State v. Wilson

• Citation: 172 Mo. 420,72 S.W. 696
• Parties: STATE v. WILSON.
• Decision Date: 04 March 1903
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Missouri

72 S.W. 696

172 Mo. 420

STATE v. WILSON.

Supreme Court of Missouri.

March 4, 1903.

HOMICIDE — INDICTMENT — SUFFICIENCY — EVIDENCE — CONFESSION TO OFFICER.

1. An indictment for murder alleging that "defendant, a certain pistol then and there charged with one leaden bullet * * * did discharge," etc., is not defective in omitting the word "with" before describing the pistol.

2. Evidence, in a prosecution for murder, showing that defendant, in company with two others, purchased a pistol and cartridges, and went into deceased's saloon, and ordered drinks, and that, while one of defendant's companions reached over the bar to seize the cash tray, defendant shot and killed deceased, is sufficient to sustain a verdict of murder in the first degree.

3. The fact that a confession of murder was obtained from defendant by an artifice of the officer who arrested him, in telling him that his accomplice had been arrested and had told all about the crime, does not render the confession inadmissible in a prosecution for the murder.

In Banc. Appeal from Circuit Court, St. Louis County; H. D. Wood, Judge.

Henry Wilson was convicted of murder in the first degree, and appeals. Affirmed.

The defendant, a negro man, was indicted, with two other negroes, at the October term, 1900, of the circuit court of the city of St. Louis, for murder in the first degree. The indictment is in two counts, and, as its sufficiency is challenged, it is deemed best to insert it in full, as follows:

"The grand jurors of the state of Missouri, within and for the body of the city of St. Louis, now here in court, duly impaneled, sworn and charged, upon their oath present that Henry Wilson, Ben McGowan, and `Fate' (whose true name is to the grand jurors unknown), on the twenty-third day of June, one thousand nine hundred, at the city of St. Louis aforesaid, with force and arms in and upon one Thomas Mooney, in the peace of the state then and there being, feloniously, willfully, deliberately, premeditatedly, and of their malice aforethought, did make an assault; and that the said Henry Wilson, a certain pistol then and there charged with gunpowder and one leaden bullet, then and there feloniously, willfully, deliberately, premeditatedly, and of his malice aforethought, did discharge and shoot off at, against, and upon the said Thomas Mooney; and that the said Henry Wilson, with the leaden bullet aforesaid, out of the pistol aforesaid, then and there by the force of the gunpowder aforesaid by the said Henry Wilson discharged and shot off as aforesaid then and there feloniously, willfully, deliberately, premeditatedly, and of his malice aforethought, did strike, penetrate, and wound the said Thomas Mooney in and upon the body of the said Thomas Mooney, then and there feloniously, willfully, deliberately, premeditatedly, and of his malice aforethought, giving to the said Thomas Mooney, with the leaden bullet aforesaid, so as aforesaid discharged and shot out of the pistol aforesaid by the said Henry Wilson, in and upon the body of the said Thomas Mooney, one mortal wound, of the depth of six inches, and of the breadth of half an inch; of which said mortal wound the said Thomas Mooney then and there did languish, and languishing did live, from the said twenty-third day of June in the year one thousand nine hundred, until the twenty-fourth day of June in the year one thousand nine hundred; on which said twenty-fourth day of June, in the year one thousand nine hundred, the said Thomas Mooney, of the mortal wound aforesaid, at the city of St. Louis, did die; and that the said Ben McGowan and `Fate' (whose true name is to these grand jurors unknown), at the said city of St. Louis, on the said twenty-third day of June, in the year one thousand nine hundred, were then and there feloniously, willfully, deliberately, premeditatedly, and of their malice aforethought, present, aiding and abutting, advising and counseling, assisting and procuring the said Henry Wilson, the offense and felony aforesaid to do and commit. And so the grand jurors aforesaid, upon their oath aforesaid, do say that the said Henry Wilson, Ben McGowan, and `Fate' (whose true name is to these grand jurors unknown) the said Thomas Mooney in the manner and form and by the means aforesaid, feloniously, willfully, deliberately, premeditatedly, and of their malice aforethought, did kill and murder; contrary to the form of the statute in such case made and provided, and against the peace and dignity of the state. And the grand jurors aforesaid, upon their oath aforesaid, do further present: That Henry Wilson, Ben McGowan, and `Fate' (whose true name is to these grand jurors unknown), on the twenty-third day of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred, at the city of St. Louis aforesaid, with force and arms in and upon one Thomas Mooney, in the peace of the state then and there being, feloniously, willfully, deliberately, premeditatedly, and of their malice aforethought, did make an assault; and that the said Henry Wilson, Ben McGowan and `Fate' (whose true name is to these grand jurors unknown) a certain pistol then and there charged with gunpowder and one leaden bullet then and there feloniously, willfully, deliberately, premeditatedly, and of their malice aforethought, did discharge and shoot off at, against, and upon the said Thomas Mooney; and that the said Henry Wilson, Ben McGowan, and `Fate' (whose true name is to these grand jurors unknown), with the leaden bullet aforesaid, out of the pistol aforesaid, then and there by the force of the gunpowder aforesaid, by the said Henry Wilson, Ben McGowan, and `Fate' (whose true name is to these grand jurors unknown) discharged and shot off as aforesaid then and there feloniously, willfully, deliberately, premeditatedly, and of their malice aforethought, did strike, penetrate and wound the said Thomas Mooney in and upon the body of the said Thomas Mooney, then and there feloniously, willfully, deliberately, premeditatedly, and of their malice aforethought, giving to their said Thomas Mooney, with the leaden bullet aforesaid, so as aforesaid discharged and shot out of the pistol aforesaid by the said Henry Wilson, Ben McGowan, and `Fate' (whose true name is to these grand jurors unknown) in and upon the body of the said Thomas Mooney one mortal wound, of the depth of six inches and of the breadth of half an inch; of which said mortal wound the said Thomas Mooney then and there did languish, and languishing did live, from the said twenty-third day of June, in the year one thousand nine hundred until the twenty-fourth day of June, in the year one thousand nine hundred; on which said twenty-fourth day of June, in the...