The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1884-06-14
TOM BUFORD.
Judge Elliott's Slayer Returns to
the Asylum.

Col. Tom Buford was returned
to the Anchorage Asylum yester
day. It has been about nineteen
months since his escape, when ht
left hale and hearty man. He re-
turned broken do wn In body and IL
mind, his giant frame wasted by dis
ease to a skeleton, and his naughty
spirit utterly cowed by his mis-
fortunes and sufferings.
Everyone knows the history Of
Judge Elliot's murder. The tragedy
occurred four or five years ago, but
It is fresh in the public mind. He
was the first man sitting upon the
bench Of the States most august
tribunal, the Court OF Appeals, to be
shot down while wearing the robes
of his high Office. Whether he met
his death at the hands Of a mailman
or a deliberate murderer, the deed
shocked the State and shocked the
nation.
Tom Buford was known all over
Kentucky. He belonged to the
proudest of proud aristocracy of the
bluegrass region, and he iq.
herited a fortune. The Bu~
fOrds were a historic family,
scarcely less famous than the
Breckinridges, the Clsys, or the
Marshslls. Judge Elliott's slayer
was a typical Kentuckian in his
powerful physique, his handsome
face, his intellect, and the prodigaity
OF his life. Few men were better
read than he; his manners were the
perfection of grace and courtesy, and
he was brilliant conversatiOnalist.
He was an old bachelor, devoted to
the ladies and to wine. He played
cards and bet en- horse-races with
the holiness and dash so character
1stic of KentuckiaEs, and whether
at poker or on horses he won and
lost with touch and 60 freedom.
Reverses came after a while, aud
first one and then another Of the
Buford possessions slipped away
from the family, The dashing
Colonel lost, too, and then enc dis
after another changed
him from bon vivant to q moody,
reckless man. He took to drinking,
and brooded till he became mono
Finally a long lawsuit
gave his last farm, nemipally
owned by his sister Mary, to q man
named Guthrie and Tom Buford
was beggar. One day he took
shotgun and, throwing it over his
shoulder, started out to kill the man
who he believed was lesgued with
his enemies. He met Judge
Elliott, and slew him at sight. His
arrest and the trial which followed
made an epoch in the criminal juris-
prudence Of Kentucky. The ablest
.egal talent in the land was engaged
for both the defense and the proses
,ution, and money was spent like
water to secure his acquittai. The
1efense raised the plea of insanity,
md the most noted experts obtain
able gave their testimony for or
against the theory. When the vol
luminous testimony was closed the
counsel exhausted themselves in
brilliant arguments, whose elo- |
Iuence has not been forgotten. nor |
viii it be for years. The first trial |
in a verdict of guilty, and |
Tom Buford was condemned to
lalg. A new trial was pro-
cured, and after months had been
onsumed in going over the case, he
vas acquitted on the ground Of in
anify and removed to the asylum
It Anchorage. Both trials occurred
It Owentown.
Buford took his acquittal as
as his arrest. He had
lever denied his guilt, and be Clio.
I'D in the deed, which he said had
Id the State of a corrupt jui ge. He
vas sent to Anchorage, where
Dr.. Gale allowed him many privi-
3 ses, and nearly two years ago he
ok advantage of this laxity to
make his escape. Even this action
vas characteristic. He came boldly
o this city and then proceeded
YER to Jeffersonville. Once
N Kentucky soil he could snap
lis fingers at the asylum authori
ies, and they could not cajole him
nto returning. He took up his
quarters at the National hotel in
Jacksonville. where he has lived
yer since. Now and then a wild
umor would spring up that he was
gain on the war path aud once or
vice he visited Kentucky, but he
CON went back, and gradually sank
nto public forgetfuIness. Three
weeks ago Captain J. Crit. Ireland,
+ this city went over to see his old
riend. Arriving at the hotel he
sked an emasculated old m an if hs
ould see Col. Butord. The man
'roke down ind cried like q
hid when he found that
ne of his best friends had failed |
o recognize him in the wreck |
o which suffering and disease had |
him. From eng a giant |
# 225 pounds he had dwindled down
% lis, and it seemed as if he was
almost ready to step into the grave.
he was without money, hope or
almost without clothes, and
utterly broken-hearted. Captain