Caraway v. State

• Decision Date: 09 May 1922
• Docket Number: 4 Div. 755.
• Citation: 93 So. 334,18 Ala.App. 541
• Parties: CARAWAY v. STATE.
• Court: Alabama Court of Appeals

93 So. 334

18 Ala.App. 541

CARAWAY v. STATE.

4 Div. 755.

Court of Appeals of Alabama

May 9, 1922

Rehearing Denied May 30, 1922.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Covington County; A. B. Foster, Judge.

Henry Caraway was convicted of grand larceny, and he appeals. Affirmed.

Marcus J. Fletcher, of Andalusia, for appellant.

Harwell G. Davis, Atty. Gen., for the State.

SAMFORD J.

The first count of the indictment on which the defendant was convicted is as follows:

"The grand jury of said county charge that before the finding of this indictment Barney Stephens, Henry Caraway and John Caraway feloniously took and carried away from the smokehouse of A. Q. Spurlin two hams, of the value of, to wit, two dollars and fifty cents each, and three middlings of meat, of the value of, to wit, seven dollars and fifty cents the personal property of A. Q. Spurlin."

The evidence for the state tended to prove that the smokehouse was used for storing meat, and that the defendant was guilty as charged. The court, in its general charge, charged the jury as a part of the law in the case: It would be grand larceny if the theft of property was from the smokehouse of A. Q. Spurlin and the value was $5 or more. The point was raised in three different ways, but the foregoing will serve to illustrate the ruling of the court. The exceptions were properly taken. And this presents the question as to whether a smokehouse is a storehouse or warehouse, within the meaning of section 7324 of the Code of 1907.

According to the Century Dictionary, a smokehouse is a building in which meats or fish are cured by smoking; also one in which smoked meats are stored. Century Dictionary, 5719. This definition was approved in Wait v. State, 99 Ala 164, 13 So. 584, where it is added:

"The term in common parlance, we feel safe in saying embraces any outbuilding, appended to a dwelling, in which the family supply of meat is habitually kept and stored for use, and where meat may be smoked when necessary." Ford v. State, 112 Ind. 373, 14 N.E. 241.

In other jurisdictions, a storehouse has been defined to mean any house, not an office or shop or room on a boat, in which goods, wares, and merchandise are usually deposited for safe-keeping or for sale. Ray v. Comm., 75 Ky. (12 Bush) 397. A common use of it is to designate a building in which domestic supplies are kept at a place of residence. State v. Sandy, 25 N.C. 570. "A house in which things are...