Commonwealth v. Harris
| Decision Date | 14 April 1919 |
| Parties | COMMONWEALTH v. HARRIS et al. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Exceptions from Superior Court, Middlesex County; Christopher T. Callahan, Judge.
Samuel C. Harris was convicted of conspiracy to receive stolen automobiles, and he excepts. Exceptions overruled.
See, also, 231 Mass. 584, 121 N. E. 409.
The indictment on which defendant was convicted was as follows: Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Middlesex, to wit:
At the superior court, begun and holden at Cambridge, within and for the county of Middlesex, on the first Monday of January in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and eighteen.
The jurors for the commonwealth of Massachusetts on their oath present that Samuel C. Harris and James E. Trask, between the first day of December in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and fourteen and the first day of October in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and seventeen, at Newton in the county of Middlesex aforesaid, did conspire together to commit thereafter from time to time and on different occasions as opportunity therefor should offer, and not at any times then particularly set and fixed, the crime of stealing automobiles, each of the value of more than one hundred dollars, the property of persons unknown to said Samuel C. Harris and James E. Trask at the time of such conspiracy.
Against the peace of said commonwealth, and contrary to the form of the statute in such case made and provided.
Second Count. And the jurors aforesaid, for the commonwealth of Massachusetts on their oath aforesaid, do further present that Samuel C. Harris and James E. Trask, between the first day of December in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and fourteen and the first day of October in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and seventeen at Newton, in the county of Middlesex aforesaid, did conspire together to commit thereafter from time to time and on different occasions as opportunity therefor should offer, and not at any times then particularly set and fixed, the crime of buying, receiving or aiding in the concealment of stolen property, to wit, automobiles, which might at the time of such conspiracy have been already stolen or which might thereafter be stolen from persons not then known to said Samuel C. Harris and James E. Trask, but all of which automobiles the said Samuel C. Harris and James E. Trask then knew, or thereafter and before such buying, receiving or aiding in the concealment of such stolen property should have been accomplished, should come to know had been stolen, such crime of so buying, receiving or aiding in the concealment of property, known at the time of such buying, receiving or aiding in the concealment thereof to the persons so buying, receiving or aiding in the concealment thereof to have been stolen, being when accomplished a violation of the provisions of section 51 of chapter 208 of the Revised Laws of said commonwealth and punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for not more than five years or by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars and imprisonment in jail for not more than two years.
Against the peace of said commonwealth, and contrary to the form of the statute in such case made and provided.
Third Count. And the jurors aforesaid, for the commonwealth of Massachusetts on their oath aforesaid, do further present that Samuel C. Harris and James E. Trask, between the first day of December in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and fourteen and the first day of October in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and seventeen at Newton, in the county of Middlesex aforesaid, did conspire together to commit thereafter from time to time and on different occasions as opportunity therefor should offer and not at any times then particularly set and fixed, the crime of being accessories before the fact in the commission of felonies by counselling, hiring or otherwise procuring felonies, to wit, the stealing of automobiles, each of the value of more than one hundred dollars, to be committed by persons other than said Samuel C. Harris and James E. Trask and not then particularly known to or designated by them, such automobiles being the property of persons not then known to said Samuel C. Harris and James E. Trask, and the said felonies not having been then committed, said crime of being accessories before the fact in the commission of felonies being itself a felony.
Against the peace of said commonwealth, and contrary to the form of the statute in such case made and provided.
Fourth Count. And the jurors aforesaid, for the commonwealth of Massachusetts on their oath aforesaid, do further present that Samuel C. Harris and James E. Trask, between the first day of December in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and fourteen and the first day of October in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and seventeen at Newton, in the county of Middlesex aforesaid, did conspire together to commit thereafter from time to time and on different occasions as opportunity therefor should offer, and not at any time then particularly set and fixed, the crime of being accessories before the fact in the commission of felonies by counselling, hiring or otherwise procuring felonies to be committed, to wit, the buying, receiving or aiding in the concealment of stolen property, to wit, automobiles, each of the value of more than one hundred dollars, by persons other than said Samuel C. Harris and James E. Trask and not then particularly known to or designated by them, which said other persons should know before the time of such buying, receiving or aiding in the concealment of such stolen property that such stolen property had ben stolen, the said felonies not having been committed at the time of such conspiracy, and said crime of being accessories before the fact in the commission of felonies being itself a felony.
Against the peace of said commonwealth, and contrary to the form of the statute in such case made and provided.
Fifth Count. And the jurors aforesaid, for the commonwealth of Massachusetts on their oath aforesaid, do further present that Samuel C. Harris and James E. Trask, between the first day of December in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and fourteen and the first day of October in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and seventeen at Newton, in the county of Middlesex aforesaid, did conspire together to procure, form, promote, or aid and abet in the procuring, forming or promoting thereafter of other and further conspiracies with persons other than themselves for unlawful purposes or for lawful purposes to be accomplished by unlawful means, said Samuel C. Harris and James E. Trask at the time of the conspiring first above mentioned not having in mind any particular such other person or persons with whom so to conspire thereafter, nor any particular time when or place where such other and further conspiracies should thereafter be procured, formed or promoted or when or where they the said Samuel C. Harris and James E. Trask should thereafter aid and abet in such procuring, forming or promoting of such other and further conspiracies.
Against the peace of said commonwealth, and contrary to the form of the statute in such case made and provided.
Sixth Count. And the jurors aforesaid, for the commonwealth of Massachusetts on their oath aforesaid, do further present that Samuel C. Harris and James E. Trask, between the first day of December in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and fourteen and the first day of October in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and seventeen at Newton, in the county of Middlesex aforesaid, did conspire together to procure, form, promote, or aid and abet in the procuring, forming or promoting thereafter of other and further conspiracies with persons other than themselves. the said Samuel C. Harris and James E. Trask not having in mind at the time of the conspiring first above mentioned any particular such other person or persons with whom so to conspire thereafter nor any particular place where or time when such other and further conspiracies should thereafter be procured, formed or promoted or where or when they the said Samuel C. Harris and James E. Trask should thereafter aid and abet in such procuring, forming or promoting of such other and further conspiracies, the said conspiring first above named consisting of an understanding or agreement between the said Samuel C. Harris and the said James E. Trask that thereafter, upon getting information as to owners of automobiles, who held contracts with corporations or persons engaged in the business of contracting to insure or indemnify against loss from the theft of automobiles, which owners fraudulently designed and purposed to have such automobiles taken from their possession with their consent but under circumstances which would in appearance show, while not in fact establishing, that such automobiles were stolen, in order that they the said owners might make false pretence, representations and statements to such insurers and indemnifiers to the effect that such automobiles had been stolen from such owners, to the end that they the said owners should thereby obtain payment to themselves from the said insurers and indemnifiers of the indemnities provided for by such contracts of insurance or indemnity, they, the said Samuel C. Harris and James E. Trask would enter into conspiracies with such of such owners as they saw fit for the purpose of aiding and abetting such owners in bringing about the false and misleading circumstances hereinbefore mentioned and in making to said insurers and indemnifiers the false pretences, representations and statements hereinbefore mentioned and in committing larceny by false pretences from such insurers and indemnifiers, by procuring other persons than themselves and said owners...
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