Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-03-27

pose of showing under what state of facts
the accused had a right to act uncommu-
: nicated threats to show the attitude and
aspect Of the deceased, in case of homi-
eide, towards The person by whom he was
killed. let me read two citations from The
head notes to the case Of the People VS..
/ Scoggins, one Of the best leading cases of
| this or Of any other Court, on the subject /:
/ Threats made by the deceased or injured
| party, if known to the defendant at or prior
to the transaction, are admitted, for the
! purpose of showing that the circumstances
of the oflense were such as to excite the
reasonable fears OF the defendant that his
/ life was in danger, or that he was in danger
OF serious bodily injury, and thus justify
his act.
I'm a case of homicide, where it is doubt
full which party commenced the affray,
threats made by the deceased are admis-
sible on the part of the defendant, although
unknown 10 him at the time of the hoIni-
eide, as facts tending TO illustrate the ques-
ton as to which was the first assailant''
THE THREATS AND CONDUCT OF CRAFT.
That is condensed expression of the
law on the subject, which renders it wholly
| unnecessary to resort to the Courts of North
Carolina and Alabama for an exposition of
| that branch of the law. Now. let me- in
the shortest possible way, bearing in mind
that your Honor has heard this entire
record read, state TO you what our position
| is in reference 10 this case-that is, the case
| as it is now presented. Craft. the deceased,
heard that Sill was married to the daughter
of the petitioner. He must have been in
Sacramento at the time, because his inter-
view with I. S. Spauiding began at Sacra-
mento. He talked TO Spaulding here and
then went on to Woodland. This was on
| the % of February, 1856. There he talks
| still further 70 Spaulding, and talks 10 w.
Il. Pond and to 5. J. Sill. Whether Pond
| or Spaulding communicated fully what oc-
CURED, to Sill, perhaps the record does not
altogether disclose but the gist and essence
of everything that was said to these gentle
men was, on Thursday, the fourth day of
February, in the evening" communicated
by Sill to the petitioner Harlan OF course,
we are not contending here that words will
justify an assault, that Islander will Justify
| homicide; but these are words connected
ineXtricably with specific threats What
are those threats? They are threats against
llie-threats specifically against the life OF
Sill threats inierentially, but not speciti-
caily, against the life OF Sill's wife the
daughter of the petitioner, Harlan :;
general threats, sufficiently compre-
hensiye TO include all of the men,
bers of Mrs. Stills family. He Will sac
rifice lives, not one life, but more. And
| this information is admissible beth for the
purpose of characteriZing the attitude of
Craft towards Harlan, and also admissible
because communicated to Harlan aud to
illustrate the conduct of these parties on
Sunday, the 18th of February, when this
homicide was committed. Harlan was the
father OF this lady. The foul and horrible
! charges made against her related TO a period
| prior 10 her marriage 10 Mr.. Sill. At the
time of the interview between Sill and
| Craft, Graft had him completely at his mercy
and could have killed him on the spot if
! be - made single motion. | shall not,
however, waste my time here BY answering
the aspersions which were unnecessarily
made on the character of Mr. Sill The fact
| is that on Thursday, the 4th of Fe'Ss ,..ary,
1886, the petitioner, Harlan, was appraised
of the fact that his daughter had been
charged with virtual prostitution that she
had been charged with having committed
a feticide; that her life had been threat
| ened and that the life of ey cry person con-
nected with her or interested in her " as
also involved in the comprehensiveness of
| the threats which had been made. More
than that. To two of these persons and
among them Mr.. Sill, the deceased Craft
stated that he had letters to establish the
charges which he had made And pre-
sumptively the father of that lady must
have been pretty anxious to see Mr.. Craft
! and ascertain what he meant by his state
ments in reference to those letters But
beyond that Craft not only made these
threats against Life, but
HE FIXED A ELIMINATING DAY,
He designated u period when a certain
thing must be done or he would proceed to
| take lives. and that was Sunday the 9TH of
February, when this homicide was COM
mitted. We do not propose to place Mr.
Harlan in the attitude of a coward. He
was the head of family and of mature
years, man of eminent responsibility. a
man whom we may presume was possessed
| of calm and deliberate judgment and it
was very natural if such was the fact, that
on Sunday the eth of February, on a day
when the operations of business usually
cease that he should desire to interview
Mr.. Craft, to find out what he meant by his
assertions and by his statement in reference
to these matters. There is not one particle
| of evidence here TO show that when his ewes
encountered Craft in that office of the Byrns
Hotel, at Woodland, that Craft made sin
gle motion or suggestion which would have
afforded an opportunity for explanation.
| say broadly that there is no testimony
here to show what Craft did al the moment
when the eyes of Harlan encountered his,
/
such testimony from this record, because it
| does not exist. Now then, if your Honor
please, we come down that far. We have
| had reorganization here of Mr.. Har-
lan's movements. Harlan did not move at
all; he stood perfectly still at the Wood
| land Bank corner, between the hours of
and ., on the 7th of February. lie was
not the moving party. The moving parties
were Craft and Nelson. Harlan stood there
/ like a statue, while they were movin,
around and trying to get around him. So
far as the testimony can lead to
any inference, they were try
! Craft was at Woodland on Saturday
night. The testimony of Mr.. Ira X. Doc
! little shows that Craft did not sleep at
his fathers house. He slept at the 3yrns
i Hotel slept there with some gentleman
whose name, | think, was Hamer. He
| arose on that Sunday morning at 3 o'clock
| That is the testimony. And the first thing
we hear OF Mr. Craft on that day, with
all this antecedent history behind him, is
! that he is in the kitchen of the Lindner
| building with the witness Nelson Nelson
locates himself in the back part of this
! Liudner building, while Harlan is standing
upon the Woodland Bank corner. lie sees
| Barnes he sees Sill; he sees Mr.. Stephens
| He does not move about. He says nothing
which has been established here. These
| two persons-Craft and Nelson-are in the
back part of that building and yet one of
them, Nelson, is watching every move
ment in the neighborhood of Mr. Harlan.
What is that for? 1t may be very probable
that Harlan desired to see Graft. | hope
he did ! think rs father, ~ the head of
a family, when
HIS DAUGHTER HAD BEEN TRADUcED AND