Collis

The defendant was convicted of the crime of manslaughter under an information charging him with the crime of murder, and appeals to this court from the judgment of conviction and the order denying him a new trial.

The homicide occurred at a mining camp in Hunter’s Valley, Mariposa County, on the fifth day of November, 1915.

The victim of the tragedy, Thomas B. Lynn, and one William Thornton, a resident of Chowchilla, Madera County, were the joint owners of certain mines located in Hunter’s Valley. The defendant was employed by them at said mines and worked for them on a percentage basis.

Thornton had not been at the mining camp for some five weeks prior to the date of the homicide, he having been ill during that period at his home in Chowchilla. On the fourth day of November, however, he put in an appearance at the camp. He, the defendant and the deceased were the only persons present at the time of the shooting. Thornton claimed to have seen the defendant shoot Lynn, and from his testimony, as given at the trial on behalf of the people, the following facts relative to the homicide are gleaned:

Upon arriving at the camp on the morning of the 4th of November, Thornton observed…