Beck v. The State Of Ga.

• Decision Date: 31 March 1886
• Parties: Beck. vs. The State of Georgia.
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court

76 Ga. 452

Beck. vs. The State of Georgia.

Supreme Court of the State of Georgia

MARCH TERM, 1886.

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Criminal Law. Insanity. Drunkenness. Evidence. Res Gestae. Charge of Court. Malice. Before Judge Estes. Rabun Superior Court. September Term, 1885.

Eugene W. Beck was indicted for the murder of his wife, Ella Beck. He pleaded not guilty. On the trial, the evidence for the state was in, brief, as follows:

On October 28, 1884, Beck went to the jail, and while there, talked to the town marshal about some hogs belonging to one Wall that kept getting into his lot. He stated also that the dogs kept getting into his kitchen, and asked the marshal to lend him his pistol, saying that he wanted to shoot some of the dogs. The marshal said he did not want to lend his pistol, that he might need it. Beck stated that the marshal could lend it to him for that night, and this was done. The marshal testified that, about a week or ten days (or perhaps two or three weeks or a month) before the shooting, there had been dogs around Beck's place; that Beck borrowed his pistol to shoot them; that the marshal heard a shot in the yard, and Beck said he had shot a dog; and that he returned the pistol the next day; that when Beck borrowed the pistol the last time, the marshal thought him sober; that he had been drinking " right smart" for a month or so—kept pretty tight all the time—that is, drinking every day; that he did not see Beck drink, but knew he was drinking; that there never was anything particularly wrong about him that the witness could see, and he did not know anything to the contrary of Beck's transacting his business as any other business man would; that he talked pretty sensibly about the Wall difficulty, his conversation being connected, as witness thought; that whenhe talked about dogs, his conversation was connected and sensible; that the witness saw nothing irrational about him and thought him perfectly sane; that he was getting considerably sobered up and all right, and the witness would not have loaned him the pistol if he had not thought so; and that the impression on the witness's mind when Beck was talking about the Wall difficulty was that he believed the witness had some charge against him, but such was not the case, witness being after other parties concerned in it. That night, Beck sat in his wife's room and talked to her for some two hours about his mother's having shot at a lady; nothing else was talked of. Miss Bailey, the sister of Mrs. Beck, was then in the parlor talking to a young man. Beck's wife told him to go to bed. He said no, that he was going to the jail to see the marshal. He then sat down, pulled off his boots, lay on the bed " and went to sleep, or pretended to be asleep; he was snoring; his coat was off, " (as stated by a servant in the house who was a witness). Shortly after he retired, he waked up and said, " I wish you would not do so much talking, " and then went to sleep again, " or looked like he was asleep." Mrs. Beck made no reply, but worked on for a while; then undressed, said her prayers and went to bed. In about ten or fifteen minutes after Mrs. Beck retired, Miss Bailey came in. She went to bed with her sister, the defendant being on her bed. She said, " Brother Gene (the defendant) is not asleep; he is looking at me." About fifteen or twenty minutes afterwards, Beck got up, put on his coat and boots, walked to the lamp, which was near the bed where the two women were, and turned it down. Mrs. Beck said, " Please, Eugene, turn up the lamp." He turned the lamp so high, " it looked like the house was afire;" then jumped on the bed, held his wife down, and shot her through the head, killing her. He then turned to shoot the servant, who had lain down, but had not gone to sleep, and who ran out of the door, but the pistol snapped. He then held the cover with his left hand; andwith his right shot Miss Bailey, her head being under th cover, the ball entering her back and coming out at he breast, causing death. He then ran out of the door jumped off the piazza, and went to the jail. He ran into the room where the marshal was and said, " Captain, they have run in on me, and I have shot two of them." The marshal told Beck to give him the pistol, which the latter did. He said, " Don't let them hurt me." Hearing continued screaming, the marshal went out and learned that Beck had killed his wife and sister-in-law. Returning, he said to Beck, " Gene, you have killed your wife and sister-in-law." Beck replied, " Well, I have killed the best friend I have got." In about fifteen minutes, the sheriff came and locked him up. He did not resist. He had a little half-pint bottle about half full of whiskey. The servant testified that the defendant talked sensibly the night of the shooting; that she never heard any fuss between the husband and wife; that the latter taught school all summer, and he worked on the turnpike a part of the time; that she was a good woman and " easy to get along with;" that about a month before the shooting, she told her husband that if he did not quit drinking, she was going home to stay with her father until he did quit, to which he made no reply; that Mrs. Beck and her sister had not packed their trunks preparatory to leaving; " there wasn't a thing packed until that night that they was both lying there corpses."

