Dent v. State

• Decision Date: 09 March 1904
• Citation: 79 S.W. 525
• Parties: DENT v. STATE.
• Court: Texas Court of Criminal Appeals

79 S.W. 525

DENT v. STATE.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas.

March 9, 1904.

Appeal from District Court, Tarrant County; M. E. Smith, Judge.

J. H. Dent was convicted of murder in the second degree, and appeals. Reversed.

Parker & Parker, for appellant. Howard Martin, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.

HENDERSON, J.

Appellant was convicted of murder in the second degree, and his punishment assessed at confinement in the penitentiary for a term of 49 years; hence this appeal.

The homicide for which appellant was convicted occurred on the 30th of June, 1902, in the lodgeroom of the Woodmen of the World, at the little town of Azle. The occasion was a lodge meeting, and the difficulty grew out of the trial of the appellant on a charge of attempting to give away the password of the order; deceased being the most important witness against appellant. It appears that, during the trial of appellant before the lodge, while Wilson (deceased) was testifying to the effect that appellant gave him a piece of paper with some word written on it, which, it seems, was not really the password, appellant interrupted, and said to deceased that that was not so. Deceased said, "We will settle that later;" and the defendant said, "Yes; you will have to fix it." After the evidence was adduced before the lodge, appellant was retired to the anteroom while the vote was being taken. While there, Henry Jefferson, witness for the state, relates that appellant said to him, "What was the matter with J. B. Wilson?" To which he replied, "Nothing." Defendant then said, "Yes there is. He has sworn a lie on me in there, and I am going to give him a piece of my barlow." After the vote was taken, which resulted in the expulsion of appellant, he was brought before the lodge and received his sentence. Shortly after this the lodge adjourned, and the members began going out of the lodgeroom through the anteroom to the stairway on their way home. Henry Jefferson, who was the strongest witness for the state, relates what occurred, immediately connected with the homicide, substantially as follows: That he and deceased, with some others, were in the anteroom. Appellant was then in the lodgeroom. About this time appellant's father, who had gotten to the outer door of the anteroom, said, "Come on boys. It's getting late. Let's go home." Defendant replied, "What's the use of being in a hurry?" That at the time he was with deceased in the anteroom and said to him, "Keep your eyes open." That he then stepped back in the lodgeroom, right beside defendant. That, as he stepped up by the side of defendant, deceased jumped in the lodgeroom from the anteroom, in front of defendant, and said, "Bud, if you are going to stick that knife in me, stick it in me here." (Defendant at the time having a knife in his hand.) "About that time I saw defendant throw his left arm up in front of his face, and, as he did that, raised his right hand, with his knife in it, as if to strike; having changed the knife in his hand from ordinary cutting position to stabbing position." That he grabbed appellant's right arm, and, in the scuffle, deceased knocked defendant down somewhere near the east door that leads in from the anteroom. Defendant's head hit the side of the wall or floor. When deceased knocked defendant down, he stepped back. When defendant got up, he came in a stooped position toward deceased, and cut him with his knife. All of the witnesses for the state testify, in effect, that after the adjournment of the lodge the parties were going from the lodgeroom through the anteroom, out into the hall to the stairway, on their way home, and witness Henry Jefferson and deceased preceded defendant to the anteroom, defendant being at the time behind in the lodgeroom; that Jefferson returned from the anteroom into the lodgeroom, and stopped close by defendant; that almost immediately deceased sprang or jumped from the anteroom into the lodgeroom, and stepped right in front of defendant, and told him, if he was going to cut him, to cut him then. Some of the witnesses say that appellant raised one or both hands at this. Some of them did not see any demonstration whatever, but say that, as soon as deceased sprang in front of appellant and accosted him, he then knocked him down; that appellant then staggered to his feet and rushed at deceased, who in the meantime was backing off towards the east wall of the lodgeroom, and stabbed him in the neck with the knife, which almost immediately caused his death. One witness, perhaps, for the state, says that, when deceased jumped in front of appellant, appellant appeared to advance toward him with his knife in his hand. Deceased then knocked appellant down. A number of witnesses also stated that immediately appellant's father, who had returned in the lodgeroom, remarked to his son, "Bud, what did you do that for?" and appellant replied, "Because he