People v. Farmer

• Decision Date: 09 February 1909
• Citation: 194 N.Y. 251,87 N.E. 457
• Parties: PEOPLE v. FARMER.
• Court: New York Court of Appeals Court of Appeals

194 N.Y. 251

87 N.E. 457

PEOPLE

v.FARMER.

Court of Appeals of New York.

Feb. 9, 1909.

Appeal from Supreme Court, Trial Term, Jefferson County.

Mary Farmer was convicted of murder in the first degree, and appeals. Affirmed.

Edmund R. Wilcox, for appellant.

Fred B. Pitcher, Dist. Atty., for the People.

CHASE, J.

The homicide ofSarah Brennan, for which the defendant has been convicted, was committed in the village of Brownville, Jefferson county, about four miles from the city of Watertown, on Thursday, April 23, 1908. The body of the deceased was found on Monday, April 27th, in a trunk owned by and in the possession of the defendant. The defendant under her general plea of not guilty attempted at the trial to establish that she was insane and wholly irresponsible for any acts relating to the homicide that might be found against her. It is necessary for us to state briefly the principal facts disclosed upon the trial to show upon what evidence the jury acted, and also from which to determine the effect of certain rulings of the court that are now urged as reversible error by the defendant's counsel.

The defendant married James D. Farmer at Buffalo in the fall of 1904. Early in 1905 they came to Brownville, it being his native place. After remaining in Brownville for two or three months at one of his numerous relatives, the defendant commenced keeping a boarding house in an adjoining village. Her boarding house venture was a failure, and on Decoration Day in 1907 she moved with her husband into the easterly part of an old building formerly used as a hotel in a part of Brownville known as Paddy Hill. Sarah Brennan, the deceased, lived with her husband, Patrick, in a house about 80 feet from and east of said old hotel. The Brennans had lived in the same house for more than 20 years, and the title to the house and about 5 acres of land therewith was in Mrs. Brennan. At that time the defendant's household effects were subject to a chattel mortgage given by her, and she owed numerous open accounts and one or more judgments which had been obtained against her. A few weeks after she moved to Paddy Hill she became a frequent caller at the Brennans', and Mrs. Brennan occasionally called upon the defendant. Mrs. Brennan kept her deed, an abstract of her title, fire and life insurance papers, and a savings bank book in a black oilcloth pocketbook or envelope in a tin box in her bedroom. On October 31, 1907, the defendant appeared alone at the office of a lawyer in Watertown. She there produced the deed of said property to Mrs. Brennan and had a deed prepared therefrom to James D. Farmer, her husband, and also a bill of sale of the personal property and provisions in the Brennan house, and, stating that she was Mrs. Brennan, signed both papers, using the name ‘Sarah Brennan,’ and as ‘Sarah Brennan’ acknowledged the execution of the deed before the lawyer, who was a notary. On November 9th defendant gave the deed with $2 to her husband's sister, who was going to Watertown, and requested her to have it recorded. Defendant said she had paid $1,200 for it. Her sister-in-law replied: ‘The woman must have been crazy to sell the property for $1,200.’ And the defendant said: ‘I don't care whether she was crazy or not. She sold it to me. I have got the property.’ On her way to Watertown the sister-in-law examined the deed and found the name of the lawyer before whom it was acknowledged and went to the office of such lawyer, but what conversation she had with him does not appear. She left that office and telephoned to her brother and then waited for him. When he arrived, and after some conversation, which does not appear, they went to the county clerk's office and left the deed for record. When the defendant gave the deed to her sister-in-law, she told her that she had a bill of sale of the personal property, and the sister-in-law as a witness testified: ‘She gave me to understand that Mrs. Brennan was about to leave Mr. Brennan.’ The deed was returned from the clerk's office to James D. Farmer November 26th. On January 7, 1908, the defendant and her husband went to the office of a lawyer in Watertown, but not to the one who had drawn the deed on October 31st, and had a deed drawn to Peter J. Farmer, a son who had been born to them the preceding September 2d. That deed was duly executed by the defendant and her husband and on the same day duly recorded. On January 11, 1908, it was mailed from the clerk's office to the infant, Peter.

