People v. Clark

The appellant, Clark, who was charged with the commission of the crime of murder, and was convicted of murder in the second degree, brings this appeal from the judgment, and an order denying a new trial.

At the trial the defendant admitted that he killed Garret Fitzgerald, but endeavored to show that he did it in necessary self-defense. The evidence discloses that the homicide took place in the mountains of Mendocino County, where both the defendant and the deceased were engaged in stock-raising. The deceased, with his sou, step-son, and another man, were driving a band of about two hundred cattle upon or near a tract of land claimed by the defendant, upon or near wdiich the defendant’s cattle were then grazing. The defendant, who came up with another man, endeavored to prevent the cattle from being mingled, and said he had a claim there, and would not permit Fitzgerald’s cattle to be driven on it. A quarrel between the defendant and Fitzgerald thereupon followed, from which the other men held themselves aloof, except as hereinafter stated. The defendant and the deceased were on horseback at the time; the defendant was upon the better horse, and had a Winchester riñe, and the…