People v. Ross

The appellant was convicted of murder in the first degree, and sentenced to suffer the punishment of death. At the trial, the evidence disclosed the following facts connected with the homicide: The defendant had been convicted of a felony in the superior court of San Diego, and sentenced to imprisonment in the state prison at Folsom, and was being taken thither upon the steamship Santa Rosa, in the custody of W. J. Ward, a deputy sheriff of that county. While the steamer was lying at the wharf at Port Harford, the defendant formed the purpose of escaping from the custody of the officer, and…