Douglas daily dispatch., 1928-03-01
HICKMAN OFFERS
SAME DEFENSE
AS In KIDNAPPING

| HALL OF JUSTICE, LOS ANG-
ELES, Feb 20 pa faltering gray.
haired little mother mounted the wit
ness stand here today for the second
time in an effort to save her son.
accused two-time killer, from the
gallows.
! In a sing-song, expresSlonless voice,
Mrs. Eva Hickman, mother of William
Edward Hickman, testified late today
in the trial OF her son and Welby
Hunt for the murder of Druggist c.
Ivy Toms.
She described the home in which
her accused son grew up in family
OF five as loVeleSs and virtually
fatherleSs.
There was no love in our home"
she said as her eyes rested on the
motionless figure of Hickman in the
prisoners docket.
The witness went over the same
ground she covered in the first trial
of Hickman at the end CT which he
was sentenced to die for the kid
naping and killing CT Marian Parker
! William Thomas Hickman, her hus-
band, deserted the family, she <testi.
fled, when the oldest of the children
was but 16. Before that she had
tried on one occasion to kill herself
Il just didn't want to live she
said.
Hickman's father, who came here
from Ell Paso, Texas, to testify for
his son, preceded Mrs. Hickman on
the stand.
His direct testimony, during which
he frequently sobbed and shifted, was
that he believed his wife to have been
insane.
Deputy District Attorney James
Costello, taking Hickman for cross
examination, demanded tc know If
the asserted mental deficiency of Mrs.
Hickman had not been caused by
the husbands chasing around with
other women" The witness at first
unqualifiedly denied the charge, but
when pressed q moment later, said;
! "Well, I'm just an average man;
I'm no angel"
Hickman'S defense swung over into
the same pathways already traversed
in the sanity trial OF the Parker case
when Judge Elliott Craig ruled that
evidence pertaining to the defendants
mental condition was admissible as g
defense to his plea of mot guilty"
If convicted, Hickman will again
parade the tWice-told story OF his
inability to distinguish between right
and wrong under his second plea of
1 mot guilty by reason CT insanity"
I In this eventuality, the same jury
would hear again the insanity de-
tense.
The same series of depositions.
taken from relatives and former
neighbors of Hickman's family in the
Ozark mountains of Arkansas, which
were spread over several days records
in the previous trial, made cheir Sec
ond court bow.
Strange antics OF his grandparents
-queerneSS- of his grandmother
Becky" Buck, and mad fits OF his
, grandfather, Paul Buck - were re-
counted A neighbor too by 0eposi-
ton of "Ottie" Buck, Hickman's
cousin "He was a fitified kind or
feller," Spence Lane, the neighbor,
of Hartford, Ark, depoSed He would
follow his wife to the field to hoe
cotton just like kid follows his
mother. He married widow lady's
daughter but she wasn't quite as bad
off as he was"
Arkansas court records and deposit
/tions showed that following her sui
eide attempt, Mrs. Hickman was con-
fined in Little Rock insane asylum
for a few months, her condition being
diagnosed as simple depression"
The undecided question which came
over from the previous days session
as to whether Hunt could be placed
on the stand by Hickman-s attorneys
as a defense witness for his con-
demned companion was disposed OF
Immediately after court convened to-
day. Judge Craig ruled that there
was legal precedent in abundance
which permitted Hunt to refuse to
testify. The II year old youth took
advantage of the ruling and hurriedly
left the stand for his seat at Hick-
mans side.