State v. Countryman

48 P. 137, 57 Kan. 815, 1897 Kan. LEXIS 210
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedMarch 6, 1897
DocketNo. 10683
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 48 P. 137 (State v. Countryman) 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. Countryman, 48 P. 137, 57 Kan. 815, 1897 Kan. LEXIS 210 (kan 1897).

Opinion

Doster, C. J.

Daniel Countryman, the appellant, lived at Walceeney, Trego County. His son had recently married, and together with his bride was at his father’s house. The evening of August first, after dark, the premises about the house were invaded by a party of riotous disturbers, intent upon giving the newly wedded pair a mock serenade, called a charivari; This was especially annoying and objectionable to the appellant, who is a physically diseased and mentally nervous and excitable person. He remonstrated with the party g,nd warned them away; but failing to induce them to desist, or leave his premises, he fired a loaded gu^ at them, and shot and wounded one of the number, named Joseph Sigler. He was arrested and prosecuted under section 38 of the Crimes and Pujjishmemg Act, for shooting at and wounding Sigler with intent to kill him. A change of venue was taken to Ellis County, where, upon a trial of the case, a verdic» and a judgment of conviction were rendered against him, under section. 42 of the act, for wounding Sigler under such circumstances as would have constituted manslaughter in the third degree if death had ensued. From this he appeals.

His first objection in the court below was by plea in abatement of the prosecution, upon the ground that no preliminary examination had been accorded [817]*817Mm. TMs was overruled ; and afterward, upon the call of the case for trial, an objection was interposed to the jurisdiction of the court, upon the ground that the term then pending in Ellis County, that of the fourth Monday in May, 1896, was not authorized by law. This was likewise overruled. These, and other claims of error, based upon instructions given and refused and upon the insufficiency of the evidence to support the verdict, are brought up for review.

Of all the witnesses, the evidence of the defendant was the most favorable to himself; and, to a correct understanding of the case, so far as it involves the instructions and the sufficiency of the facts proved, a summary of his testimony is given, together with literal quotations of its most material parts :

“Am 54 years of age, and served during the last war; and while in the military service contracted chronic diarrhoea from which am still suffering. Suffer also from heart trouble, and have done so for about 10 years. The condit'am of iny physical health has prevented the doing o¡' manual labor for five or six years, and for the la:-.;, three or four years have not been permitted to go away from home alone. The effect of this heart trouble and chronic diarrhoea upon my nervous system has been to render me nervous and excitable. Such has been the ca«e for "8 or 10 years, and it has grown worse from day uo day until the present time. July 31, I accompanied my family to a point about 40 or 50 miles distant to attend the wedding of my eldest son ; and on the following day returned to my home in Wakeeney with my family, including the newly married pair. In the evening, upon my return, I learned that a charivari was to be given to the bridal party: I sent for the city marshal, who came to my house, and whom I asked to prevent the anticipated disturbance. The marshal said he couldn’t stop it, but said to allow the boys to have their fun until about nine o’clock, and [818]*818then he would come along and put an end to it. I agreed to that, but said that I would not have the charivari party inside my yard or allow them, to molest anything. In about an hour and a half afterward, the expected rioters came, and invaded the yard premises, yelling, ringing bells, pounding on tin patis, and throwing missiles, seemingly stones, against the house ; whereupon I took my loaded gun and went to the door, and undertook to talk to the disturbers of the peace, but could not make them hear for the noise. I then took the gun, pointed it to one side of them and up in the air, and fired it; whereupon they stopped their noise and scattered out onto a vacant lot adjoining. I went out to the gate and tried to remonstrate with them, but every time I would say anything they would interrupt with yells. I told them that, as long as they stayed outside there, they could make as much noise as they wanted to, as far as I was concerned, but they must stay outside, let the property alone, and not molest anything. If they came inside and went to molesting anything I would shoot, and shoot to hurt; whereupon I retired into the house where all the family were. I admit being excited at this time. In about 5 or 10 minutes they returned inside of the yard, and stuck their heads up against the windows, and yelled, and rang bells, and then went away, and were gone for a while ; but in a very short time they returned and went to making still more noise than before, and, among other things, jammed, or forcibly threw, some thing against the house, which I think was my hitching-post, because next morning I found such post pulled up or broken off, and lying with one end against that part of the house from which the noise of jamming or bumping had proceeded. I again took the gun and went out of the door, and stepped around the corner of the house and saw a clump of men standing there.
“Q,. Where were they? A. They were at the west. Very near the west end of the house.
“Q,. State what you did. A. I ordered them out of the yard.
[819]*819“Q,. What did they do? A. Stood there and looked at me. '
“Q. What did you do? A. I raised up my gun, kind of this fashion [indicating], and fired.
Q,. State if at the time you fired you knew any of the parties who were back there in the yard. A. I did not.
“ Q,. Did you shoot at Walter Olson? A. I did n’t shoot at any particular man.
“ Q,. State to the Court and jury, what your intention was when you went out with that gun. A. To scare them out of the yard.
“ Q. State whether after you had fired the gun you heard anybody make any exclamation. A. I did.
“ Q. What was said? A. I heard a man say, ‘ My God ! I am shot! I am shot in the leg ! ’
“Q,. State after that where you went. A. Back into the house.”
“ I had a picket fence, with boards along the bottom. About 10 feet of such boards had been broken off by the rioters, and about 10 of the pickets pulled off or torn loose. The sidewalk close by the house was twisted around and torn up. At the southeast corner of the house there was a hole in its side, which I had never seen before. It had been freshly broken. The whole disturbance did not last over 20 minutes from the very beginning, and it was not more than two or three minutes from first hearing the noise until I went to the door with my gun. No one tried to get into the house at either windows or doors. No windows were broken, but one window was up, and some one — didn’t know who — stuck his head in it. I recognized no one, so as to tell who they were.
” Q,. There -wasn’t anybody threatening any danger to you, was there? A. They hadn’t made any threats to me.
“ Q. When you went out into the yard, now — after-wards when you came in, and then you went out into the yard — you took your gun with you? A. Yes, sir.
“Q,. What did you take the gun with you that time for? A. To scare them out of the yard.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
48 P. 137, 57 Kan. 815, 1897 Kan. LEXIS 210, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-countryman-kan-1897.