State v. Wagner

279 S.W. 23, 311 Mo. 391, 1925 Mo. LEXIS 831
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedDecember 22, 1925
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 279 S.W. 23 (State v. Wagner) 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. Wagner, 279 S.W. 23, 311 Mo. 391, 1925 Mo. LEXIS 831 (Mo. 1925).

Opinion

*397 BLAIR, J.

The defendant was convicted in the Circuit Court of Jackson County of the crime of grand larceny for stealing a Cadillac automobile. The jury assessed his punishment at eight years’ imprisonment in the penitentiary. From the-judgment entered upon such verdict, defendant has appealed. This is the second appeal. A trial was had in the year 1922, which resulted in the conviction of the defendant. Upon appeal said judgment was reversed and the cause remanded. That proceeding is reported in 252 S. W. 695. The opinion in that case contains a detailed statement of the facts. In the last trial testimony was offered tending to prove all the facts stated by Judge Railey in that opinion and reference is made thereto for facts not herein stated. •

The undisputed facts in the case are that, on and prior to November 24, 1920, Mrs. C. J. Shannon was the owner' of a 1920 model 59, Cadillac, seven-passenger touring automobile. On that evening, about eight o’clock, she and her son, Frank Shannon, drove said automobile to the residence of a friend in Kansas City and about two hours afterwards they discovered that the automobile was gone.

About January 1, 1921, defendant had in his pos- ' session a Cadillac, seven-passenger, touring automobile of the same year and model. The main controversy of fact in the case is whether or not the automobile belonging to Mrs. Shannon, which we will hereafter refer to as the Shannon automobile, was the same automobile as the one afterward found in the possession of the defendant. We will refer to the latter as- the Wagner automobile.

*398 The testimony of the State tended to show that Joseph Shannon purchased a Cadillac automobile from the Greenlease Motor Company of Kansas City about the middle of September, 1920, as a present for his wife, who was then abroad with their son and daughter. They returned about November 1st or 2nd, 1920, and Mr. Shannon met them at the station with the new automobile. This was a night or two after Halloween. On that night Mr. Shannon had been using the automobile, and some person had made a large figure 8 upon the right side of the cowl with what appeared to be soap. This mark was evidently a permanent one, because all efforts to remove it entirely failed and it could thereafter always be seen when a person placed himself in a certain angle and looked for it. It apparently dimmed the luster in such a way that it could be found when looking for it and yet did not show itself to the causal observer. While the Shannons had the automobile a crack developed in the condenser tank and this crack was repaired by solder. The testimony of the State tended to show that a similar figure 8 and similarly soldered condenser tank were found on the Wagner automobile. ■

Immediately after the automobile was missing, Mrs. Shannon called the police station and reported its loss. Neither Mrs. Shannon nor any member of the family could give any accurate description of the automobile, except its model and size. None of them thought to report to the police the presence of the figure 8 marring the cowl. The numbers stamped upon the motor, the transmission, the generating, housing and the body of the automobile were obtained from either the factory or the local agency of the Cadillac company. These numbers were as follows: Body, 33236; motor, 59-M-677; generator, 162-14309; Transmission, 11683.

It appears that defendant’s possession of the Wagner automobile was an object of suspicion to the police for reasons not appearing in the record. Early in January officers visited defendant and inspected his *399 automobile and asked him to bring it to the police station. It was taken to the garage which housed automobiles for the authorities and remained there approximately ten days, during which time a number of police officers and insurance inspectors examined it. The Wagner automobile then bore the following numbers: Motor, 59-E-399; generator 162-14818; transmission, 11688.

It does not appear that the police connected the Wagner automobile with the stolen Shannon automobile and none of the Shannon family were asked to attempt to identify it at that time. An insurance company carried a fire-and-theft policy upon the Shannon automobile and -the activities of its agents in seeking to find the Shannon automobile, and later to connect the automobile taken from the defendant with the stolen automobile, appear in the record.

Early in February following four police officers eame to the residence of defendant while no one was at home, forcibly opened the garage and took the Wagner automobile out of defendant’s possession. It was again held for observation for a périod. At that time it was shown to Mr. Shannon and members of his family and they testified that they observed the'figure 8 upon the right side of the cowl. Thereafter, and before the first trial, the condenser tank was removed from the Wagner automobile and replaced by another and said tank was in evidence before the jury at both trials.

Some mention of a replevin suit appears in the record, but the parties to it and the result of the suit aro not shown. Apparently defendant sought to replevin the automobile from the garage which held it for the police or the insurance company. However that may be, the Shannons refused to take back the automobile because of the damage which had been done to it and the insurance company paid the loss in full and took the Wagner automobile and sold it to a merchant in Kansas City, Kansas, who brought it to the court house in Jackson County, Missouri, at both trials.

*400 As above stated, the chief controversy of fact is whether or not the Shannon automobile and the Wagner automobile were one and the same automobile. That the Wagner automobile was stolen is not disputed. The records of the Cadillac Motor Company of Detroit, Michigan, were brought into court' by one of the employees of that company. He produced Exhibits 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16. Exhibit 13 was the factory record of the shipment of a Victoria Cadillac automobile to the city of New York. The transmission number on that automobile was 11688. This was the number found on the transmission of the Wagner automobile. Exhibit No. 14 was the factory record of an automobile shipped to Dallas, Texas. The motor number of that automobile was 59-E-329. This was the number found upon the Wagner automobile. Exhibit 15 was the factory record of an automobile shipped to White River junction, Vermont. The generator number of that automobile was 162-14718. This was the number found upon the generator of the Wagner automobile. Exhibit No. 16 .was the record of an automobile shipped to Havana, Cuba. None of the numbers of that automobile were the same as those upon the Wagner automobile, unless it was the body number. Presumably, this record was offered for the purpose of showing that the body of that automobile had the body number of the Wagner automobile. We are unable to locate in the voluminous record the body number of the Wagner automobile, although the writer has read the record carefully with that thought in mind. Exhibit 12 was the' factory record of the Shannon automobile.

The evidence of the employee of the Cadillac company was to the effect that none of the numbers, either on the motor, generator, transmission or body were ever duplicated.

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Bluebook (online)
279 S.W. 23, 311 Mo. 391, 1925 Mo. LEXIS 831, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-wagner-mo-1925.