Los Angeles herald., 1906-08-02
LAST PLEA NORTH
SENT FOR BUCK
DEFENSE RESTS HOPES ON
BILL OF EXCEPTIONS
Two Hundred Typewriter Pages
Review the Evldence-Con-
vieted Man Often Hurt
In Accidents

After more than week of inVesuga-
ton by representatives of the district
attorneys office, the final bill of excep-
tlons to be presented to the supreme
court in the appeal for the life Of Nor
ris Buck, the convicted murderer of
Mrs. Charles Canfeld, was completed
yesterday and sent north.
The acceptance Of the bill will be the
last step toward saving the murderer,
and although 1t is considered slim
one, Attorney A. d. Warner, repre-
senting Buck, is basing all his hopes
on the document
The bill covers about two hundred
pages of copy and sets forth In detail
all the evidence in the case regarding
the defendants alleged insanity.
AS a further clause, a few technicali-
ties in the decislonsi of Judge Smith
during the trial are excepted to, and
the remarks used by District Attorney
Fredericks In his address to the jury,
in which he used forceful language, are
also mentioned.
Under Judge Smiths Eye
But, step by step, the ponderous
document has been gone over by attor-
news for the prosecution. Under the
sl
been made and certain exceptions
scratched out until both attorneys for
prosecution and defense are satisfied
with the instrument
Buck, the murderer, is at present in
the death cell at San Quentin peniten-
tiary, where he is awaiting the de-
cision of the supreme court. All dur
ing his trial the man pretended to be
either insane or dopey, but since his
In hn
improved wonderfully and is now in
excellent health.
The insanity plea, however, was one
on which he based his fight for life.
and it is the same plea that he IS pre-
senting to the supreme court that he
may receive a new trial.
The defense for insanity at the time
of the trial was remarkable.
Victim of Accidents
Buck, according to his own state
ments and those. of his witnesses suf-
fered a multitude of accidents during
his life.
At an early age he fell out of a
wheelbarrow and his skull was frac-
tured.
A few years later he fell out of a
cherry tree and sustained a fracture
over his left eye.
When he was II years of age he went
out hunting rabbits and his shotgun
burst, causing him severe injuries and
dizziness.
A few months after that he was
kicked on the head by a horse and for
weeks was unconscious, finally regain
ing his consciousness only to suffer
from melancholia.
In later years the strange series of
accidents followed the unfortunate
man.
In Arizona he leaned too far over the
edge of an elevator while being litted
from a mine shaft, and he fell back
down the shaft, sustaining many in
juries.
While in Bakersfield Buck engaged
in a fight with waiter and his assail-
ant hit him across the back of the
neck with meat ak.
Ancestors Insane
Added to the mnay injuries sus-
tanned by the young man. Attorney
Warner sets forth the history of the
Buck family in his bill of exceptions.
Many of Morris Bucks ancestors
were afflicted with insidious diseases
and several of them were sent to in
sane asylums.
1t is upon such evidence that Attor-
ney Warner asks a new trial for his
client, and until the supreme judges
read the bill of exceptions and pass
on it, Buck will be kept in suspense.
If he is granted new trial, then he
will return to the Los Angeles county
iaiI. but if a new trial is denied. then
Buck will be brought back to Los An
geles and resentenced for murder.
Following that he will be taken to
San Quentin penitentiary and hanged.