Famous Defence

THE SPECTACULAR LEGAL career of
Stuart Alexander Henderson, 81, famed de-
fence counsel, who has probably saved more
men from the gallows than any other Cana-
dian lawyer, came to a close on February
17th, 1945.

Mr. Henderson died after a short illness,
at Royal Jubilee Hospital, Victoria.

Born in Lonmay, Aberdeenshire, Scot-
land, the eldest of seven children of a stone’
cutter father, Stuart Henderson came to
Canada at nine, was graduated from the
University of Toronto and Trinity, winning
the gold medal for law examinations, Rt.
Hon. Sir Lyman Poore Duff, former chief
justice of Canada, and the late Gordon
Hunter, chief justice of B.C., being class
mates.

As a young man he was elected an alder-
man in Ottawa and officer of the Ontario
Liberal Association. He accepted his first
legal case as a junior lawyer in the federal
legal department under Sir Wilfrid Laurier.

Stuart Henderson practiced in Ashcroft
during the Klondike gold rush. In 1903 he
came to Victoria as provincial member for
| Yale. In 1913 he made his home here.
Twice after his defeat in 1909 by Sir
Richard McBride he contested the Victoria
federal riding, but was not elected.

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Page Twenty-two

The most famous defence of over 50 con-
ducted by Mr. Henderson was that of
Simon Gun-a-Noot, who for 13 years
evaded capture after the death of two half-
breed trappers at Hazelton in 1906.

Often reported seen he was warned by
other Indians when the police were on his
trail until in 1919 when Gun-a-Noot, who
wanted to be with his sick wife and child-
ren, called Mr. Henderson to his assistance.

Emphasizing Gun-a-Noot’s police record
had been clean while one of the slain men
had been arrested several times on minor
charges, Mr. Henderson at the trial won an
acquittal after the jury had been out on the
case for 15 minutes. Gun-a-Noot died in
1933 after spending many years in northern
B.C. as a guide. : .

Defending two murder charges last fall,
Mr. Henderson maintained his record.

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT SUPPORTER

He was firmly of the opinion that capital
punishment was the only real deterrent to
murder and he would never vote for its
repeal.

To a layman, some of Mr. Henderson’s
ablest defences seemed curiously technical.

a] Bas
|

The late Stuart Henderson

He quietly searched through available
records after one man was convicted of
bootlegging by a stipendiary magistrate.
The bootlegger was released after Mr.
Henderson convinced a higher court the
order-in-council appointing the magistrate
had not been worded quite according to
law. 22 other magistrates throughout the
province had to be reappointed.

Mr. Henderson never declined a criminal
case that came to him. “If I refused to take
the case of a prisoner, at once that refusal
would be interpreted as meaning the man
was guilty,” he would say. “His chance of
acquittal would be seriously jeopardized—
and that is a responsibility I refuse to
accept.”

Counsel, Stuart Henderson, Passe

Thus he came to be known as Canad,
Clarence Darrow.

Life until the end held a tang of liv,
for him. As he saw his contemporaries
tire to the sidelines, he continued his leo
business, reading tirelessly, always in },
element while pleading before a jury th
case for the defence, moulding possibili
into plausibility, plausibility into prot
ability. |

He was married twice, to Alice Ma
Loudon, niece of Dr. James Loudon, i
was then president of the University ¢
Toronto, in 1890, who died five years late;
and to Mary Jane Lusk of Victoria in 199:
Besides his wife, he leaves a son, Gord,
Henderson, Victoria, and three daughter
Mrs. A. F. McPhee and Miss Wilma Hep
derson, Victoria, and Miss Ena Hendersop
San Francisco, and one grandchild, Willian
McPhee, serving in Canada with the amy

Leonard Norris, Police Officer ani
Government Agent, Dies

at Vernon
ANOTHER LINK with the past wa
broken on April 18th last when Leonat
Norris, 81 died at Vernon, B. C.
Mr. Norris was born dat Brantford
Ontario and came out to B.C. in the earl

. 80°s when he was about 17 years of aw

His first work was on the Bessette ranch at
Lumby, B.C. Later he joined the Provin
cial Police as a constable, and it’s believe
he was the first policeman at Landsdowne
the original of what is now the city and
district of Armstrong. In July, 1890, he wa
given additional appointment of Collector
of Revenue and in October, 1893, he wa
appointed Government Agent at Vernon
He held this post until March, 1926, wher
he was retired on pension.

Mr. Norris made the history of the
Okanagan Valley his hobby, and was the
founder of the Okanagan Historical Society.

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