The servant stated also that, at the time of the homicide, " he put on all his clothes, ready to run out, before he done anything at all." Another witness, a doctor, testified that, about ten days or two weeks before the shooting, Beck told him about some dogs that had been bothering him, having got into his kitchen; that the witness let him have some strychnine for the purpose of poisoning them; that after the homicide, he was present on the night of October 30, at a conversation between Dr. Bailey and Beck. The former asked the latter what was his motivefor killing his wife, and he replied that he did not know; that ho had the tremens.

The state closed, and the defendant introduced testimony, in brief, as follows:

Beck's father and mother were married in 1843, and he was born in 1850. She was a " high-strung " woman and did some unusual acts. On one occasion, a man was cutting down a tree, which she claimed belonged to her husband; she went in between him and the tree and told him not to strike another blow; her husband was notified and carried her to the house; this was in 1845. At another time the same man, who was cutting the tree, went to their house, and was playing cards in her room until late in the night, with her husband and another who claimed the land where the tree stood. She wanted her husband to go to bed, and threatened to burn the house if he did not do so. At another time, she shot at another woman who was with her husband. Beck's father was a drinking man, and had been " bad after women, " but the witnesses did not know that his wife was jealous. On still another occasion, when Beck was from seven to nine years old, his mother and he were seen by the driver of a wagon on the highway, about twelve miles from Clayton, going in the direction of Clarkesville. She asked to be allowed to ride, which was granted, but her husband came up and took them back towards Clayton. The woman who was shot at and the owner of the tree testified that they believed Mrs. Beck to be crazy. A witness testified that a cousin of the defendant had been adjudged insane and sent to the asylum. Another first cousin of the defendant would get on sprees, and after them would act strangely; on one occasion, after he had been drinking, he stuck a knife in his throat, and bystanders had to hold him to take it out. A witness for the defendant (Turpin) testified that he had known Beck for a long time; on the afternoon of the day of the killing, about two o'clock, he thought the defendant's conduct strange; his eye wasbright and seemed to sparkle, and he was nervous, appearing to be unable to control the motion of his head and hands; his conversation was not connected, and " it seemed like his mind was wandering;" from these appearances, the witness did not think his mind was all right during their conversation.

Another witness for the defendant (D. S. Duncan) testified that he had known the defendant a long time; that he had been drinking heavily for thirty-five or forty days before the homicide, but was not "keeping it up" that day; that he bought a quart of whiskey and went to play cards with the witness (who said he wanted to keep the defendant from getting more whiskey); that the defendant put his bottle in his pocket, and the witness did not know what became of it, except that the witness took two drinks of it, and they went up to the game of cards with a little half pint bottle full; that the defendant was more sober than the witness had seen him for a long time, but was nervous, and his eye seemed a little bright, looking differently from what it usually did when drunk; that generally he was a good euchre player, but that day he agreed to everything the witness said, could not keep count, and lost every game.

Dave Duncan, another witness for the defendant, and father of the preceding witness, testified that he had long known the defendant; that the latter had been drinking heavily for several weeks; that after the game of cards, the defendant stopped and they chatted for several minutes about their former sprees and about girls; that the defendant said he saw " buggers " night and day, and looked wild.

J. L. Led better (a witness for the defendant) testified that when the defendant came to the jail, he asked to be killed with an ax; that he made no attempt to get away; that he asked to be locked up; an 1 that, when the marshal stated that he had shot his wife and sister-in-law, he said: " I reckon it is not possible I have shot my wife;if I have, I have shot the best friend I ever had in ray life;" and that he then turned over on the bed and...