Dodge v. State

• Decision Date: 23 June 1898
• Citation: 100 Wis. 294,75 N.W. 954
• Parties: DODGE v. STATE.
• Court: Wisconsin Supreme Court

100 Wis. 294

75 N.W. 954

DODGE

v.STATE.

Supreme Court of Wisconsin.

June 23, 1898.

Appeal from circuit court, Oconto county; S. D. Hastings, Jr., Judge.

Samuel Dodge was convicted of carnally knowing and abusing a girl under the age of 14 years, and brings error. Affirmed.

This was a prosecution for carnally knowing and abusing a girl under the age of 14 years, under section 4382, Sanb. & B. Ann. St., as amended by section 1, c. 370, Laws 1895. The age of the prosecutrix was proven, against objection, by the oath of the prosecutrix herself, and there was no other direct evidence as to her age. The evidence showed that the prosecutrix lived with the plaintiff in error and his wife in a small house from the fall of 1893 until July, 1896, her mother living at the same place for a year, and then leaving her with the plaintiff in error, and that she was practically a foster child. She was delivered of a fully-developed infant, July 13, 1896, which died at birth, and she testified that the plaintiff in error had criminal connection with her frequently in the fall of 1895, and that she had not had connection with any other man. The plaintiff in error denied the charge, and a verdict of guilty was rendered by the jury, and to reverse the judgment rendered upon the verdict a writ of error was sued out.A. Reinhart, for plaintiff in error.

W. H. Mylrea, Atty. Gen., for the State.

WINSLOW, J. (after stating the facts).

Two questions are raised: (1) That the evidence of the prosecutrix as to her own age and the date of her birth was not competent; and (2) that the entire evidence was insufficient to sustain the verdict.

1. It was intimated, but not decided, in Hart v. Stickney, 41 Wis. 631, that a witness might testify as to his own age. The intimation was certainly in accord with the great weight of authority, and we now hold affirmatively that such testimony is competent. Com. v. Stevenson, 142 Mass. 466, 8 N. E. 341; 2 Jones, Ev. § 303.

2. Perusal of the testimony convinces us that there was sufficient evidence to sustain the verdict. This is not a case where it is doubtful whether the act of carnal intercourse took place. That fact is settled, as well as the time at which it took place, by the fact of the birth of a full-grown infant. The only question, therefore, was as to its paternity. It is true that the girl had told some contradictory stories upon this question, but she now testifies that they were told by direction of the plaintiff in...