fields of Teapot Dome, Wyoming. The ensuing congressional investigation would forever tarnish the legacies of Jake Hamon and President Harding. Hard to believe, but the Hamons’ personal lives were even more outrageous! At 40, Jake met the young Clara Belle Smith. The two fell in love. Reports remain contradictory for which or if both Hamons couldn’t stomach a ruinous divorce, so they remained married. Jake put his mistress through  school and then hired her on as his personal secretary. To make hotel stays less problematic, Jake paid $10,000 to his nephew to marry Clara so that she could legally obtain the last name Hamon. Despite these great lengths for appearances, the affair was a poorly kept secret.

As fate would have it, Georgia’s cousin was the wife of then presidential hopeful, Warren Harding. As mentioned previously, Jake paid a considerable sum to buy the nomination for Harding to go on to win the presidency. Once elected and with pressure from his wife, President Harding, or most likely Harding’s wife, would not accept Jake’s mistress in Washington. Jake would have to reconcile with his legal wife. It’s reported that Jake and Clara were known for drunken arguments. Their tensions crescendoed on November 21, 1920, in Ardmore, Oklahoma. Clara shot Jake in the liver. He died five days later. Jake’s story flip-flopped from self-inflicted to a desperate plea for leniency for Clara. The murder trial became national headline news followed around the country. Despite Georgia’s damning testimony and demands for the electric chair, Clara was acquitted on self-defense. One of Clara’s legal defense team was the twin brother of the judge! Obviously, the soundness of the jury’s verdict has been debated Despite the controversy, our piercing pioneer Georgia Perkins, the now widower Mrs. Jake Hamon, bounced back! In 1922, our protagonist married a wealthy Chicago banker, only to divorce him a year later. The cause given was domestic cruelty. Reportedly, her new husband “practiced his ju-jitsu” skills on his wife.

After her second marriage, Georgia started playing ranked golf in the nascent women’s tournaments. At this time, there were no “pro” females, the prizes were strictly honorary. Once cash was included, winnings still remained much lower than men’s. Even so, Georgia’s prowess on the green would keep her name in regional papers for most of the next de-cade, albeit, not headlining or sensational.

 After the criminal and political scandals of the 1920s, much less information is available for Mrs. Jake Hamon. We know she traveled exclusively, including parts of Africa. However, it remains elusive from which peoples she drew inspiration for her throat pin piercing.

Then Ripley’s strange cartoon depicting “Mrs. Jake Hamon” with a throat piercing published in national syndication, December 15, 1933. As was the custom with the Ripley’s series, the following day, they released the details of whatever strange custom appeared the previous day.

So should this Ripley’s explanation be taken at face value? Did this throat pin really serve as a memorial to Jake Hamon, the selfish, politically corrupt, drunken, and child-abandoning adulterer?

I’ve been unable to find any additional representation of her piercing or information on her motivation or background story of the peoples she witnessed in Africa. Unfortunately, the Hamon Library in Dallas says they have no personal papers or letters for the first Mrs. Jake Hamon.

Forgive my digression, but this family’s colorfulness doesn’t quit  yet.

Georgia’s son Jake Jr. went on to marry a beautiful young woman named Nancy, an aspiring actress who had one role in a movie with Mae West, The Heat’s On. This marriage began the illustrious escapades of the second “Mrs. Jake Hamon.”

The couple were faithful Republican supporters and hobnobbed with presidents such as Johnson and the first Bush. After her husband’s passing, Nancy became a fabulously wealthy widower worth hundreds of millions. She is rumored to have said she wanted to live her life in such a fashion that her last check would bounce. She was a well-documented Dallas socialite, philanthropically shaping the city’s institutions, while throwing extravagant theme parties with elephants and performers such as Louis Armstrong. Of particular interest, she had lost her finger in a blendor accident. Carlo Rambaldi, the special effects artist for E.T., personally created her prosthetic finger with a graceful arc for cocktail parties.

I couldn’t make this shit up.