Commonwealth v. Darling

• Citation: 129 Mass. 112
• Parties: Commonwealth v. Benjamin F. Darling
• Decision Date: 29 June 1880
• Court: United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts

129 Mass. 112

Commonwealth v. Benjamin F. Darling

Supreme Court of Massachusetts

June 29, 1880

Argued November 5, 1879

Essex. Indictment found at May term 1879 of the Superior Court for the county of Essex, containing nine paragraphs, the first three of which were as follows:

"The jurors for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, upon their oath present, that Albert R. Pemberton, late of Haverhill in said county of Essex, on the first day of February in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy-nine, and in the night-time of said day, at Haverhill, in the county of Essex aforesaid, the building of one George H. Nichols, James M. Nichols and George H. Leighton, situated in said Haverhill, the said building being then and there occupied by said George H. Nichols, James M. Nichols and George H Leighton as a shop, feloniously and burglariously did break and enter with intent then and there in said building feloniously and burglariously to commit the crime of larceny against the peace of the Commonwealth aforesaid, and contrary to the form of the statute in such case made and provided.

"And the jurors aforesaid, upon their oath aforesaid, do further present, that said Albert R. Pemberton, on the first day of February, in the year aforesaid, at said Haverhill, six dozen sheep roans, of the value of five dollars each dozen, and five hundred and sixty pairs of soles, of the value of ten cents each pair, of the goods and chattels of said George H Nichols, James M. Nichols and George H. Leighton, and then and there in the possession of said George H. Nichols, James M. and Leighton being found, in the building of said George H. Nichols, James M. and Leighton, in said Haverhill, then and there feloniously did steal, take and carry away in the building aforesaid, against the peace of the Commonwealth aforesaid, and contrary to the form of the statute in such case made and provided.

"And the jurors aforesaid, upon their oath aforesaid, do further present, that Warren R. Goodwin and Benjamin F. Darling afterwards, on the said first day of February in the year aforesaid, at said Haverhill, the goods and chattels aforesaid, so as aforesaid feloniously stolen, taken and carried away, feloniously did receive and have, and did then and there aid in the concealment of the same, the said Goodwin and Darling each then and there well knowing the said goods and chattels to have been feloniously stolen, taken and carried away, against the peace of the Commonwealth aforesaid and contrary to the form of the statute in such case made and provided."

The fourth, fifth and sixth paragraphs of the indictment were respectively like the first, second and third, except in laying the ownership and the possession of the building entered and of the goods stolen in Ira O. Sawyer and Arthur B. Priest. And the seventh, eighth and ninth paragraphs were similar, except in alleging such ownership and possession to have been in Charles O. McLean, and the offences to have been committed on March 1, 1879.

Pemberton pleaded guilty; and Darling, before the jury were empanelled moved to quash the indictment for the following reasons: "1st. ...