The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1881-02-10
The Acquittal of BufOrd.

Iue ISIcSId'u HAS uiiSeluJ duHouuISu
the acquittal in Louisville of Col. Tom
Buford after standing trial for second
time for the murder of Judge Elliott, Of
the Court of Appeals, the highest court
in Kentucky.
This case has attracted universal atten-
tion. 1t was on the morning of the 9th
Of March, 1879, that Buford attacked his
victim and shot him down in cold blood,
while q charge remained in his gun for
an associate judge OIL the Supreme bench
of the State. The trouble was about u
tract of land in Henry County, adjoining
Franklin County, in which the capital is
situated. 1t seems that Miss Mary Bu
ford had purchased, through means large.
ly furnished by her brother, this tract of
land, and had made partial payment of
$50 1000, leaving the same amount to be
paid, and that in The meantime it was
discovered that the title was defective.
There was a long litigation, and the
result was that all the money put in the
land was lost. During the pendency of
the suit Miss Mary died, and her brother
persisted in saying that the trouble
about the land killed her. Buford quail
i6ed as administrator, and thus became
in law what he had always been in fact,
the defendant in the action.
After the sale the sheriff of Henry
County undertook to oust Buford from
the farm, but was met at the door with
double barrel shotgun and a promise on
the part of Buford that he would cer-
tainly kill tie first man who crossed his
threshold. Negotiations were entered
into, and it was formally agreed that
Buford might remain in possession until
the cause was decided in the Court of
Appeals, to which it had been taken, and
he on his part agreed to yield peaceable
possession if that decision should also be
adverse. After thorough argument and
consideration, the Court of Appeals,
sitting at Frankfort, the State capital,
early in 1878 affirm ed the judgment OF the
lower court. The opinion was delivered by
Judge Elliot. Buford's counsel, not yet
satisfied, obtained from the court rehear-
ing, rare occurrence, and the case was
again argued, and a few days before the
murder had again been affirmed, the opin-
ion this time being delivered by Judge NJ.
II. Cofer, one of Judge Elliotts colleagues,
and being substantially the same as the
former opinion. Tom Buford was in
Frankfort at the time, and on the morn
ing of the 9th of March called on Judge
Cofer at his house, TO see whether the
case was finally ended, and learned that
it was. The Court of Appeals usually
sits from II to o'clock, and it was only
few minutes after the latter hour that
Judge Elliot and Judge Pryor, another
Of his colleagues, were i'll the habit of
reaching the Capital Hotel, where they
boarded, and almost invariably coming
from the courtroom together. On this
day it happened that court adjourned
few minutes before /, and that Judge
Pryor came On alone. He met Buford
on the hotel steps, who stopped him and
talked for a minute or TWO about his case,
when the Judge passed on with friend
-.no had come up, and Bulord then went
into his room, got is shotgun and game
bag, and came cut to the steps again
about tue time that Judge Elliot came
along, accompanied by Judge Hines, the
fourth member of the court.
As Judge Elliott stepped up Bulord
saluted him with the remark that he vas
going snipe-huntiug, and invited the
Judge to accompany him, and upon Ills
declining, said: "Well, won't you take
drink, then ?" and before the Judge
could reply he had cmptied one barrel of
the gun, containing q load Of buckshot,
into the Judges body, causing instant
death. lie then surrendered himself
remarking that the load in the other bar
rel was intended for Pryor, and also
handed the policeman who took charge
of him an envelope, which contained
paper dated that morning in the nature
of a will, beginning: "Whatcycr may
happen me desire that my niece, Annie
O. Wallace. shall have all my property"
Its supposed by many that was Buford's
intention to kill both Elliott and Pryor,
and was only prevented by their acciden-
tai separation and Pryor's arrival a
little earlier than he expected, and that
he then expected to be at once hanged hy
the populace, which accounts for the
peculiar manner of commencing his will.
Of course the entire State stood aghast at
this tragedy. A month later all indict-
ment was found against Buford. 4
change of venue 10 Owen County was
granted, and the trial, which came OIL
in July, resulted in verdict Of murder
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