Armstead v. State

• Decision Date: 23 October 1886
• Parties: ARMSTEAD <I>v.</I> STATE.<SMALL><SUP>1</SUP></SMALL>
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

2 S.W. 627

ARMSTEADv.

STATE.¹

Court of Appeals of Texas.

October 23, 1886.

Appeal from district court, Blanco county.

The indictment charged the appellant and Alexander Hardin jointly with the murder of Sandy Armstead, the husband of the defendant, on the third day of April, 1886. The defendant, being alone upon trial, was convicted in the first degree, and awarded a life term in the penitentiary.

The state's testimony discloses that the deceased was killed by being shot in the head while lying in his bed asleep; the fatal shot being fired through a hole in the wall of his house, against which wall the head of the bed was resting. The state's theory was that the shot was fired by Alexander Hardin in consummation of the conspiracy with the defendant to murder the deceased. It was shown, on the part of the state, that the domestic relations of the defendant and the deceased had not been altogether pleasant for some time prior to the killing, and that but recently, in the course of a violent quarrel with the deceased, the defendant said, looking at the deceased: "Some of you negroes will get your brains blown out if you don't quit fooling with me." One witness testified that, some 15 months before the killing, the defendant told the said witness that "if she would, she could have the deceased's brains blown out." The witness who testified to the statement made by defendant in the course of the quarrel shortly before the killing, named several parties as being present; but those parties, on being placed on the stand, by the defense, admitted their presence, but denied that defendant made the statement or threat imputed to her.

Emeline Armstead's testimony is a fair resume of the evidence for the state, showing the occurrences immediately preceding the murder. She testified, in substance, that she was the daughter of defendant and deceased, and, together with her younger brother and infant sister, lived with her parents in Blanco county. About 30 minutes before sundown on the fatal evening, defendant left home to go to a neighbor's house. About dusk, or a little before, deceased left his house to go to his field fence, 400 yards distant, to recover his lost pipe. Deceased was not yet out of sight when Alexander Hardin reached the house. He spoke to witness, saying: "Good evening, Lena. Here is a dollar for you and Monroe. Your father will be killed some of these nights, and you must say that I was not here, but that I left early." Deceased got back to the house just before dark, and the defendant about dark. Supper was prepared, and eaten by deceased and defendant; Hardin declining to join them. Some time after supper the deceased went to bed, leaving defendant and Hardin sitting by the fire talking, in the same room, about church affairs. Deceased was soon asleep and snoring. Witness' brother, Monroe, retired a short time after deceased got to sleep, and witness went to bed with Monroe shortly afterwards. Within 15 minutes after she lay down the witness went to sleep, leaving the defendant and Hardin still sitting by the fire, with their heads close together, talking. Some time — perhaps two or more hours — afterwards witness was awakened by the report of a gun. She found the room full of smoke, and defendant alone, screaming. Defendant said that somebody had shot the deceased. Deceased lay in his bed, dead. His head lay towards and near the wall, and in a direct line with a hole which, when the witness last observed it, was stopped with rags. The rags were found on the ground, outside, on the next morning, and the edges of the hole were powder-burned.

When Monroe Armstead, Lena's brother, was placed on the stand by the defense, he contradicted Lena in one respect. He testified that Hardin left the house before he and Lena retired, and that they retired at the same time.

The sheriff testified, for the state, that the upper edge of the hole through which the fatal shot was fired showed the indentation of a gun-hammer, into which the hammer of the defendant's gun fitted to a nicety, but which no other gun could be found to fit. He testified, further, that, a few days after the killing, he and others went with Alexander Hardin to a point near deceased's house indicated by Hardin, to find a certain cartridge hull, — the one, presumably, from which the fatal ball was fired. Hardin pointed to a certain place where the hull was found. This was the evidence involved in the first ruling.

No brief for appellant. Asst. Atty. Gen. Burts, for the State.

WHITE, P. J.

Alexander Hardin and appellant were jointly indicted for the murder of Sandy Armstead, who was the husband of this appellant. On the separate trial of this appellant, the prosecution, over the objection of the defendant, was allowed to prove that subsequent to the killing the co-defendant, Alexander Hardin, was taken by Deputy-sheriff Brannon to the neighborhood of the place of the killing, and that Hardin pointed out a place to the deputy, near the house of deceased, where the deputy sheriff found the hull of an empty gun cartridge which fitted Hardin's gun.

It is a general and a well-established rule of law that a man's...