Evening star., 1934-12-14
FINAL ARGUMENTS
HEARD BY JURY IN
BUCCOL0 Staying
U. S. Seeks to Prove Sc
quence Of Shots Shows
Fermentation.
"FRENZIED" TELEPHONE
APPEALS RECOUNTED
Prosecution Charges Wife Sum-
moned Him to Dictate His Con-
duct or Make Him "Pay."

Speeding on its way to the jury
of 10 men and women, the Buccolo
murder case entered the stage OF hnai
addresses by counsel this morning.
Opening the arguments for the
Government, Assistant United States
Attorney Julian I. Richards asked the
Jury to return a lust and righteous
verdict" Mrs. Mary Irene Buccolo
was being tried on a first-degree in
dictment in the shooting of her hus-
band, Rudolph.
. Mrs. Buccolo fired six shots into
his body September s, 1888. From
Richards argument it appeared the
case would hinge on the order in
which the shots were fired. -Four
shots entered Buccolo's back, one
pierced his shoulder and one struck
him in the heart from the front.
Richards case depends on whether
the bullets entered his back first, as
Mrs. Buccolo's defense is that she
shot him defending her life as he
advanced toward her.
Cites Unhappiness.
Recalling the testimony that the
last years of their married life had
been unhappy and that Buccolo had
many times threatened her so as TO
put her in fear of her life, Richards
said the evidence showed a man un-
happy, not bound to his wife by the
ties of parenthood and seeking an
outlet.
He has been called a villain" the
prosecutor said, and for that reason
you are asked to sanctify what we
say was a murder.
I'VE are not denying that he fell in
love with another woman. Shall a
man be shot because he fell in love?"
Coming to the night before the
shooting, Richards spoke of the
"frenzied" telephoning by Mrs. Buc-
colo to her husband at his hotel, ask
ing that he come to see her.
WAS that the act" he asked, "of
O. woman in fear of her life? He did
come to see her. He got there a lit
tie after in the morning and oy $50
his body was stretched on the floor,
four bullets in his back"
Snaps Fatal Gun.
Richards took the gun with which
the fatal shots were fired and snap
ped it slowly six times. Mrs. Buccolo
had testified that after the gun went
off once, she did not know what she
was doing and could not stop .hoot-
ing.
You can't do that with this gun
without knowing what you are doing,
he said.
He recalled testimony that Mrs
Buccolo had said to her husband in
the presence of the other woman
You will pay for this hurt to me. "
When she called him at his hotel the
night before his death, Richards said
she had made up her mind to lay
down a mandate for his future con-
duct and to make him pay" if he
did not go along.
Holds Woman Blameless.
In his address to the jury, George
D. Horning, jr., one of the battery OF
defense counsel, pictured the defend
ant as "a true, 24-carat woman, mar
ried perhaps to piece of brass" He
recalled the long parade of character
witnesses who had spoken about Mrs.
Buccolos blameless life, and asked the
jury to contrast this with testimony
as to Buccolo's repeated threats.
Which of these two was the killer?"
he asked. Would you say it was the
woman of blamelesS life or the man
who had threatened to kill her or to
kill any one who comes between Flor
ence and me?'"
He said the open way in which
Mrs. Buccolo had bought the gun in
August negatived any idea that she
was harboring a desire to shoot her
husband. She never concealed it
from him, Horning said, and bought
1t through the regular channels, fill
ing out the statements required by
the police on the official form.
Recalls 'Tndignities."
Recalling the many indignities to
which Mrs. Buccolo testified she had
been subjected, Horning said she gave
proof of her love by submitting to
them, swallowing her pride and re-
peatedly trying to get her husband
back from the clutches of the other
woman.
He said that the quotation from
Mrs. Buccolo's words, You'll pay for
this" said to have been spoken on the
night before the shooting, referred
only to suit for alienation of affec-
tions she had intended to file against
Miss Florence Galleher
On the morning of the shooting, he
said. Buccolo must have become en-.
ragged when Mrs. Buccolo said she
would tell Florence of Buccolos at.
tempt to "pick up" another woman.
Horning said the shooting tool
place as Mrs. Buccolo was standing
and Buccolo, who had been seated or
q chair, had half risen in his motor
to come toward her.
The first shot must have entered
his heart and the remaining shots
struck him on the shoulder and back
as he was slumping over the bed.
Mrs. Flora E. Mack, mother of the
defendant, took the stand yesterday
afternoon to support her daughter.
story that the latter's married lift
had been unhappy, and that the son.
tn-law had frequently bruised hi.
wife, and on at least two occasions
had deliberately tried to kill her.