State v. Speritus

90 S.W. 459, 191 Mo. 24, 1905 Mo. LEXIS 185
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedNovember 21, 1905
StatusPublished
Cited by29 cases

This text of 90 S.W. 459 (State v. Speritus) 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. Speritus, 90 S.W. 459, 191 Mo. 24, 1905 Mo. LEXIS 185 (Mo. 1905).

Opinion

BURGESS, P. J.

On the 20th day of April, 1904, there was filed an information in the office of the clerk of the circuit court of the city of St. Louis by W. Scott Hancock, assistant circuit attorney of said city, under [27]*27his oath of office, charging the defendant with burglary in the second degree and larceny. Upon trial had, defendant was convicted of both burglary and larceny, and his punishment fixed at three years’ imprisonment in the penitentiary for the burglary, and two years for the larceny. After unavailing motions for new trial and in arrest of judgment, defendant appeals.

The facts, briefly stated, are that William A. Grolock kept a vehicle and harness establishment at 915 North Broadway, in the city of St. Louis, wMch was closed on Saturday evening, January 30, 1904, but upon the following Monday morning a rear door was found open, a glass skylight broken, and a milk wagon and sixteen sets of single harness were missing from the store.

Reuben Vaughn, a witness for the State, after testifying that he knew the defendant, proceeded as follows:

“Well, he — the way it come up, he asked me whether I had a stable shed at my house to conceal a wagon, or put a wagon in, and I told him no, I had no shed at my house that would do for a wagon because I had no shed at all, and he told me he has got a good wagon he wants to put in a shed, and he would be willing to pay for it if he knew some one that had a shed, and I asked him what he would be willing to pay for some one to keep the wagon for him, thinking he wanted it kept out of the weather, and he said he wanted to pay ten dollars to keep it fox a month, and I thought that was a good price, and I told him I thought I could find a good place to keep the wagon out of the weather, and I suggested, then, my father’s as being a good place to put the rig, as he had plenty of room out there, and I told him if he would be willing to pay ten dollars I would go out and see my father-in-law — see if my father-in-law would keep the wagon fox ten dollars a month, because I thought I would get him to keep it. cheaper and keep the balance myself; and he says, ‘ Go [28]*28and see him right away,’ and I says to him, ‘Where is the rig?’ and he says he’s got it out on the road between here and East St. Louis, and I told him — I says: ‘Is it a stolen rig?’ and he says, ‘Yes, the rig is stolen, but there ain’t no way on earth to get in trouble about it. ’ And I asked him what kind of a wagon it was, and he said a great big delivery wagon with a top on it, and I told him I didn’t know whether he had room for a wagon with a top on it, because he had no wagon with a top on, and he says, ‘The top can be taken off;’ he says, ‘I don’t want you to take the top.’ Pie says, ‘I will tell you where the rig is, and if you will go out there and get the running-gear of that rig for me I will give you ten dollars to get it and bring it to town and take it out to your father-in-law’s, and I will pay him for keeping it,’ and I told him, I says, ‘How will I get the running-gear to town?’ and he says, ‘I will give you a monkey wrench and you go out there; there is only four or five bolts you have to take off, and the top will come off, ’ and I told him all right, and I says, ‘ I will go out and see my father-in-law,’ and he says, ‘You can then take your gun and dog and go out like you are hunting and walk up to the rig and look at it and if there ain’t nobody around, you can take the bolts off and the top will fall down the hill;’ and I told bbn all right, and I says, ‘You will have to give me car fare to go out to my father-in-law’s and he gave me ten cents. And I had read an account in one of the St. Louis papers about a week, or maybe two weeks, previous to that, about a rubber-tired rig and horse being stolen over here in St. Louis, and I kind of suspected that might be the rig, and I went back and asked him, ‘What about a wagon to bring that home on?’ and he told me I could hire a wagon and he would pay me for the hire. I told him, ‘Can you give me one of your horses?’ — he had three of his own then — and he says, ‘No, if I give you one of my horses that will be suspicious right away,’ and I says, ‘Is that a rubber-tired rig?’ and he says, [29]*29‘No; ’ and I went to the police headquarters at Belleville and asked them if they had a description of a rig that had been stolen in St. Louis.....”

The testimony of witness Vaughn was corroborated by the testimony of the police officers of both Belleville and St. Louis, in so far as the recovery of the wagon was concerned, and its location in the woods.

The defense was an alibi, in support of which defendant offered evidence which tended to show that from Saturday, January 30th, to Monday, February 1st, he was in Belleville and could not have been in St. Louis, the scene of the burglary. Some witnesses also testified that they overheard a conversation between Vaughn and defendant on February 2, when, instead of defendant telling Vaughn about a wagon, Vaughn was trying to sell defendant, for the sum of ten dollars, a covered wagon which he claimed to have somewhere.

The court gave the following instructions :

“The State of Missouri, by the information in this case which' was filed in this court on the 20th day of April, 1904, charges the defendant with the offense of burglary in the second degree and larceny. The defendant pleads not guilty; and upon the question of his guilt or innocence the court instructs you as follows:

“1. If, upon' consideration of all the evidence in the case, in the light of the court’s instructions, you believe and find from the evidence that at the city of St. Louis and State of Missouri, on or about the 31st day of January, 1904, the defendant, Morris Speritus, unlawfully and forcibly did break and enter into the store, shop and building of W. A. G-rolock with the intent to steal therein, and that in said store, shop and building certain goods, wares and personal property of any kind and of some value, however small, were at the time by said W. A. Glrolock kept and deposited, you will find the defendant guilty of burglary in-the second degree and assess his punishment in the penitentiary for a term of not less than three years.

[30]*30“Before you can find the defendant guilty of burglary you must find from the evidence that he unlawfully and forcibly both broke and entered into said store, shop and building, but to constitute such breaking no particular amount of force is necessary. It is sufficient if he broke an outside window or skylight of said store, shop and building and thfen entered thereby or opened a closed outside door of said store, shop and building and then entered thereby.

“2. If you believe and find from the evidence that the defendant, Morris Speritus, unlawfully and forcibly both broke and entered into the store, shop and building of the said W. A. Grolock as defined and explained in the preceding instruction, and that after breaking into and entering the same the defendant, Morris Speritus, took and carried away therefrom the one-horse wagon and sixteen sets of single harness mentioned in the information in this case, or any part of it, and that he did so with the intent to fraudulently convert the same to his own use and to permanently deprive the owner thereof without his consent, and that said one-horse wagon and sixteen sets of single harness were the property of the said W. A.

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Bluebook (online)
90 S.W. 459, 191 Mo. 24, 1905 Mo. LEXIS 185, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-speritus-mo-1905.