Owens v. State

• Citation: 83 Wis. 496,53 N.W. 736
• Parties: OWENS v. STATE.
• Decision Date: 15 November 1892
• Court: Wisconsin Supreme Court

83 Wis. 496

53 N.W. 736

OWENS

v.STATE.

Supreme Court of Wisconsin.

Nov. 15, 1892.

Error to circuit court, Chippewa county; E. B. BUNDY, Judge.

Henry L. Owens was convicted of the crime of obtaining money under false pretenses, and he brings error. Reversed.Charles N. Gregory, for plaintiff in error.

J. L. O'Connor, Atty. Gen., and J. M. Clancey, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.

ORTON, J.

The plaintiff in error was tried, convicted, and sentenced under an information that charges that the said Henry L. Owens “did, unlawfully,” etc., “falsely pretend to L. M. Newman that he, the said Henry L. Owens, was then the owner of an interest in a large cattle ranch in Wyoming, and of about two thousand (2,000) head of cattle; and that he, the said Henry L. Owens, was then engaged in raising horses for sale, and was the owner of a car load of horses which he had for sale in Eau Claire, Wis.; and that he, the said Henry L. Owens, was then worth between forty thousand and fifty thousand dollars in money and property; and that he, the said Henry L. Owens, had then a large amount of money on deposit to meet his checks in the First National Bank of Creighton, Neb.; and the said Henry L. Owens did then and there offer and deliver to said L. M. Newman his, the said Henry L. Owens', check for four hundred (400) dollars on the said First National Bank of Creighton, Neb., in writing, signed by him, the said Henry L. Owens; that the said L. M. Newman believed all of said pretenses to be true; and by means of said pretenses, and each and all of the same, the said L. M. Newman was induced to part with, and the said Henry L. Owens did then and there feloniously, knowingly, and designedly obtain from said L. M. Newman, four hundred (400) dollars, lawful money of the United States, of the value of four hundred dollars, the money and property of the First National Bank of Chippewa Falls, a national bank duly organized and existing in said Chippewa Falls, said money so obtained being then and there in the possession of the said L. M. Newman, and that said pretenses were so made, and said money was so obtained by the said Henry L. Owens, with intent to then and there defraud.” On the verdict of guilty, the counsel of the plaintiff in error made a motion in arrest of judgment, and also a motion for a new trial, and said motions were denied, and exceptions were duly taken. The contention of the learned counsel of the plaintiff in error is that the information is insufficient to charge the defendant with the crime described in the statute, in this, and because it fails to state any connection between L. M. Newman, to whom the false pretenses were made, and the bank, the owner of the money obtained by such false pretenses. The only connection L. M. Newman had with the money or the bank is that he had the naked possession of the money belonging to the bank. The crime is defined in section 4423, Rev. St., and consists in obtaining the money or property of another by false pretenses. It must be obtained from the owner by the false pretenses. The information does not show that the bank ever...