Norwich bulletin., 1914-02-28
Death Sentence
 on Mrs. Buffum
ACCUSED WOMAN GUILTY ih
 FIRST DEGREE
WILL TAKE AN APPEAL
Jury Out Over Five Hours-Waa Charged With Causing Death of Her Husband by Poisoning.

Little Valley. N. Y. Feb. 27.-Mrs. Cynthia Buffum was tonight found guilty of murder in the first degree for poisoning her husband Willis Buffum. who died on August 24. The verdict carried recommendation for mercy Justice Brown at once pronounced the death sentence, fixing the week of April for her execution in the electric chair at Auburn. She will start for Auburn tomorrow morning.
 Mrs. Buffum Retains Composurs.
 When Mrs. Buffum heard the verdict she never lost her cold composure She was standing when the foreman an nounced the jury's finding, and she re- mained on her feet without wavssring. Beside her sat her mother and her little son, Francis, who awoke to hear the sentence. She kissed him good bye. Attorney Collins at once moved for a. new trial. An appeal will be i'm
 mediately placed before the court Of appeals for a stay of execution and a.
 new trial. The jury was out five
 hours and 20 minutes.
 Confession Insufficient to Convict.
 Mrs. Buffum's fate was placed in the hands of the jury at 5.10 o'clock this afternoon. Fifteen minutes after the jury retired Juror Geer asked whether Q verdict less than that of murder in the first degree could be considered. Mrs. Buffum smiled when she heard the question.
 Justice Brown began his charge to the jury at 3.S0 p. m. and made an ex- hauStive summary of all the evidence. He said that if the jury decided that improper methods had been used in order to secure the confession of De- cember 10, in which Mrs. Buffum said she poisoned her husband, Willis Buffurn. the jury should not consider 1t. The confession in itself, he said, was not sufficient to convict. Plea For Woman's AcquittsI. Tn response to a question from a | juror, Justice Brown said that the death of Laura Buffum from poisoning after the similar death Of her father | trated the symptoms of poisoning and I its effect on the human system Mrs. Buffum had a handkerchief con- | stantiy, to her eyes as her attorney
 made final plea for acquittaL He | told the history of her life, piCslrine
 her a girl married at 15 to a farmer,
 working on a farm and raising fanni- | ly of seven. always faithful, always loving despite the vile charges which
 her husband had continued during the
 twenty-three years of their married | life.
 Suicide Idea RidicuIed. The attorney insisted that her con- 1 fesSion had been secured by threats
 and fear, by drink, by persistent bounding of private detectives and the | use or fake telegrams and letters 1 Further, he maintained that Willis | Buffum had a suicidal tendency, that l his mind was deranged by drink and | that he had caused the sickness of his ] family which resulted in his own death | and that of two of the children. Special Prosecutor Cole ridiculed the | idea of suicide; counted absurd the woInan's story of how the confession | was obtained; insisted that Buffum's | death had been planned by his wife | because she was infatuated with a ! young farmer, Ernest Frahm, her al- l legged accomplice; and defended the | private detectives and their employ- | ment by the people.