Williams v. United States

69 S.W. 849, 4 Indian Terr. 204, 1902 Indian Terr. LEXIS 22
Court Of Appeals Of Indian Territory·Decided September 25, 1902·Published·Cited by 4 cases

Opinion

Gill, C. J.

There seems to be no complete report of the evidence in the case, but in the bill of exceptions seems to be the substance of the testimony, which is as follows: “That, when the first witness for the government was called, the defendant objected to the introduction of any evidence under said information upon the ground that the information was not signed by the prosecuting attorney at the time of filing same, nor any other person authorized to sign informations, and was not signed at all until after the jury had been sworn in this cause, and the district attorney signed it after stating his case to the jury, and that it was not a valid information; which objection was overruled by the court, and exceptions saved by the defendant. That the evidence produced on behalf of the government was as follows: ‘That on the night of the 26th day of October, 1901, Mr. J. F, Sutterfield, of Calvin, Indian Territory, who runs a general merchandise store, heard a noise at the back door of [206]*206his store, which sounded like some one trying to break the lock or pry open the door, and suddenly pulled it open, and saw two forms dart around the corner of the store; that he went'for help, and he and two or three other men returned to the rear of his store and as it had rained slightly that day, they could see tracks, and followed them down to the water tank of the Choctaw, Oklahoma & Gulf Railroad, where these boys, Charles Williams and Harry Woods, the defendants in this cause, were arrested, or taken by the pursuing parties; that there were tracks similar to the ones made in the soft ground behind the store of J. F. Sutterfield in the rear of a drug store, and from the appearances seemed to indicate that the drug store was attempted to have been broken into,- — to which testimony defendant objected. Objection overruled by the court, and exceptions saved. That one of the defendants in this cause was on top of the tank and the other was on the ground under the tank when taken. That one of the defendants — Harry Woods, the one on top of the tank — stated that he threw a pistol into the tank, and that they found about seven or eight cigars floating on the water in the tank. That the brand of cigars taken from the box car were ‘Happy Bill/ and the partj.es who took the cigars off the person of the defendants called them ‘Happy Bill’ cigars, and they believed they were. That the number of cigars taken from off the person of defendants were in number about fifteen or twenty, and that the witnesses thought the cigars -found in the tank were the same kind as those found on the defendants. The agent of the Choctaw, Oklahoma & Gulf Railroad at Calvin stated that he sealed the ear which contained the articles defendants are charged with larceny of about three o’clock in the afternoon of Saturday, the 26th day of October, 1901, and did not discover, or did any one else discover, it had been broken into until the following Monday. That a blacksmith shop was broken into, and a file and cold chisel taken, — which testimony was objected to by defendants, which was overruled, and ex[207]*207ceptions^saved. That the government then rested, and the defendants testified as follows: That-they were on'their way from Shawnee, to try to secure work on the M., K. & T. Ry. fencing gang, where one of them had formerly been employed, and were stealing their rides on freight trains, and as they got to Holdenville they were put off the train by a brakeman. While in Holdenville, they won quite a number of cigars on a wheel of fortune. That afternoon — which was Saturday, the 26th day of October, 1901 — they got on a freight train, and rode as far as Calvin, where they were again put off, and as it grew dark they got into an empty box car to stay that night, or until another freight train came through. That night, about eleven or twelve o'clock, one of the defendants was awakened by a train, and he woke the other, telling him to hurry so they could catch it; but on getting to the door of the car they saw the train was going west, and the}^ wanted to go east. One of the defendants then suggested that they go down the track a' short distance to a water tank and get a drink, as they might not get a chance for another drink, after they were on the next train, for some time. The defendants then went down to the tank, and after one of them had been up on the tank and got a drink, and while the other was up on the top and getting a drink, the men came and took them. While the^second one was on the tank getting a drink, and as he leaned over the top of the tank some cigars, about four in number, fell out of his pocket into the tank, and these cigars were found by the men. That he threw his gun into the tank when the men ran up to the tank for fear he might be arrested for carrying R. That they h’ad about ten cigars between them. That they didjiot break into any box or take any article from any car. The government then introduced the following testimony: That one of the men in the pursuing' party saw one of the defendants — Charles Williams — make a motion, which indicated that hejvas^taking something out of his pockets and putting it behind||hisfback.^That the defendant was then sitting [208]*208down, his back against the tank. That he thought the defendant was hiding something, and he became suspicious, but, instead of looking then, he went off with the party, and when they had gone about one hundred and fifty yards from the tank he returned, and found some cigars where defendant had been sitting. That one of the defendants, — Charles Williams, — besides having the cigars, also had two pistols on his person. That on or about the Í5th day of December, 1901, the defendants filed an application for witness, alleging that he was a material witness, without whom they could not safely go to trial, and by whom they could prove they won the cigars from a wheel of fortune in Holdenville, Indian Territory; whereas the government alleges that the cigars were stolen from a box car. That the court refused to allow the application for witness.”

An examination of this evidence does not in any way connect the defendants with the burglary of the car. The only circumstances that appear against the defendants were that they had quite a number of cigars. There is no evidence, except the belief of some of the witnesses, that they were “Happy Bill” cigars, and the further circumstance that some cigars were found at a point where one of the defendants was sitting. The defendants explained their possession of these cigars, and they had asked the government to be allowed to subpoena witnesses to prove how they obtained the cigars. There is no proof of ownership of the cigars that were found in their possession. There is no proof That the cigars found in their possession were the property of any particular person, or taken against the consent of that person. And we do not think that the verdict of the jury was warranted in this case on the evidence, and a new trial ought to have been granted upon this account alone; but there are a number of questions involved in this case that we deem necessary to examine and ought to decide.

The defendants moved the court below for an arrest of judgment, — -First, because the defendants were tried for an [209]*209infamous crime, to wit, larceny, without any indictment having-been first presented against them by a grand jur}'- as required by law. The defendants had been regularly indicted for burglary before a grand jury, and were in court in answer to that indictment.

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Williams v. United States, 69 S.W. 849, 4 Indian Terr. 204, 1902 Indian Terr. LEXIS 22 (Conn. 1902).

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