State v. Wood

• Citation: 285 S.W. 737
• Decision Date: 25 June 1926
• Docket Number: 26991
• Parties: STATE v. WOOD
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Missouri

285 S.W. 737

STATE v. WOOD

No. 26991

Supreme Court of Missouri, Second Division

June 25, 1926

North T. Gentry, Atty. Gen., and Claud Curtis, Sp. Asst. Atty Gen., for the State.

OPINION

HIGBEE, C.

An information was filed on September 5, 1925, charging the appellant with the crime of robbery in the first degree. He was tried to a jury, found guilty, and his punishment assessed at imprisonment in the penitentiary for a term of five years. From a sentence in accordance with the verdict the defendant appealed.

The information charges, in substance, that the defendant, on May 5, 1925, assaulted Nell Snow, assistant cashier and in charge of the First National Bank of Stewartsville, in De Kalb county, and by force and violence, and against the will of Nell Snow, by putting her in fear of immediate injury to her person, feloniously did rob, steal, take, and carry away $ 3,879.08 lawful money, the property of said bank.

It was admitted that the First National Bank of Stewartsville was duly incorporated and doing business in the town of Stewartsville. Miss Nell Snow had been employed as assistant cashier of the bank for about 15 years on and prior to May 5 1925, and it was the custom of her father, the cashier, and other employees to leave her in sole charge of the bank during lunchtime. About noon on May 5, 1925, while all other employees of the bank were at lunch, Glen Glick and Ed Ettinger, strangers to Miss Snow, entered the bank. One of them drew a gun, and ordered her to lie down. The other took all the money in sight. She was then ordered to go into the vault. The second man entered the vault with her, and took all the money in the safe. The two robbers then left in a Chrysler roadster car, in which they had driven to the bank taking with them $ 3,879.08, which they had stolen from the bank. They drove on the Mitchell Avenue road, and left the car in a field behind a straw stack near the Platte river bridge, five or six miles from St. Joseph. Early in the afternoon of that day the sheriff of Buchanan county, with several deputies, and a posse from Stewartsville, found Glick and Ettinger hiding in a drainage ditch about a mile west of this bridge. Glick surrendered, and told the officers where they had hidden the money, but Ettinger shot and killed himself. The money was found where Glick said it was concealed. We quote from the statement of the Attorney General:

'The defendant Wood was not physically present at the scene of the robbery. The evidence tends, however, to show that he was an accomplice. One state witness, who was a fellow workman of defendant in the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad shops, testified that about a week prior to the robbery defendant remarked that he would lend the witness some money, for he expected to have considerable in a short time.

'Glen Glick's testimony relative to the implication of defendant in the crime was substantially as follows: He had worked with the defendant at the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy shops, and was well acquainted with him and his wife. He also knew Ed Ettinger, who worked at the shops. He had more than one conversation with defendant about robbing the bank of Stewartsville. In the latter part of April, 1925, when Ettinger, Mrs. Wood, the defendant, and the witness were at Wood's home, they talked about robbing the bank of Stewartsville. Defendant told them about the custom of the employees relative to the time of day when only one was left at the bank. He said it would be easy to rob the bank at noontime, and that, if he were not known so well around Stewartsville, he would do it himself, and not ask anybody else to do it. He also said that he had the plans all made out to rob the bank, and that he would work at the Burlington shops and send his wife out in their Ford car on the Mitchell Avenue road to meet them after they had gotten the money. They were to meet her and go to St. Joseph, Mo. If for any reason they failed to meet her, they were to make marks with chalk on the Platte river bridge to indicate that they were close by. On the night preceding the robbery Glick and Ettinger stayed all night with the defendant, and everything was planned, including the furnishing of the pistols by the defendant, for them to rob the bank the next day. The defendant drove them out to his father's house in his Ford car on the morning of May 5th, arriving there about 5:30. They took a Chrysler roadster, which they got at defendant's father's house, and drove to a place near Stewartsville, where they waited until about 12 o'clock, at which time they robbed the bank. After they committed the robbery, they took the Chrysler and drove into a field by a straw stack near the Platte river bridge. They waited some time for Mrs. Wood, and, when she did not appear, they walked across a field about a mile from the Platte river bridge. They were there in a drainage ditch, when they were pursued by officers. The witness surrendered, but Ettinger committed suicide before he was captured. The money taken from the bank was hidden in a little ditch a short ways from the Platte river bridge. The guns taken off of Glick and Ettinger were shown to be those owned by the defendant, Wood, and had been seen in his possession a short time before the robbery.

'The evidence in the case showing corroborating circumstances to support Glick's testimony was as follows:

'(1) The robbery of the bank at the noon hour, while all of the employees except one were away.

'(2) The guns taken off of Glick and Ettinger were identified as...