Arnold v. State

• Decision Date: 09 May 1903
• Citation: 74 S.W. 513,71 Ark. 367
• Parties: ARNOLD v. STATE
• Court: Arkansas Supreme Court

74 S.W. 513

71 Ark. 367

ARNOLD v. STATE

Supreme Court of Arkansas

May 9, 1903

Appeal from Conway Circuit Court, WILLIAM L. MOOSE, Judge.

Reversed.

Reversed and remanded for new trial.

Reid & Bruce and Sellers & Sellers, for appellant.

A teacher's license is not the subject of forgery and uttering. Sand. & H. Dig. § 1593; 6 Am. & Eng. Enc. Law (2d ed.), 288; 87 Ga. 429, 431. The act charged was harmless. 13 Am. & Eng. Enc. Law (2d ed.) 1102. The court should have given written instructions. Const. art. 7, § 23; 47 Ark 410; 51 Ark. 184; 11 Am. & Eng. Enc. Law (2d. ed.), 261; 28 Ind. 394. Request made when the court began instructing was in time. 76 Ind. 374; 3 Bush, 532; 47 Conn. 75; 11 Fla. 295; 13 Fla. 648; 61 Ga. 407; 47 Ar. 410.

George W. Murphy, Attorney General, for appellee.

There was no error in the failure to reduce the instructions to writing in this case, and the irregularity was at most a harmless one. 51 Ark. 184; 47 Ark. 407; 29 Ark. 250.

OPINION

BATTLE, J.

The grand jury of Conway county indicted J. W. Arnold for uttering and publishing as true to W. D. Koonce, treasurer of said county, a certain forged and counterfeited teacher's license, purporting to be "issued to J. W. Arnold bearing date September 24, 1901, numbered 102, grade numbered, two, and signed by J. H. Reynolds, county examiner for Conway county, Arkansas," with the intent then and there to feloniously defraud, and obtain the property of, said W. D. Koonce, said Conway county, and School District No. 54 of said county, well knowing that the same was forged and counterfeited. He was convicted, and appealed.

The following witnesses testified, in behalf of the state, in part, as follows:

J. H. Reynolds testified: "I am county examiner of Conway county, Arkansas. In September, 1901, the defendant applied to me for examination and failed to pass. J. W. Swinger applied about the same time, passed the examination, and was granted license to teach, a second grade license. I issued the license to him on the 24th of September, 1901. It was numbered 102. A short time after that I received a letter purporting to be from Swinger, which is lost, saying that he had lost his license, and asking a duplicate. I issued the duplicate, giving the same date, name, grade and number as the original, J. W. Swinger, grade No. 2, No. 102, date September 24, 1901, and signed it officially, addressed it to Swinger and mailed it. Some time after this, the defendant came to my house, and said he understood that I had said he had no license to teach. I told him that was correct. He said he had a license, but did not know whether I wrote it or not, took it from his pocket and exhibited it to me. It bore the number 102, issued September 24, 1901, grade No. 2. It bore my signature as county examiner. I told him it bore the number of the one issued to Swinger, and asked him to explain how that was. He said he did not know, unless I had made a mistake. It was genuine, with erasure. The name Arnold had been written over the abrasion or erasure. I never issued a license to J. W. Arnold. I keep a record of all licenses issued. I informed the county treasurer that the defendant had no license to teach. All this, the examination of the defendant and the refusal of the license he asked, the examination and licensing of Swinger, the issuing of the duplicate and the conversation with the defendant, occurred in Conway county, Arkansas."

J. W. Swinger testified: "On the 24th of September, 1901, I was examined by J. H. Reynolds, county examiner of Conway county, and granted a second grade license to teach school. Reynolds, as examiner, issued it to me. It was numbered 102. Some time after the September examination, the defendant, J. W. Arnold, asked me, in Morrilton, to let him take my license and go into Pope or Perry county and have it countersigned, saying we would both then have work. I told him I could not do that. I understood that he had failed to pass the examination. He then asked me to let him examine my license, and I did so. He examined it for about five or ten minutes, I guess. About the last of September, he came to my school, and in the course of our conversation, I spoke of having heard of his being in the trouble. He said there was two ways out--pay out and run out. I at no time let him take and use my license. I only let him look at it. I never lost my license. I never at any time made application to Mr. Reynolds for a duplicate."

W. D. Koonce testified: "I am county treasurer of Conway county, Arkansas. I know the defendant. About the 1st of August, 1902, he came to my office with a school warrant, signed by the directors of school district No. 54, in Conway county, Arkansas. It was issued to W. H. Arnold. I told him that was not his name. He looked at it, said it was a mistake, and he would have it fixed. He took it, went out, came back with one of the directors, and erased the initials "W. H." and put in their stead "J. W." I then told him I could not pay it unless he would show me his license to teach. He said I had no authority to make that requirement. I told him I would do it anyhow. He said it would be impossible for him to get his license there that day. I told him next week would do, but that I would not pay the warrant until I saw the license. That evening he came back with the license and warrant. I then paid the warrant. I noticed it was a second grade license, signed by J. H. Reynolds as examiner. It looked like part of the name of the license had been erased. It looked like there had been an erasure, a name written and erased, and Arnold's name put in the place of it. The warrant was for forty dollars, which I paid. Later on defendant presented another warrant to me for payment, which I refused. This all occurred in Conway county, Arkansas. I never saw the license but one time. The last I saw of it, it was in possession of the defendant."

Other witnesses testified. After the close of the testimony the court instructed the jury orally as follows:

"Gentlemen of the jury, this is a prosecution for uttering a forged instrument. The writing alleged to have been uttered as forged was a school teacher's license, or certificate of qualifications, issued by the county examiner of this county. The original or genuine license is alleged to have been issued to one J. W. Swinger, and the state insists that the name Swinger has been erased, and the name Arnold substituted therefor, and that the defendant exhibited this license with the substituted name therein as his own license to teach, and thereby procured a contract to teach a public school in district No. 54 of this county; also that, by so exhibiting said license as forged, he procured a warrant from the directors of said district on the treasurer of said county for the sum of $ 40; and also that, by so exhibiting said license as forged, he procured said warrant to be paid by the county treasurer, W. D. Koonce."

After this preamble the appellant requested the court to reduce his instructions to writing before giving them to the jury, and the court refused to...