People v. Eaton

122 A.D. 706, 21 N.Y. Crim. 549, 107 N.Y.S. 849, 1907 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 2537
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedDecember 20, 1907
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 122 A.D. 706 (People v. Eaton) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Eaton, 122 A.D. 706, 21 N.Y. Crim. 549, 107 N.Y.S. 849, 1907 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 2537 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1907).

Opinion

Ingraham, J.

Two questions are presented on this appeal, one relating to the sufficiency of the indictment and the other to the sufficiency of the corroboration of the evidence of Swartz, an accomplice. There are two counts in the indictment. • The first alleges that the defendant on the 9th day of February, 1907, “with intent to'deprive and defraud a certain corporation called Degrion Contracting Company of the proper moneys, goods, chattels and personal property hereinafter mentioned, and of the use and benefit thereof, and to appropriate the same to their own use, did then and there feloniously, fraudulently and falsely pretend and represent to the said corporation-that one W. Jukus had been for some time prior thereto and was then and there a servant and employee' of the said corporation and shortly theretofore had worked for the said corporation as such servant and employee for timbeen days, and that the said corporation was then and there indebted to the said W. Jukus and there was then and there due and owing from the said corporation to him as such servant and employee for and on account of the said work the sum of forty-eight, dollars and seventy-five cents,” and that the said defendant did then and there feloniously and fraudulently obtain from the possession of the said corporation the said sum with intent to deprive and defraud the said corporation of the same, and of the use and benefit thereof and to appropriate the same to his own use. Whereas, in truth and in fact, the said W. Jukus had not been prior thereto and was not then and' there a servant or employee of the said corporation and theretofore had not worked as such servant or employee for the said corporation for thirteen days or for any time whatsoever; ” and there was not due and owing the said sum of forty-eight dollars and .seventy-five cents; and that the pretenses and representations so made by the defendant to the said corporation were in all respects utterly false and untrue as at the time of [708]*708making the same the defendant then and there well knew, and that by the means aforesaid the said money of the said corporation the' defendant feloniously did steal. The second was a general count for larceny.

It appeared that Eaton, the appellant, was employed by .the Hew York and Long Island Railroad Company to'make an independent check of the men employed in shaft 3 of a tunnel being constructed by the Degnon Company for the railroad company who relied upon the appellants reports in payment of the bills'of the Degnon Company. The appellant made a return to the railroad company every morning which stated the number and names of the men who were employed in shaft 3. • Every morning the railroad company received a report from the Degnon Company made up by Swartz, the timekeeper of that company, as to the men employed in shaft 3 the day before, and these returns from the Degnon Company were compared with the appellant’s returns as to the number of men employed. It seems that each employee had a number and the returns were made by these numbers and to each number there was affixed a letter which indicated the nature of the employment, so that if these two reports, that from the Degnon Company and that from the appellant agreed, the men were paid for the time thus certified; that when a man was employed by the Degnon Company he received a brass check upon which was a number by which he was identified while he continued to work; that on the pay day he presented that check and he then received the money due him contained in an envelope upon which was a number that corresponded with the number on the check that he presented. On the 9tli day of February, 1907, one' Abramson presented a check, with the number 3,178 and was paid forty-eight dollars and seventy-five cents. The timekeeper for the Degnon Company was Swartz and the timekeeper for the railroad company was the appellant. Abram-son testified that • on the ninth of February he presented check No. 3,178 to the Degnon Company at the foot of East Twenty-second street and received an envelope containing money ; that about three weeks before that he met the appellant, who told, the witness that his father had bought checks from people working in the tunnel, and he wanted the witness to go down and present one of the checks and collect the money for him; that the appellant [709]*709told Abram.son to walk to 112 East Forty-first street with him; that the appellant’s father handed hint a brass check when the witness went to the paymaster of the Degnon Company, presented the check and received an envelope there under a different name, brought the envelope back and handed it to the appellant’s father; that the appellant then handed the witness five dollar’s, and asked him if he would come again two weeks afterwards and cash another check. Two weeks afterwards the witness went down with his x cousin, when they were each given a check, and told to go and collect the money on that check, which he did, and turned it over to the appellant. This was all previous to the 9th of February, 1907. The witness went through with this performance four times prior to the ninth of February, when he presented check Eo. 3,178, and received from the Degnon Company forty-eight dollars and seventy-five cents. Swartz was present at the same time that the witness received the checks. Swartz was then called as a witness and testified that he was in the pay office on pay day; that somebody brought this check No. 3,178, and presented it, and that he (Swartz) checked it off as O. K., and told the paymaster that it was all right, and that then the paymaster paid it; that about December first, prior to this time, the appellant came to Swartz and said he had a scheme by which they could make some money; it was simply putting in checks and putting the names of men in the book with the same number as upon the checks; that Swartz should give to the appellant checks and he would have the money drawn out on pay day; that Swartz agreed to this scheme, and he selected names and numbers which he put into his report as the men who had done the work upon the job, and then gave the numbers to the appellant. That this continued for several weeks up to the pay day, February 9,1907. That No. 3,178 was one of the numbers that he put on the pay roll as representing a man who. was given the name “Jukus” on the payroll, but who had done no work, and he entered the number in his time book and upon the slip that he furnished to the Degnon Company; and that' the check representing this number was then given to the appellant, who collected the money from, the Degnon Company; that he received from the appellant a portion of the money that was thus collected from the Degnon Contracting Company. There was other evi. deuce showing the method by which this plan had been worked out [710]*710and connecting the defendant with it. The People having rested, the appellant was called ks a witness on his own behalf. He testified that lie had a conversation with Swartz, the timekeeper of the Degnon Company about purchasing checks; that Swartz said there was a lot of these men who wanted to sell their time, and there was an opportunity to buy them for a mere song; that he introduced the appellant to certain men who wished to sell their time, and- that the appellant determined that it was all right, and that he subsequently received checks from Swartz as checks that had been purchased from men who said that they were entitled to be paid; that-on that day he gave the checks to his father, or oiie of the boys, to be cashed; that twenty-eight or twenty-nine checks received from Swartz had been' . cashed up to the ninth of.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

People v. Watford
19 A.D.2d 731 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1963)
People v. Covington
9 A.D.2d 898 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1959)
People v. Leibowitz
12 Misc. 2d 553 (New York County Courts, 1958)
People v. Warner
152 Misc. 607 (New York County Courts, 1934)
People v. Markan
41 N.Y. Crim. 494 (New York Court of General Session of the Peace, 1924)
State v. Bolton
212 P. 504 (Montana Supreme Court, 1922)
People v. Elite Distributing Co.
27 N.Y. Crim. 345 (New York County Courts, 1912)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
122 A.D. 706, 21 N.Y. Crim. 549, 107 N.Y.S. 849, 1907 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 2537, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-eaton-nyappdiv-1907.