State v. Vandenburg

60 S.W. 79, 159 Mo. 230, 1900 Mo. LEXIS 215
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedDecember 18, 1900
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 60 S.W. 79 (State v. Vandenburg) 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. Vandenburg, 60 S.W. 79, 159 Mo. 230, 1900 Mo. LEXIS 215 (Mo. 1900).

Opinion

BUBQESS, J.

At the October term, 1899, of tbe circuit court of Lincoln county, defendant was indicted for obtaining a promissory note for $36.30, from one John Schloeman, dated at Troy, Missouri, on May 2, 1899, made payable to the order of T. J. ITamlett six months after date, and signed by said Schloeman, by means of false and fraudulent pretenses.

At tbe same term of tbe court at which tbe indictment was found defendant demurred thereto for tbe following grounds of objection, to-wit.

Eirst. Because tbe indictment does not follow tbe form prescribed by said statute.

Second. Because said statute is unconstitutional and void.

Third. Because tbe indictment fails to show that any property or thing obtained by defendant as charged in said indictment bad any value.

Fourth. Because it is shown by tbe indictment that tbe property or thing obtained or charged to have been obtained by defendant was obtained by reason of a contract or promise to be executed or carried out in tbe future by defendant.

Tbe demurrer wtas sustained, and judgment rendered thereon in favor of defendants. Tbe State appeals.

Tbe defendant is not represented in tbis court, but judging from tbe objections taken to tbe indictment by tbe de[233]*233murrer, the contention, seems to be that the indictment was drawn under section 3826, Revised Statutes 1889, that that section is unconstitutional, and that the indictment must of course be held invalid.

But however this may be, it makes no difference under what particular section of the statute the indictment may have been drawn, nor the infirmities of such section, or of the indictment thereunder, provided it be good under some other section of the statute, which is valid. Section 3564, Revised Statutes 1889, provides that “every person who, with intent to cheat or defraud another, shall designedly, by color of any false token or writing, or by any other false pretense, obtain.......from any person any money, personal property, right in action or other valuable thing or effects whatsoever .........shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished in the same manner and to the same extent as for feloniously stealing the money, property or thing so obtained.” Now the indictment charges, that “defendant with the intent then and there unlawfully and feloniously to cheat and defraud one John Schloeman, then and there unlawfully, knowingly and feloniously did falsely and fraudulently represent, state and pretend to the said John S. Schloeman, that he, the said John Vandenburg, was then and there the authorized agent and representative of the New England Mutual Life Insurance Company of Boston, Massachusetts, a corporation duly organized, incorporated and existing under the laws of the State of Massachusetts, and that he, the said John Vandenburg, had full right and authority from said corporation then and there to transact the business of life insurance for and on behalf of said corporation and to sell, and to contract for the sale of life insurance policies of said corporation, and to collect and receive the premiums thereon for and on behalf of said corpor[234]*234ation, in such manner as he, the said John Vandenburg, saw fit, and that he, the said John Vandenburg, was then sent to the said John Schloeman by the said corporation for the purpose of selling to him, the said John Schloeman, a life insurance policy of said corporation, which said corporation was then and there a good and solvent institution, then doing and authorized by law to then and there do the business of life insurance in the State of Missouri, and was then and there so represented to the said John Schloeman by the said John Vandenburg. And the said John Schloeman, believing the said false and fraudulent representations, statements and pretenses, so made as aforesaid, by the said John Vandenburg, to be true, and being deceived thereby, was induced, by reason thereof, to then and there enter into a contract and agreement with the said John Vandenburg, whereby he, the said John Schloeman, then and there agreed to purchase of the said John Vandenburg, as such pretended agent and representative of said corporation, a' life insurance policy of said corporation, insuring the life of him, the said John Schloeman, in the sum of one thousand dollars and to pay therefor the sum of thirty-six and 60-100 dollars per annum as premiums thereon, and to then and there sign and deliver to the said John Vandenburg a promissory note for the sum of thirty-six and 60-100 dollars, payable to the order of T. J. Hamlett, and for the payment of the first annual premium on such life insurance policy, and he, the said John Vandenburg, then and there promised and agreed with the said John Schloeman that the said corporation would, within a few days next thereafter, write, sign, execute, issue, and deliver to the said John Schloeman in proper and legal form such life insurance policy, insuring the life of him, the said John Schloeman, in the sum of one thousand dollars for and in the consideration of the annual premiums to be by him, the said [235]*235John Schloeman, paid as aforesaid. And the said John Schloeman, believing the said false and fraudulent representations, statements and pretenses, so made as aforesaid, by the said John Vandenburg to be true, and being deceived thereby, was further induced by reason thereof, to then and there sign and deliver to the said John Vandenburg a certain valuable thing, to-wit, a promissory note for the sum of thirty-six and 60-100 dollars of the value of thirty-six and 60-100 dollars, and made payable to the order of T. J. Hamlett, in accordance with and in pursuance of the contract and agreement so entered into by the said John Schloeman with the said John Vandenburg as aforesaid, which said promissory note, as delivered to the said John Vandenburg by the said John Schloeman, as aforesaid, is of the tenor following, to-wit:

“ ‘$36.60 Troy, Mo., May 2d, 1899.
“ ‘Six months after date I promise to pay to the order of T. J. Hamlett thirty-six 60-100 dollars at Troy, Mo., with interest at the rate of 8 per cent after due until paid, value received. John Schloeman.’
“And the said John Vandenburg, by means and by use of the said false and fraudulent representations, statements and pretenses, so made as aforesaid, then and there unlawfully, knowingly and feloniously did obtain from him, the said John Schloeman, the promissory note aforesaid, the property of him, the said John Schloeman, then and there' being, with intent then and there, unlawfully and feloniously to cheat and defraud him, the said John Schloeman, of the same; whereas, in truth and in fact, the said John Vandenburg was not then and there the authorized agent or representative of the said corporation, and he, the said John Vandenburg, did not have any right or authority then and there to transact the business of life insurance for or on behalf of said [236]

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Bluebook (online)
60 S.W. 79, 159 Mo. 230, 1900 Mo. LEXIS 215, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-vandenburg-mo-1900.