Butte record. (Bidwell, Butte County, Cal.) 1853-1858, 1857-05-16
How A. Buster went on a Bust and got
Busted.

The trial of William A. Buster.
County Treasurer of fSonona, which had
occupied the Court of Session in that
county for SOM four weeks, terminal
ed on Saturday last, May I'd. There
were four indictments, says the Sono-
ma County Journal against the de-
4 fendant. The firsf was Tor permit ,ng
gaming, upon which he plead guilty,
and was fined $500. The second was
for using and loaning State moneys,
which came to his hands as I treasurer
of Sonoma county. On plea of not
guilty and a verdict Of guilty, he was
sentenced to two and half years i'm
prisonment. On the third, for using
the moneys belonging to the county,
he was found guilty and sentenced to
two and half years imprisonment
On the fourth, for embezzlement of
school moneys belonging to the county
of Sonoma, he plead guilty, and was
sentenced to three years Imprisonment
On being catled upon, before sentence
IN the last cases, ii he had any cause to
show Why jnds should not be pro
nounced against him, Buster made a
most extraordinary speech or confes
sion. The most cursous part Of 1t here
follows:
l concluded on Saturday the 17sh of
January to go to Sacramento on the
following MONDAY. l was at the sa-
loon on the evening of the 18th (Satur-
day. at 10 or l O'Clock, playing cards
f,r one thing or another Treadwell
(Jo) and Russell went home with me
to 90 10 bed, they fonnd the front door
partly open and the safe partly open.
| had gone round to the back part of
the house, and they call to NE. l
went round aAd Il the money was tax
en- out OF the safe-God knows by
whom, bit | don't That is the only
thing for " which [ can make no show
ing excepting my acts If had been
dieposed to rob myself, [ might have
taxed much more and you all know
am II the habit Of doing things by
wholesa e. From the time | should
have started t" S1cram nto up to the
time the lfe was robbed, | paid ST.
0SS, and offered to pay more. Now,
YOU will all agree with me that any
man who would have done this, (if he
int nded to steal) would have been "A
tool, but could only deny the charge
and give the above reason, and my best
friends passed me by and thought me
guilty, aud | was almost driven to des-
pair Sometimes | thought | wauld
90 to Sacramento. DR.. Williams told
me he heard | was AFRAID to 80. | told
him that | would rather die than BE-
thought afraid to 90. | don't know
what fear is. [ went to Sacramento.
and fell in with 10. Nevill, some of you
know who he is.
And now l will relate the only thing
| regret in the whole matt r. | tod
NcviI what | wanted to get-(a relief
bill passed, he wsnt with me and seem
ed 10 know most all the members. Har-
riSon and Tailaferro talked favorable !;
Edwards | did not see. Nevill seemed
10 be veiy kind, and did all he could
for ma and we drank considerable with
members of the Legislature. Next
morning | went TO draw the school mo-
ney, ard he helped me to pack itsup,
and after had deposited it, he said he
was out of money and so was |, and l.
we would take some Of the money and
60 to a f,ro bank, we coull win ex-
penses. I took out one hundred dol
lars, it was lost. We drank some bran
dy, it was good brandy. He insisted
the stake was so small he could do no.
thing, and wanted me to increase it,
and he would certainly win. | did so
until we had lost thousand dollars
He swore by his right arm and the
blood of his heart that # he lost he
knew where he conld get the money,
and would pay me b'ck.
We got aboard boat and started
for San Francisco. | felt so bad |
could not sleep. He said he could not,
ana would get up game of poker, and
make sure thing for me to win. | gave
HIM twenty; he was to put up the
cards so as to deal me>a full sup
pose yeu know what sfuil' is? l
watched him deal. He took my cards
from the bottom, and the other mans
from the top The other man bet along
moderately for suine time, and then
raided to four hundued and fifty dol
lars I supposed lie meant to bluff me,
and l proposed to let Joe hold my
hand until | went for the money, but
he would not consent | then s-nt Joe
for the money. When the money was
up, l said | had three fves and two
skies / " II always recolleet the hand.
He showed four kin s, and took the
money, aud then [ found that Joe was
not acting fair with me; / was then all
out except what | had in my pocket
one hundred and forty dollars and bit.
| talked with him, told him | Was
broke and ruined. He said he would
make II all right in the morning. | tell
as though was gone in, and the next
morning | weni de@n on the wharf and
had a gr. at mind to throw the hum
dred and forty dollars IN the Bay, for
| knew that that amount was of no
use to me. | went and bueked off the
hundred and forty dollars, and kept
the bit. | had lost all conf lence in
Joe. and told HIM that he mad ruined
me. He tod me not to 60 home.
told him by the gods | would, and let