The People v. Bolton

5 N.E.2d 230, 365 Ill. 39
CourtIllinois Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 10, 1936
DocketNo. 23838. Judgment affirmed.
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 5 N.E.2d 230 (The People v. Bolton) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Illinois Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
The People v. Bolton, 5 N.E.2d 230, 365 Ill. 39 (Ill. 1936).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Orr

delivered the opinion of the court:

Mildred Bolton was indicted in Cook county for the murder of her husband, Joseph W. Bolton, Jr. After a jury trial a verdict of guilty was returned fixing her punishment at death. This writ of error was obtained to review the judgment of the criminal court.

Mr. and Mrs. Bolton had been married approximately fourteen years before the shooting. No children had been born to them. Their married life in its later stages was not harmonious, and in January, 1936, he had filed a bill for divorce from her on the ground of cruelty. On June 15, 1936, she went to his office to receive a temporary alimony payment and while there she shot him with a revolver. He was taken to a physician’s office in the same building, where he died a few minutes afterward. She was arrested and taken before an assistant State’s attorney, where she made a written exculpatory statement. At the trial her testimony in chief was to the general effect that she had a quarrel with her husband which ultimately led to a scuffle over the possession of the revolver and that during this struggle the weapon was discharged. This story was completely discredited by her own testimony upon cross-examination and by the direct testimony of her husband’s secretary, the only other eye-witness to the shooting. A reversal of the judgment and sentence is here sought principally on the grounds that the evidence did not establish the defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, and that the imposition of the death penalty clearly shows the jury was swayed by passion and prejudice. The errors alleged and the gravity of the case compel us to state the evidence in greater than usual detail.

At the time of his death Bolton was engaged in the insurance business as an agent or broker and operated a partnership with Louis Schilts in a suite of rooms on the tenth floor of the Insurance Exchange building, in Chicago. In order to establish a motive the People introduced evidence of disputes between Bolton and his wife as far back as 1928. In that year the Boltons were dinner guests at the home of a man by the name of Ladd, who was then employed by the same company which employed Bolton. According to Ladd, Mrs. Bolton became greatly enraged because a daughter of the witness worked for her husband. When Bolton tried to quiet her she attacked him, and after it became necessary to eject her from the house she stood outside, screaming. Ladd said he also witnessed a quarrel between the two in the lobby of the office building in June, 1933. She was then slapping and punching Bolton while he was trying to hold her hands. Some time later, when Ladd asked her why she got after her husband, Mrs. Bolton said, “I guess I am insanely jealous.” There was testimony for the People that Mrs. Bolton also attacked her husband with a razor in the month of July, 1934. He was injured in this attack and had to be taken to a hospital, where he remained five days. Mrs. Bolton expressed sorrow over this affair to Ladd and besought his aid in locating her husband. Florence Stulv also witnessed the trouble between the Boltons in the lobby of the building in June, 1933. She said Bolton was holding his wife by the wrists and she saw numerous slashes on his face. At that time Mrs. Bolton was screaming and struggling in an effort to get,loose from her husband.

Louis Schilts, the partner of the deceased, told of an occasion when he witnessed a quarrel between the Boltons in the office in December, 1935. Both were scuffling in the reception room, and he told them it would have to stop. Mrs. Bolton then held the wrists of her husband as he tried to eject her from the room. When the witness threatened to get a policeman Mrs. Bolton threw a tray at him, which he dodged, the missile breaking a glass panel in a door. Mrs. Bolton often visited the office, the frequency of the visits increasing after the first of March, 1936.

Roy Swanson said he once intervened between the Boltons when they were fighting in a fifth floor corridor of the office building. Mrs. Bolton included him as an antagonist by forcibly grabbing his tie and holding on. With the aid of others the witness and Bolton then placed her on an elevator and took her to the ground floor. There the chief elevator starter lent his aid in getting her to the sidewalk. She turned on him and struck him in the face before she was finally placed in a patrol wagon.

Joseph Lynch, a police officer, said that in July, 1934, he was called to a drug store about 3 :oo o’clock in the morning, where he found Bolton suffering from a cut in the arm. He took the wounded man to a hospital and returned to the store. Taking up the trail of blood spots from the store he followed them to the Bolton home, where he found Mrs. Bolton sitting in the parlor smoking a cigar. In response to his queries she informed the officer that her husband had cut himself while shaving at 3 :oo o’clock in the morning and he had gone to the drug store on her advice. She was taken into the presence of her husband while he was being sewn up at the hospital, but the latter refused to prefer charges against her.

Peggy O’Neil testified that she was working on the fifth floor of the building in June, 1933, as a switch-board operator for the same insurance company for which Bolton then worked. At this time Mrs. Bolton presented herself to the witness, introduced herself and then attacked her, tearing off many of her clothes and then kicking her in the abdomen. Mrs. Bolton at the time accused witness of going out with her husband. This the witness denied she had ever done. The witness had Mrs. Bolton placed under a peace bond, and Bolton soon afterward lost his position with the company because of the actions of his wife.

Marie Harned, married and the mother of a twenty-year-old-son, Charles, testified that she was acquainted with Bolton, having met him through a mutual friend in June, 1935. She had been in his company after that on social occasions and was not aware he was separated from his wife. She had been in Bolton’s office only once, and that time was the occasion of a reception on the opening of the partnership office. The record shows that Bolton was living in the VanBuren Hotel in June, 1936, and that the son of Mrs. Harned had Bolton’s permission to occupy the room. On June 10 Mrs. Harned went to the hotel to meet her son. As they were leaving the place, a woman, whom she afterward learned was Mrs. Bolton, followed them and annoyed her by stepping on her feet: The witness turned on the woman and asked her to disclose her identity, which she did and then accused the witness of seeing her husband, which was denied. Mrs. Bolton gave the witness a tongue-lashing, calling her a street-walker and other similar epithets. Charles thereupon slapped Mrs. Bolton, and he was arrested at her behest. Bail was furnished by Bolton, and upon trial Charles was fined $100 after Mrs. Bolton testified against him. This fine was later vacated, but this fact was not known to Mrs. Bolton, who felt certain that it would be paid by her husband. This trial was held on the morning of June 15, the same day Mrs. Bolton shot and killed her husband.

Andrea Houyoux, the secretary of the partners, testified to the following important matters which in point of time occurred prior to the shooting: Mrs. Bolton had admitted to her the breaking of glass in the office doors on two occasions, the last one being when she threw the tray at Schilts.

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5 N.E.2d 230, 365 Ill. 39, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/the-people-v-bolton-ill-1936.