Martin v. United States

• Decision Date: 25 March 1922
• Docket Number: 1938.
• Citation: 280 F. 513
• Parties: MARTIN et al. v. UNITED STATES.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

280 F. 513

MARTIN et al. v. UNITED STATES.

No. 1938.

United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.

March 25, 1922

H. M Smith, Jr., of Richmond, Va., for plaintiffs in error.

Paul W Kear, U.S. Atty., of Norfolk, Va. (Lester S. Parsons, Asst U.S. Atty., of Norfolk, Va., on the brief), for the United States.

Before KNAPP and WOODS, Circuit Judges, and ROSE, District Judge.

WOODS Circuit Judge.

Defendant Thomas H. Martin was convicted on five counts of the indictment charging him separately with stealing abstracting, and removing from the mails one cameo brooch, two silver pickle forks, and three pillow tops. His mother, Maggie E. Martin, was convicted on an indictment charging her with the unlawful and felonious possession of the same articles with knowledge that they were stolen. The two cases were tried together by consent. Error is assigned in the refusal of the District Court to direct acquittals in both cases for lack of evidence, and to order a new trial on the ground that the evidence was not sufficient to support the verdicts.

The evidence against the defendants in brief was this: Young Martin, who was 19 years of age, was a mail messenger in the autumn and winter of 1919-1920. His duty was to carry mail pouches to Hilton post office from a point on the railroad 1,000 feet distant, and parcel post sacks from North Newport News, a distance of half a mile. He lived in the house with his father and mother near North Newport News station. The front room of the house had been lately used as a railroad ticket office. A number of boarders had access to it. Mrs. Martin had been postmistress at North Newport News from 1909 to 1914. She and her husband, as well as Thomas H. Martin, handled the parcel post mail. The custom was to take the mail sacks from the place where they were thrown off the train to the front room of the Martin house, and thence, later on, in an automobile to the post office. Thomas H. Martin was in control of the mail, and responsible for it until he delivered it to the post office. The postmaster testified there was no reason for not carrying the mail directly to the post office.

From the fact that mail bags had been cut there, the postal officers suspected that losses of mail on the route had occurred at Hilton. They placed decoy articles in the mail and went to North Newport News for observation. In the afternoon Thomas H. Martin delivered to the post office one of...