knocked me down." The state also proved that, during the trial of appellant in the lodgeroom, he had his knife open in his hand pretty much all the time; and one witness (Jefferson) states that when he went into the anteroom, while appellant was awaiting the vote, he saw appellant whetting his knife on the window sill. The knife was a barlow. One witness also testified as to a threat made by appellant against deceased the evening before, to wit, that he said that, if Wilson swore that he tried to give away the password, he would hang a chair over his head. Appellant's testimony agreed substantially with the testimony introduced by the state as to what preceded the difficulty. However, in connection with giving away the password, it was shown: That appellant could not write, and consequently could not have written the word on the slip of paper and handed it to deceased, Wilson, as testified to by him. That, when deceased testified against him, he got up in open lodge and told the commander and those present that what deceased said was not true. That deceased replied, "All right. I will fix you after the lodge is over." Appellant responded, "All right." That deceased was angry at the time, and it made defendant angry for deceased to swear a lie on him in the lodgeroom. That his having his knife out during the meeting of the lodge was simply a habit, and that he was not doing anything unusual with it. That when Jefferson came to the anteroom he told Jefferson deceased had swore a lie against him in the lodgeroom, and that, if he monkeyed with him, he was going to give him a piece of his barlow. That after he was brought from the anteroom, and sentence pronounced on him, he took a seat on the west side of the lodgeroom, and directly the lodge adjourned. That, when it did so, he started to go out of the lodgeroom home, but, just before getting to the door of the anteroom, deceased passed by him, and, if he wanted to, he could have cut him, but did not want any trouble with him. That deceased passed by, and appellant stopped and waited for him to go downstairs and get away. While appellant was standing there, all at once Henry Jefferson came out of the anteroom, and stepped up by the side of appellant, and immediately deceased jumped in front of him with his fist drawn up in a threatening attitude, and said, "If I wanted to stick that knife in him, to stick it in him then." Appellant replied he did not want to stick the knife in him. As soon as he said that, deceased made a motion as if to strike. Appellant threw his left hand up to ward off the blow, having his knife at the time in his right hand. That immediately deceased knocked him down. That his head hit the floor, and he fell flat on his back. After he was knocked down, he did not know what he did. That the blow rendered him unconscious. That he was dazed. The first thing he remembered was when his father came to him, and said, "Bud, what in the world did you do that for?" That he did not know what his father meant, and asked him what he had done, and he told him he had either cut or killed J. B. Wilson. That he told his father he did not remember that he had done anything. His father and other witnesses corroborate him as to his reply to his father when he asked him what he did that for. Appellant further stated: That deceased was a larger man than he, about 35 years of age, and had the reputation of being a dangerous man. That he was afraid of him, and that was the reason he stopped in the lodgeroom, in order to let him get downstairs and get away. That he believed deceased was going to attack him, from what he said in the lodgeroom. That when Henry Jefferson stepped by his side in the lodgeroom, and deceased stepped in front of him, he was not doing anything to any one, and made no effort to harm anybody. There were no lights in the anteroom, and he could not see Wilson after he left the lodgeroom and went in the anteroom. That the lights in the lodgeroom were dim, and he could not tell whether deceased had anything in his hand or not. It was done quickly. He also testified that when his father, who was at the outer door on the anteroom, said, "Come on boys, let's go home," he replied, "What's the use of being in a hurry?" and he kept standing on there, waiting for Wilson to leave. This witness also denied telling Henry Crosby on the evening before the difficulty that, if deceased swore a lie on him, he was going to break a chair on his head. This witness also denied attempting to give away the password of the lodge. That after he was expelled he felt like he was disgraced and ruined. That he did not at any time intend to attack Wilson. That all he wanted was for him to let him alone, and did not make any attempt to cut or injure Wilson before Wilson knocked him down. It was also shown in proof that appellant was 19 years old. Glover, witness for the state, testified that he saw Wilson (deceased) on Sunday before the killing, and Wilson said to him, "Dent's folks have got it in for me, and I am going to the lodge, and I am going with my...