Thornton Jenkins Hains

Who was Thornton Jenkins Hains?

Thornton Jenkins Hains was a popular American sea novelist best known today for his role in the murder of William Annis. Hains later used the pen name Mayn Clew Garnett.

Hains' father was General Peter Conover Hains, a prestigious engineering officer who participated in the draining of the Washington Tidal Basin and the construction of the Panama Canal. Hains' maternal grandfather, Admiral Thornton A. Jenkins, served in the War of 1812. The Admiral's logbooks served as the inspiration for Hains' novel, The Cruise of the Petrel.

The Hains-Annis Case, or the "Regatta Murder", concerned the killing of William Annis by Hains' brother, Peter C. Hains, in Bayside, Queens on August 15, 1908. Peter Hains was a friend of Annis, who was advertising manager for The Burr McIntosh Monthly T.J. Hains informed Peter that Peter's wife was having an affair with Annis, and he later accompanied Peter to the victim's yacht club on the afternoon of the ladies' regatta. As Annis finished a race he had won, Peter emptied a pistol magazine of eight shots into Annis' body, in front of Annis' wife and two sons, while T.J. stood guard, his own pistol drawn.