State v. Reed

Decision Date09 November 1893
Citation23 S.W. 886,117 Mo. 604
PartiesSTATE v. REED.
CourtMissouri Supreme Court

Appeal from criminal court, Jackson county; John W. Wofford, Judge.

Martin Reed was convicted of murder in the first degree, and appeals. Affirmed.

J. D. Wendorff, for appellant. R. F. Walker, Atty. Gen., Marcy K. Brown, Pros. Atty., and Morton Jourdan, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.

GANTT, P. J.

The defendant, Martin Reed, a negro man, was indicted on the 15th of November, 1890, by the grand jury of Jackson county, for the murder of his wife, Hester Reed, on the 16th of September, 1890, at her home, on Fourteenth street, in Kansas City. He has been twice convicted, under this indictment, of murder in the first degree. The trial judge, Hon. H. P. White, awarded him a new trial after the first conviction. The cause was continued, at the instance of the defendant, twice, before he was put upon his first trial, and was continued for him, for one cause and another, at the November term, 1891, the March term, 1892, and the November term, 1892. At the March term, 1893, he was awarded a change of venue from Kansas City to Independence. He was finally placed on his trial at the April term, 1893, and convicted of murder in the first degree, and sentenced to be hung. It is from this last verdict and sentence this appeal is prosecuted.

The testimony tends to prove a most heartless and atrocious murder. It shows that Hester Reed, the murdered woman, had been married to the defendant more than 25 years. During all these years, according to statements of defendant himself, and the uncontradicted evidence in the case, she had made him a most exemplary wife; had borne him a family of seven children; had aided in supporting him and herself; and had assisted in rearing and educating their large family of children. The testimony shows that, not long before the commission of the murder, the defendant had attempted to cut his wife's throat, and had only been prevented by the interference of a daughter who happened to be present; that he had beaten his wife, and driven her from her home and children, threatening to kill her if she returned; that he then, a short time after driving her from home, left home himself, and his wife, who had been sheltered by a kindly-disposed neighbor, then deemed it safe to return home to her children, and did so, and then applied for a divorce from defendant. When defendant heard of her application for divorce, he was greatly incensed, and threatened that, before she should have a divorce, he would kill her. The murder was committed on Tuesday, about noon. The Sunday before the murder, defendant, who was still staying away from home, went to the house where the wife and children lived; threatened and abused her. The next day, (Monday,) although still suffering from bodily injuries which she had received as the result of a brutal assault by him, the wife had gone out to do some washing to support her family; and, when she was away, defendant again came to the house, searching for her, still abusing and threatening her. On the forenoon of the next day, — it being Tuesday, the day on which the homicide was committed, — he came again to the house, and, finding her at home, renewed his abuse and threats. As soon as he left, that forenoon, the deceased, alarmed for her safety, taking one of their children — a son named Junius — with her, went to the justice of the peace to get out a warrant against defendant, to put him under bonds to keep the peace, returned, and arrived at her home about noon on this day. Defendant heard of this, and became greatly incensed thereat, and immediately went to the place where he had been sleeping, got the pistol with which the murder was committed, and went to the home of his family. The deceased, Hester Reed, had just returned from her mission to the justice of the peace. The rest of the family were down in the basement, eating their dinner. One daughter, almost grown, was away at school. Two of the children, the youngest, were playing in an adjoining room. Another one, Mary McHenry, — a married daughter, — had just left, taking her husband, who was at work, his dinner. The deceased was sitting in the front room, talking with a neighbor woman, Kate Moore, when defendant entered with his pistol in his hand, walked up to the deceased, addressed vile and abusive language to her, exclaiming: "You old bitch! You have served a writ. I will serve a writ on you, and serve it well," — drew the pistol down upon her, and seized hold of her. She struggled to escape from him, fell upon the floor, and then, while she was lying upon the floor, — upon her right side, — endeavoring to arise, defendant, standing back of and above her, in a line with her body, about four feet from her, fired two shots into her prostrate body, — one entering the left arm near the shoulder, ranging downward, and coming out between the elbow and forearm; the other shot — the fatal one — entering the back of her left shoulder, and...

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