Pearce v. State

• Decision Date: 17 June 1897
• Citation: Pearce v. State, 115 Ala. 115, 22 So. 502 (Ala. 1897)
• Parties: PEARCE v. STATE.
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

22 So. 502

115 Ala. 115

PEARCE v. STATE.

Supreme Court of Alabama

June 17, 1897

Appeal from circuit court, Elmore county; N. D. Denson, Judge.

George Pearce was convicted of obtaining money under false pretenses, and he appeals. Affirmed.

The appellant was tried under the following indictment: "The grand jury of said county charge that before the finding of this indictment that George Pearce did falsely pretend to Elizabeth Page, with the intent to defraud, that he was a pension agent and would obtain a pension of three dollars a month for her and by means of such false pretense, obtained from the said Elizabeth Page seventy-five cents, against the peace and dignity of the state of Alabama." The defendant interposed a plea in abatement, which was as follows: "Comes the defendant by his attorneys and defends the wrong and injury when," etc., "and says that this court has no jurisdiction over said alleged offense as it is cognizable only in the United States circuit courts." This plea was overruled, and the defendant thereupon demurred to the indictment upon the ground that a pension was a periodical allowance to an individual, and that the promise to obtain a pension for a person was necessarily a promise to be performed in the future, and for that reason was not indictable. This demurrer was overruled, and the defendant duly excepted.

Elizabeth Page, witness for the state, testified that the defendant came to her house in Elmore county, and upon being told that she had two fingers off of her right hand, and that her little boy was deaf, the defendant said to her that he was a pension agent, and that both she and her son were both entitled to pensions, she to $3 and her son to $9; and that if the defendant would pay him 75 cents, he would get a pension for her. There were other facts tending to corroborate this testimony of Mrs. Page.

The defendant's testimony was that he accepted the money from Elizabeth Page to pay his expenses, for the purpose of going to Montgomery, Ala., to see if he could get a pension for her and her son.

The defendant requested the court to give to the jury the following written charges, which were written upon the same piece of paper: (1) "If the jury believe from all the evidence that the defendant only promised to pay money in the future, the jury must find the defendant not guilty." (2) "The mere expression of opinion that the defendant was acting in the capacity of a pension agent, and that the money was paid to him for...