The San Francisco call., 1898-05-23
SAYS JUSTICE
 WAS CHEATED Murderer Writes From
 an Asylum. DECLARES HIMSELF SANE. TIRED OF THE FARCE THAT
 SAVED HIS NECK. Slayer of "Billy" Miles at Marys- vile Indites a Letter to the
 Tuba County Board of
 Supervisors.
TIRED OF THE FARCE THAT
 SAVED HIS NECK.
Special Dispatch to The Call.

EVANSVILLE, May 22.-When, in May, 1894, Hugh Buchanan, at that time a recent arrival in Marysville, stabbed to death in a saloon braWl one Billy Miles, 1t was believed to be a cold -blooded murder, without mitigat- ing circumstances. Buchanan fingered in jail a few days after the murder, and then realizing the awful predica ment he was in he indited letters to his aged mother and other relatives in Georgia, setting forth his situation.
 Buchanan's elder brother, a merchant in a Georgia city, started for California forthwith, and in due time reached Marysville When he returned to his Georgia home it was with a feeling of great satisfaction at the results of his trip. For, thanks to the powerful in fuence of a healthy bank account that telling quantity so effective in locating the loopholes in the law, he had landed the murderer of Billy Miles in an in- sane asylum, and snatched him from the yawning gates of the penitentiary, if not from the scaffold For the jury had decided, guided by the testimony of medical experts, that young Buchanan was of unsound mind when he plunged a knife into the breast of his victim, and therefore not responsible for the deed.
 That was four years ago. And now comes the sequel:
 Early this month there was filed with the Clerk of the Superior Court papers in suit instituted by Attorney General Fitzgerald against Tuba County, and in which the Napa State Hospital, a corporation, was named as plaintiff. The amount of judgment asked for is | S540 and interest, alleged to be due for the care of Hugh Buchanan, an insane murderer, sent to the institution July | 21, 1894" The period covered in the complaint is from October 21, 1894, to l October 21, 1897. Prior to the latter date the claim was presented to the Board of Supervisors and by them rejected AS is the custom, the Marysville pa pers made note of the suit and in due time the Napa Register copied the item That issue of the paper found its way to Buchanan at the asylum, and the article was read by him.
 That the young Tan has not be- come estranged from that pride and self esteem inculcated into his early training at his Georgia home, and that he has always been responsible for the taking of Billy Miles life, is best in- dicated in the langL ge and sentiment found in the following letter which he addressed to Tuba Countys SuperVl- sors on reading the article touching on the suit:
 To the Honorable Board of Supervisors of Yuba County, arysville-Gentlemen It was with a great sense of humiliation, chagrin and shame that l read in yes. terday's Napa Register that the county or Yuba was being sued by the State TOT my maintenance since here. 1 have, l admit with regret, been wild and reckless dur ing portion of my life. Yet l have not cut the acquaintance of my conscience sufficiently to deter me from considering and believing and feeling that it IS a rank injustice thrust upon the good peo- pie of Tuba to be compelled to pay. such an amount for me while this farce IS be- ing enacted. Upon my honor, l aff1rm that I am a perfectly sane man, and should be free, a charge of the State in San Quentin Dr. Gardner is the one that should be sued for harboring me. and imposing on the people of Yuba.
 A writ of habeas corpus should be served on him, and by producing me before any judge I would be pronounced sane. am powerless to do so myself. If, however, this matter should go against you in the Superior Court you can investigate the matter if you so see fit. assure you that you will be saddled with the board of a sane man.
 It was seen from this th-t Buchanan has grown very tired of his asylum home-so tired that he is willing to take his chances with a Tuba County jury that will hear his case on its merits. A retrial of the case will probably be ordered