Commonwealth v. Dill

Citation30 N.E. 1016,156 Mass. 226
PartiesCOMMONWEALTH v. DILL et al.
Decision Date06 May 1892
CourtUnited States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts
COUNSEL

Chas.

N Harris, for the Commonwealth.

P Henry Hutchinson, for defendants.

OPINION

HOLMES, J.

The defendants were indicted for adultery, and also for lewd and lascivious cohabitation, and were found guilty of the latter offense. Pub.St. c. 207, § 6. The case is here on exceptions. The first question is whether there was any evidence warranting a conviction of the defendant Dill. There was evidence tending to show the following facts: The defendant Higgins was engaged by Dill as his housekeeper, and had a son born after she had been with him in Wellfleet about a year. Dill continued to keep her, and she had another child born at Boston, during a temporary absence, in a house taken by Dill's sister-in-law. Dill came to the house, and was there when the child was born, and paid part of the expenses connected with the birth. The child was given to the sister-in-law, and lived only a short time. Whether the house was hired for permanent residence was disputed. The alleged husband of the defendant Higgins testified, without objection, that he was not the father of these two children, and that he had not lived with his wife since a time before she went to Dill's. An overseer of the poor of Wellfleet asked Dill if he would give a bond for the support of these two children, when the last was expected. Dill answered that he would pay for all children born in his house; that he would not give any bonds, and did not know anything about a child going to be born under his roof. He made no answer when another overseer suggested that the proper way to end the affair was for her to get a divorce, and for the two to get married; or when a witness said, concerning the son, "That child looks like you." On this evidence we do not see what more the defendant could ask for than leave to persuade the jury, if he could, not to draw the natural inferences. The evidence tended to show cohabitation, the practice of fornication or adultery, and so much publicity and evil example as to lead to a visit from the overseers of the poor on the complaint of the judge of probate for the county, who happened to live in Wellfleet.

The defendants, while relying upon the suggestion that the two children were begotten by the husband of the defendant Higgins, saved exceptions to his being allowed to testify that he was married to her, and where, on the ground that the record should be produced. It is true that the record by statute is presumptive evidence of the marriage, (Pub.St. c 145, § 29;) but the record of a marriage is not like the record of a divorce or other judgment or...

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10 cases
  • Imboden v. St. Louis Union Trust Company
    • United States
    • Court of Appeal of Missouri (US)
    • 21 Febrero 1905
    ...Greenawalt v. McEnelley, 85 Pa. St. 352; Ingersol v. McWillie, 9 Texas Civ. App. 543; Lorimer v. Lorimer (Mich.), 83 N.W. 609; Commonwealth v. Dill, 156 Mass. 226; Commonwealth v. Hayden, 163 Mass. 453 (47 Am. Rep. 468); Bailey v. State, 36 Neb. 808; Bissell v. Bissell, 55 Barb. (N. Y.) 325......
  • Vollmer v. Stregge
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of North Dakota
    • 9 Mayo 1914
    ...v. Rood, 12 Vt. 396; Jacobsen v. Siddal, 12 Ore. 280, 53 Am. Rep. 360, 7 P. 108; Bailey v. State, 36 Neb. 808, 55 N.W. 241; Com. v. Dill, 156 Mass. 226, 30 N.E. 1016; v. Hayden, 163 Mass. 453, 28 L.R.A. 318, 47 Am. St. Rep. 468, 40 N.E. 846, 9 Am. Crim. Rep. 408; State v. Nadal, 69 Iowa 478......
  • Weidenhoft v. Primm
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of Wyoming
    • 9 Marzo 1908
    ...106 Ill.App. 140; Jennings v. Webb, 8 App. Cas. (D. C.), 43.) And by one of the parties thereto. (In re Richards, 133 Cal. 524; Com. v. Dill, 156 Mass. 226; Leighton Sheldon, 16 Minn. 243.) In the absence of any positive provision declaring that all marriages not celebrated in the manner pr......
  • In re Derinza
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts
    • 4 Marzo 1918
    ...of her marriage with the decedent and to the birth of their three children and their ages. Her testimony was competent. Com. v. Dill, 156 Mass. 226, 30 N. E. 1016. It was uncontradicted and there is nothing in the record to throw any shadow upon its truthfulness. It was in other respects be......
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