State v. Barbour

46 P.2d 841, 142 Kan. 200, 1935 Kan. LEXIS 310
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedJuly 6, 1935
DocketNo. 31,917
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 46 P.2d 841 (State v. Barbour) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Barbour, 46 P.2d 841, 142 Kan. 200, 1935 Kan. LEXIS 310 (kan 1935).

Opinion

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Harvey, J.:

J. A. Barbour, an osteopathic physician, charged with the murder of W. H. Downey, undersheriff of Brown county, at Hiawatha the night of November 9,1933, was tried and found guilty of murder in the second degree. He has appealed and complains, principally, of the refusal of the trial court to give instructions requested, and of the instructions given. Also some complaint is [201]*201made of the admission in evidence of a dying declaration, and of parts of its contents.

The story of the homicide involves the love affairs of four young people, Doctor Barbour and Mrs. Pearl Davis, a widow, with whom he was keeping company, and W. H. (Bill) Downey and his fiancee, Miss Gertrude Fordyce, and appears to have resulted from gossip respecting Downey, originating with Mrs. Davis and which she poured into the ears of Doctor Barbour, and was by him confided to some of his friends, and a part of which Mrs. Davis mentioned to Miss Fordyce. We may say that under the evidence in this case', jurors well might have concluded there was no substantial foundation in fact for any of these gossipy stories. But, whether true or false, and without regard to what prompted Mrs. Davis to tell them, in either event they were real to Doctor Barbour:

Doctor Barbour was born in Montana; is one of a respected family of nine children; his father was an able, reputable attorney for many years; he was graduated from high school there, and for four years attended the osteopathic school at Kirksville, Mo., completed the course of study there, and in 1924 settled in Hiawatha, and since then has practiced his profession there. He bore a good general reputation both in Montana and in Kansas. He was thirty-four years old at the time of the trial, and never had married. He had kept company to some extent with several of the young women in or near Hiawatha, and among these, for perhaps three years prior to the homicide, with Mrs. Pearl Davis, and exclusively with her since August, 1933. They had learned to think a great deal of each other, had talked of marriage' — possibly were engaged at the time of the homicide.

Mrs. Pearl Davis, thirty-four years of age at the time of the trial, was born in Brown county and, except for two years, had lived there all her life. She married about fifteen years prior to the trial; had a daughter thirteen years of age; had been divorced from her husband six years, and since then had worked four years as a clerk in the office of the probate judge, and since January, 1933, until the homicide, worked as a clerk in the office of the county clerk.

W. H. Downey, who never had married, was thirty-three years of age at the time of his death; was the youngest of a family of seven children, who had lived at Everest, about twenty miles from Hiawatha, in Brown county, for many years. In January, 1931, he became the undersheriff of Brown county and moved to Hiawatha, [202]*202the county seat. His mother (his father being deceased) lived with and kept house for him. Their home in Hiawatha faced north on Iowa, an east-and-west street, a few blocks from the courthouse. Since coming to Hiawatha he had become acquainted with Miss Gertrude Fordyce, a young woman who has worked, and continues to work, in the office of the Farm Bureau in the courthouse at Hiawatha. They became friends and lovers, came to be much in each other’s company, and were engaged to be married.

At the trial Mrs. Davis testified that about a year and a half prior to the homicide, as she was leaving the office one evening about five o’clock, Downey asked her if she cared to ride home. She said she would, and got into his car with him; that they drove west on the main highway to Fairview, about ten miles; that while returning on a side road Downey attacked her in an effort to have illicit relations with her, but was foiled in his efforts by an approaching car and her threats to get out of the car and report the incident; that soon thereafter she told Doctor Barbour what had occurred, and he said to pay no attention to it, perhaps it would not occur again; that about four months later, as she was leaving the courthouse one day at noon, Downey again asked her if she cared to ride home; she said she would, and got into his car; that they drove out near the Hiawatha Country Club, where Downey solicited her to have illicit relations with him, which she declined. She further testified to two or three occasions, much more recent, when, as she happened to meet Downey about the courthouse, and was friendly towards him, he made some improper remark or statement to her. She further testified that in August, 1933, she went to the sheriff’s office to have the sheriff O. K. a bill; that the sheriff was not in, but Downey was in the smaller of the two rooms of the sheriff’s office; that she went to the door of that room; that Downey jumped and grabbed her and started pushing her toward a corner; that she told him to take his hands off her, and about that time the sheriff walked in. With respect to this incident the sheriff testified this never happened. He remembered the incident of 0. K.’ing the bill; that he came into the office through the- small room; that Downey and Mrs. Davis were not in the small room, but were in the larger office, talking and laughing good-naturedly. It does not appear from the record that Downey ever knew Mrs. Davis charged him with any of the improprieties above mentioned, although it appears she related these stories to Doctor Barbour.

[203]*203On the evening of November 3, 1933, an incident occurred which, as testified to by Mrs. Davis and as she told it to Doctor Barbour, appears to have inflamed him greatly. She testified that because of an accumulation of work in the county clerk’s office and the fact that she could get extra pay for overtime, she did not quit at the regular closing time but worked on into the evening, and that she was the only one working in the courthouse that evening; that about seven o’clock she heard someone in the hall, went to the door, and saw it was W. H. Downey. He made some remark about her working late, she explained why she was doing so, he remarked that he was going to his office, which was on the next floor, for some papers, and went on; that she began to put her books away to close her work for the evening; that about the time she had done this and was ready to leave the office Downey came from the sheriff’s office; that he grabbed hold of her, pushed her into the dark part of the hallway, and began taking improper liberties with her; that she remonstrated and told him another young woman who worked at the courthouse was to work extra that evening and was to go on duty at seven o’clock and was likely to walk in any minute, whereupon he desisted. With respect to this incident W. H. Downey testified that he went to his office to get some papers to be served that evening; that his brother, Joe Downey, was with him; that as they went upstairs to the floor on which was the county clerk’s office a light in the hall was on and Mrs. Davis was working in the county clerk’s office, the door of which was open; that they exchanged some passing remarks about her working late; that he went on to the sheriff’s office upstairs, got his papers and came down in a few minutes; that Mrs. Davis was then closing her office and asked him to turn out the lights in the hall; he told her he did not know where the switch was, and she went and turned out the lights; that she pretended not to be able to find the steps in the hall, and that he took hold of her arm and assisted her. It appears there were two ways to leave the building. Mrs.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
46 P.2d 841, 142 Kan. 200, 1935 Kan. LEXIS 310, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-barbour-kan-1935.