Hardin “Finn” Barry was a well known Susanville attorney who had a practice there from 1921 until his passing in 1969. In 1935, Finn represented Mrs. Emma Elam, a Maidu, in Plumas County, who was charged with murdering her husband with an ax. According to news reports, Barry won an acquittal for Mrs. Elam and at the end of the trial served an order on the sheriff demanding the return of the woman’s ax. In addition, Barry stipulated that the ax be sharpened because it had dulled while being held for evidence. The demand was so unusual that it made national news.