Merwin v. State
| Decision Date | 17 January 1962 |
| Docket Number | No. 34096,34096 |
| Citation | 355 S.W.2d 721,172 Tex.Crim. 244 |
| Parties | Samuel E. MERWIN, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee. |
| Court | Texas Court of Criminal Appeals |
[172 TEXCRIM 245] Richard Bird, Childress, McCarthy, Carnahan, Fields & Haynes, Amarillo (George S. McCarthy, Amarillo, of counsel), for appellant.
John T. Forbis, Dist. Atty., Childress, and Leon B. Douglas, State's Atty., Austin, for the State.
DICE, Commissioner.
The conviction is for burglary; the punishment, two years.
The State's witness, Ruth Ware, operated a beauty shop in the City of Turkey in Hall County which was located in a building adjacent to a building occupied by the West Texas Utilities Company. On the night of March 10, 1961, the witness who lived in the back of the building heard a noise, around 1 A.M., coming from the Utility Company building which sounded like a hammer hitting metal. She thereupon called Deputy Sheriff Clyde Rogers. In response to the call Deputy Rogers went to the Utility Company building, around 1:20 A.M., and discovered that it had been broken into and burglarized. A screen door in the back of the building was slit and the door jammed. The company's safe was lying on its back on the floor with the door beat off. The safe had been removed from the front to the back of the building and the sum of $52.15 in money was missing therefrom.
After discovering the burglary, Officer Rogers called the sheriffs of the surrounding counties, including Sheriff Johnny Lanham at Silverton in Briscoe County, and reported the burglary.
At 2:15 A.M., Sheriff Lanham stopped an Oldsmobile automobile 2 1/2 miles east of Silverton in Briscoe County, at the intersection of Highways 86 and 256, as it was traveling in a direction away from Turkey. Appellant and three companions were occupants of the automobile and were placed under arrest by Sheriff Lanham. The automobile, which belonged to appellant, was then searched by Sheriff Lanham at the scence and later after it was driven to Silverton.
In the search Sheriff Lanham found a coat lying on the seat [172 TEXCRIM 246] with some money in a pocket, consisting of change and bills; a loaded gun in the glove compartment; two wrecking bars and a sledge hammer; two pairs of gloves; a white purse and a handbag containing several items, including some keys, a flash light and a pair of pliers.
A substance removed from the blade end of one of the wrecking bars which had been broken, upon being examined by Chemist and Toxicologist Leslie C. Smith of the Department of Public Safety, was found to be fire clay similar to a sample of fire clay taken from the door of the safe. A substance taken from the trouser cuff of one of appellant's companions was also examined by the Chemist and found to be fire clay similar to the fire clay removed from the safe door. Chemist Smith testified that a spectrograph examination of the three samples of fire clay disclosed that they were all made up of the same base elements and expressed the opinion that they came from the same batch of fire clay,...
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