State v. Albritton and Taylor

40 S.W.2d 676, 328 Mo. 349, 1931 Mo. LEXIS 629
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedJuly 3, 1931
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 40 S.W.2d 676 (State v. Albritton and Taylor) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Albritton and Taylor, 40 S.W.2d 676, 328 Mo. 349, 1931 Mo. LEXIS 629 (Mo. 1931).

Opinion

*358 WHITE, P. J.

In the Circuit Court.of Butler County, October 21, 1929, the defendants were found guilty of robbery in the first *359 degree and each of them sentenced to a term of twenty years in the penitentiary. Both defendants appealed.

Thursday, February 21, 1928, a Buiek automobile with wire wheels, described by different witnesses as “red,” “cherry color,” and “wine color,” left Tulsa, Oklahoma, containing the two defend-, ants and o-ne Fred Hurst. The automobile belonged to Isabel Howard, who loaned it to the three men to drive to Missouri. Defendant Orville Taylor's father lived at Sikeston, Missouri, in Scott County. Defendant Albritton had a brother living in Sikeston. On the Sunday following that date and also on days before and after, the automobile was seen at various places in Scott and neighboring counties. Defendant Taylor testified that they went to Canalou, in New Madrid County, where his father-in-law lived. Later they were at Sikeston.

The following Thursday, February 28th, about two p. m., that automobile with three men in it stopped in the street in Qulin, Butler County, near the Bank of Qulin. One man remained in the car while the other two went into the bank, held up the cashier, Irvin Waller, and took from him more than $2100, the money of the bank. The two then got in the ear and it sped away to the north. ’

Qulin is about fifteen miles southeast of Poplar Bluff in the southeast corner of Butler County. Highway No. 60 runs from Poplar Bluff eastward through the towns of Dudley and Dexter in Stoddard County and on to Sikeston in Scott County. The robbers apparently attempted to avoid the traveled highways as much as possible; they drove straight north from Qulin, intercepted Highway No. 60 at Log Cabin, a little west of Fisk, about ten miles east of Poplar Bluff, drove east on Highway 60 to Dudley in Stoddard County, seventeen miles from Poplar Bluff. There they turned off the highway sharply to the north. News of the robbery spread over the country. Dr. Greathouse at Fisk heard of it. He testified that he and two other men went to Log Cabin and as the red Buiek car passed with three people in it he shot at it and the occupants of the car shot back four times.

J. B. Buchanan, a deputy constable running a filling station at Fisk, was with Dr. Greathouse at Log Cabin and testified to the same incident. Those witnesses pursued the red car, but before they could overtake it they went into a ditch.

About 3 :30 or four o 'clock that afternoon that red car was stuck in the mud in a country road about ten miles west of Bloomfield, and between Bloomfield and Puxieo, in Stoddard County. It was pulled out of the mud by Carlos Potter. Later the red automobile Was found abandoned, sitting behind an old schoolhouse between Bell City in Stoddard County and Morley in Scott County. ■ The *360 tracks of three men led from it toward a woods where two suitcases were found, one of which contained shirts with the laundry mark “H.A.” on the pockets and shirts with the mark “O.T.,” a shaving mug with the name “Jake Taylor” on it, also a razor and neckties. It is not disputed that the robbery as described was perpetrated by men who came to the bank in the same red car which bore the defendants from Oklahoma to Missouri, nor that Hurst was one of the robbers. Defendants contend that they were not there at the time of the robbery.

The cashier of the bank, Irvin Waller, was asked if he knew' who came in the bank and forced him to put up his hands. He said he thought it was Hunter Albritton. Objection to that was sustained and he was asked if he knew who it -was. He said, “Yes, it was Hunter Albritton, and the other fellow was Orville Taylor.” He described the red Buick car with wire wheels. One O: F'. Dickey, v?ho passed the bank at the time the robbery was going on, saw the fed automobile with wire wheels, and a trunk on the back. He saw the two men come out of the bank, run down the walk and get into a car' and drive away fast. One of the men strongly resembled Hunter Albritton.

John Litzlef, who kept a filling station at Dudley, seventeen miles east of Poplar Bluff, testified that about 3:30 February 28th he heard of the Bank of Qulin robbery; that an automobile with three men in it passed through Dudley going east and turned a square corner (north) at a high rate of speed. About 12:15 of that day, before the robbery, the same car stopped and the occupants bought eight gallons of gasoline from him. It was a red Buick with wire wheels and had a trunk on the back. One man sitting in the back seat had a gun in his pocket. They paid him in silver and didn’t wait for the change. He had seen these same people the evening before -when they had bought gasoline; two of the men were the defendants. No other car of that description passed his garage.

Hunter Langford testified that on the afternoon of the day of the robbery, on a road which went into Highway 60, he saw a car of that description going east with the two defendants in the car. They asked about the road. They wanted to get in the road to Bloomfield and went that way.

Eff Kelley of Bloomfield testified that he heard of the robbery in the afternoon of the day it occurred and was asked to watch for the robbers. He saw the red car with wire wheels pass about four p. m. going east; he fired at it and glass fell in the road. He got within fifteen or twenty feet of the car and one of the defendants was in it, although'he was not positive about the identification.

John Morgan, who lived on the road from Puxico to Bloomfield, *361 testified that about 3:30 or four o’clock on tlie day of the robbery one of the defendants came to him and asked him to bring his team and get the man’s car out of a mudhole; he went, and when he got to the place Carlos Potter already had pulled the stalled cat out. One of the defendants paid him two dollars for bringing his team-down and said, “We have no use for you now'.” Witness walked a few steps towards tlie car and one of the defendants said with an oath, ‘11 told you we did not need you down here. ’ ’ He saw the defendants at the preliminary hearing and they were the same men that were at the red ear that day. It was Orville Taylor who paid him the two dollars.

Roy McCown, Deputy Sheriff of Stoddard County, testified that he heard of the robbery, set out east on Highway 60, and saw the red car going’ sixty-five miles an hour, but he had an accident and could not follow it. Afterwards ho got the car from the Stoddard County officers and saw blood on the car at the rear end, and a glass had been shot out.

E. A. Dye, former sheriff of Scott County, testified to the contents of abandoned suit cases, and said that Jake Taylor was the father of Orville Taylor.

Allen Hennard testified that on the night of the bank robbery three men came to where he was, about a mile west of the schoolhouse where the red car was abandoned, and asked him to take them to Crowder. Two of the men had the arms of the other around their necks, helping him along as they walked.

The defendants were arrested in Los Angeles.

Orville Taylor testified on his own behalf that he borrowed the red Buiek from Mrs.

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Bluebook (online)
40 S.W.2d 676, 328 Mo. 349, 1931 Mo. LEXIS 629, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-albritton-and-taylor-mo-1931.