The insurance on the property, real and personal, expired Frbruary 23d, and it was renewed by Sarah Brennan. The defendant was in the Brennan house early in April and heard a conversation about Mr. Brennan paying for the renewal of the insurance, but she did not say anything about the property having been deeded to her infant son. Patrick Brennan says he was told that the defendant had a deed of the place, and that he spoke to his wife about it and believed what she said, although what she said is not disclosed. In December a collector for the mortgagees of the chattel property called on the defendant, and she told him that she had purchased the Brennan property, ‘and she was soon going to occupy it, as Mrs. Brennan was going to leave her husband and go West.’ In the latter part of the winter she told a person, then a tenant of a part of said old hotel, that she had bought the Brennan property and had paid $1,200 cash for it, and that she was going to move. She did not say when she was going to move. She asked a neighbor early in April if she had heard that she had bought the Brennan place. The neighbor replied: ‘Yes, but I did not believe it, that I had heard that Mr. and Mrs. Brennan would not sell it, but that she had been offered over $2,000 and refused it.’

Mrs. Brennan had employed a dentist in Watertown and was having work done by him in April. On April 4th the defendant called with Mrs. Brennan at the dentist's, and on Tuesday, April 21st, the defendant called again and agreed upon certain work for herself to cost $45 and made an appointment for the next day and agreed, as required by the dentist, to pay the $45 in advance. Mrs. Brennan was at the dentist's Wednesday morning and made an appointment for herself on Thursday at 1 o'clock. After Mrs. Brennan left the dentist's on Wednesday, the defendant called too early for her appointment. She went out when told of her mistake, but did not return. On April 23d Mrs. Brennan prepared breakfast for herself and husband at 6 o'clock. He left for his work, which at that time required him on duty from 7 a. m. to 3 p. m., and she told him that she was going to the dentist's at Watertown. Between 9 and 10 o'clock that morning Mrs. Brennan was seen to leave her house and enter the defendant's house. She was dressed for the street. Early that morning the defendant took her baby to the house of a neighbor and left it to be cared for while (as she stated) she went up town. Between the time that the defendant left her baby at the neighbor's and Mrs. Brennan going to the defendant's house, the defendant passed back and forth between the two houses several times. She was also seen passing between the houses three times between 11 and 12 o'clock that morning. Between 12 and 1 o'clock she called for and took the baby, and at the same time arranged that a young daughter of the neighbor come to her house and further assist her in caring for the baby. About 1 o'clock the young girl went to the defendant's as promised and found the defendant and her husband taking lunch. She heard a conversation between them. Mr. Farmer wanted 25 cents to get some beer, which the defendant refused in language that indicates her low moral standards. He uttered an oath and took some keys and told her to take them and said he would go to Doran's to his work, and she replied that she didn't care where he went. Doran's was the home of Farmer's sister, and he had been working there with others relaying a walk. Soon after Farmer left, the defendant went in the direction of Doran's, and in a few minutes returned and went into the Brennan house. She returned to her house and then sent the young girl to Doran's to tell her husband to come right home; that he was wanted. The girl went and told Farmer, but he would not return. Defendant then took some folded papers from a dresser and went to Doran's, arriving there a few minutes before 2 o'clock, and said to her husband: ‘There is the keys of your house and your money or your rent. * * * You go to the mill and tell Patsy that his wife is gone and he has no home.’ Her husband refused to go and said it would be time enough when Patsy got home. She then asked Doran to help her husband move their things to the Brennan house, and that was refused. Defendant had a package with her and said that she had her deeds and insurance papers, and she then asked Mrs. Doran to keep $12 for her, and she left it with her. She then returned to her house and said to the young girl that she wanted to clean up her back room. She was engaged cleaning up the back room for some time and then carried a bundle of clothes out of a bedroom into the back room. During the time that she was cleaning the back room she had the door leading into the room closed. She went to Doran's for her supper and walked up and down the room and said: ‘I am afraid that maybe Mr. Brennan will burn up the house to-night.’ Brennan returned from his work at 15 minutes to 4 and found the house and barn locked. He looked for the keys where it was Mrs. Brennan's custom to leave them when she was away, but he could not find them. He pulled the staple by which the barn door was fastened and proceeded to remove a storm door and windows from his house and put them in the barn. He heard a voice, and looked around to the west and saw Farmer standing there, who said: ‘Brennan, don't you know I bought this place?’ The subsequent conversation is not disclosed. The defendant was walking up and...