State v. Haines

61 S.W. 621, 160 Mo. 555, 1901 Mo. LEXIS 77
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedMarch 12, 1901
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 61 S.W. 621 (State v. Haines) 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. Haines, 61 S.W. 621, 160 Mo. 555, 1901 Mo. LEXIS 77 (Mo. 1901).

Opinion

GANTT, J.

The defendant was indicted at the January term, 1899, of the criminal court of Jackson county at Kansas City. He was duly arraigned, and declining to plead, the plea of not guilty was entered of record for him.

The record of said January term) recites that for want of time to try the case it was continued to the April term. No entry was made of record in the cause at the April term, 1899. On the application of the State the cause was continued at the September term, 1899. The defendant was put upon his trial at the next or January term, 1900, and was convicted of murder in the second degree. Erom the sentence on that conviction he has duly appealed to this court.

The facts attending the homicide are substantially as fol-' lows. Eor seventeen years or more prior to January, 1899, the defendant had been a railroad ticket-broker on Hnion avenue, opposite the Hnion Station at Kansas City, Missouri. [558]*558He is about sixty years old, and had borne a good reputation as a peaceable, law-abiding citizen. About three years prior to the homicide he had removed to Topeka, Kansas, and made that city his home, but was in the habit of making frequent visits to Kansas City, Missouri. On the eighteenth of January, 1899, he left Topeka and arrived at Kansas Oity at 5:15 p. m. He attended to his business, and it seems, intended to return home on a train leaving Kansas Oity at 9:30 that evening. He reached the station too late for his train, and was compelled to wait until 2:30 that night, or rather the following morning. Having all this idle time at his disposal he went to the New Albany Hotel and the various ticket offices in that neighborhood, and spent his time with acquaintances until about midnight. About midnight he appeared in a saloon-owned by one Caldwell. Charles D. Watson, the deceased, was the bartender in this saloon.

The coroner, Hr. Lester, and Hr. Langsdale, a former coroner of Jackson county, were summoned that night, and testified that when they reached Caldwell’s saloon they found Watson dead. His body was still warm. They made an examination of the body and found he had been shot through the heart by a bullet. The wound was a necessarily fatal one. It entered about the sixth rib, a little to the left of the median line, and a little to the right of the nipple line, penetrated the chest, through the apex of the heart. They extracted the bullet, which proved to be a 38 calibre. According to their testimony the bullet went in and through nearly on a level. There was little or no obstruction. In their opinion death would not necessarily be instantaneous. In many similar cases the wounded man has been known to walk or.run quite a distance. The shot would not affect his mind. Heceased was a stout man, weighing perhaps, 160 pounds, and apparently about 42 to 44 years old. They searched his person in the presence of [559]*559the policeman and found no weapons on his person. They examined the drawers in the saloon and found two pistols in one drawer, one broken and the other in a fair condition. Neither had been discharged recently. Both of these surgeons testified the deceased had on a linen or duck apron, and the powder-burn and hole in it indicated that the pistol was held in a few inches of his person when he was shot. Deceased had only about 60 or 65 cents in money on his person.

Caldwell, the proprietor, testified that when he left the saloon early in the evening, the cash register had about $15 in it, and soon after Watson was killed he counted the cash in it and it contained about $28, all in silver change. There were no $10 or $20 bills in it. He came back to the saloon at 11 o’clock that night, and Watson, the bartender, was perfectly sober. The defendant came in about 11:30. King, Curtis, Rohring and Vickers and perhaps others were in the saloon when defendant came in. Several were playing cards at a table. Defendant spoke to Watson, and then went over to the card table and wanted to get into the game. He then came back to Watson and' Caldwell and asked the latter to shake dice with him and Caldwell refused, and Watson told him to go and sit down. He then asked Rohring to shake dice for a dollar, and Caldwell refused to allow it. He then asked Watson if his credit was good, and Watson said yes, but that he— defendant — had enough. He had better go and sit down. He then sat down by the stove, and some one told him it was too hot there. He then became sick and went back to the toilet and vomited. Caldwell went out and got some sandwiches and he and Curtis and Watson ate them. Defendant was then in the closet. This witness left the saloon at 12:30, and didn’t see defendant any more until after the killing. Witness lived in the building. He was summoned soon after the shooting and when he came in, he found officers Keenan and Daily there. [560]*560One of them had defendant, and. Watson was lying on the floor, and just then a doctor Chappell came in and pronounced Watson dead. He inquired in the presence of defendant what Watson was shot for, and the policeman said, “this fellow says that he robbed him.” Curtis was living in Idaho at the time of the trial, and King was out of the State.

Vickers, a mail clerk on the Missouri Pacific Railroad, was playing pitch with Rohring, King and Curtis, when defendant came in. Defendant was intoxicated. He came up behind Rohring, took hold of his cards and asked him to let him play his hand for him. He mussed the cards up, and then bantered Rohring to play them for so much. Then he straightened up and said he didn’t have a cent. He looked at Watson, the deceased, and said, “Is my face good?” and Watson answered, “You bet it is.” Defendant laid his overcoat on a chair and then went back to the closet. Watson came round and took his overcoat and hung it up for him. Witness joked Watson about his friend (the defendant) and Watson said he was sleeping all right and he would wake him, he wanted to go off on the Santa Pe road. Witness then went up stairs and went to bed.

Bray, a police officer, testified. He was summoned when Watson was shot and ran immediately to Caldwell’s saloon, about two blocks distant. When he reached the place he found officer Keenan there. The defendant was sitting in a chair next to the stove with Keenan two and one-half feet from him. King was standing talking to Keenan. Bray .asked King who shot deceased. Pie said Haines (the defendant) came out of the wine room and accused Watson of robbing him, and that he shot him. AVitness said, “I says to Haines, ‘AVhat did you do this for ?’ He said, ‘He robbed me.’ I told officer Keenan to take defendant to No. 2 police station.”

King also said, “Haines came out of the wine room and [561]*561said to Watson, ‘You have robbed me. I want my money back,’ and thereupon Bray said to Haines, ‘What did you do that for V and defendant answered, ‘He did rob me.’ ”

Officer Nat Daily testified that he was on his beat about 10 minutes before 2 a. m., January 19th, waiting to send in his report at 6 minutes ,to 2 o’clock, when he heard the report of a pistol, when Curtis ran out of Caldwell’s saloon and cried, “Police.” Whereupon Keenan and witness immediately ran into the saloon and found defendant on the floor outside of the bar, holding a revolver in his right hand, which he was trying to point, and deceased, Watson, on or over him, holding down his pistol hand. The officer immediately took the pistol from Haines, the defendant, and said to Watson, “Charley, get up,” at which deceased attempted to rise, but fell over dead. When witness came Haines said, “That fellow robbed me and I shot him.”

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
61 S.W. 621, 160 Mo. 555, 1901 Mo. LEXIS 77, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-haines-mo-1901.