People v. Laurence

• Decision Date: 24 March 1893
• Citation: 33 N.E. 547,137 N.Y. 517
• Parties: PEOPLE v. LAURENCE.
• Court: New York Court of Appeals Court of Appeals

137 N.Y. 517

33 N.E. 547

PEOPLE

v.LAURENCE.

Court of Appeals of New York.

March 24, 1893.

Appeal from supreme court, general term, fifth department.

Charles H. Laurence was convicted of grand larceny in the first degree, and from a judgment of general term, (21 N. Y. Supp. 818,) reversing the conviction, the district attorney brings this appeal. Reversed.

The other facts fully appear in the following statement by EARL, J.:

The defendant was brought to trial upon the following indictment: ‘The grand jury of the county of Niagara, by this indictment, accuses Charles H. Laurence of the crime of grand larceny in the first degree, committed as follows: That the said Charles H. Laurence, on or about the 10th day of August, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ninety-one, at the city of Lockport, within the county of Niagara, with force and arms, with intent to deprive and defraud the Lockport Street Railroad Company, a corporation duly organized and existing under and by virtue of the laws of the state of New York, of the proper goods and chattels hereinafter mentioned, and of the use and benefit thereof, and to appropriate the same to the use and benefit of him, the said Charles H. Laurence, did then and there feloniously, falsely, and fraudulently pretend and represent to the said Lockport Street Railroad Company, if the said Lockport Street Railroad Company would permit him the said Charles H. Laurence, to ship to Buffalo two of the horse cars, numbered respectively seven (7) and eight, (8,) of the said Lockport Street Railroad Company, that he, the said Charles H. Laurence, would have the said two horse cars so transformed that they might be run by electricity as a motive power instead of by horse power, and return the said two cars so transformed to the barn of the said Lockport Street Railroad Company, in Lockport, with all possible speed, and ready and fit to be used upon the tracks of the said Lockport Street Railroad Company before the first of January, 1892, and the said Lockport Street Railroad Company, then and there believing the said false pretenses and representations so made as aforesaid by the said Charles H. Laurence, and being deceived thereby, was induced by reason of the false pretenses and representations so made as aforesaid to deliver, and did then and there deliver, to the said Charles H. Laurence the said two horse cars, numbered respectively seven (7) and eight, (8,) of the said Lockport Street Railroad Company, of the proper goods, chattels, and personal property of the said Lockport Street Railroad Company, and the said Charles H. Laurence did then and there feloniously receive and obtain the said proper goods, chattels, and personal property of the said Lockport Street Railroad Company by means of the false pretenses and representations as aforesaid, with intent to deprive and defraud the said Lockport Street Railroad Company feloniously and of the use and benefit thereof and to appropriate the same to his own use. Whereas, in truth and fact, the said Charles H. Laurence did not then, nor at any time, ship to Buffalo the said two horse cars, numbered respectively seven (7) and eight, (8,) to be transformed so that they might be run by electricity as a motive power instead of by horse power, and did not intend to have the said two horse cars so transformed, and did not return and intend to return the said two horse cars so transformed to the barn of the said Lockport Street Railroad Company, in the said city of Lockport, with all possible speed, and fit and ready to be used upon the tracks of the said Lockport Street Railroad Company before the first day of January, 1892, and has never since returned the said cars to the Lockport Street Railroad Company, but sold the said two horse cars, and appropriated the proceeds thereof to his own use and benefit. And whereas, in truth and in fact, the pretenses and representations so made as aforesaid by the said Charles H. Laurence to the said Lockport Street Railroad Company were then and there in all respects utterly false and untrue, as he, the said Charles H. Laurence, at the time of making the same then and there well knew. And the said Charles H. Laurence, on the day and in the year aforesaid, at the city of Lockport, within the said county of Niagara, aforesaid, in the manner and form aforesaid, and by the means aforesaid, obtained from the possession of the owner thereof, the said Lockport Street Railroad Company, the said two horse cars, numbered respectively seven (7) and eight, (8,) of the worth and value of three hundred and seventy-five dollars each car, with intent to deprive and defraud the true owner, the said Lockport Street Railroad Company, of its property, and of the use and benefit thereof, and to appropriate to the use of him, the said Charles H. Laurence; and the said two horse cars, he, the said Charles H. Laurence, from the possession of the true owners thereof, the said Lockport Street Railroad Company, by means of the false pretenses and representations so made as aforesaid, feloniously did steal, take, and carry away, contrary to the form of the statute in such case made and provided, and against the peace of the people of the state of New York, and their dignity. P. F. King, District Attorney of Niagara County.’ The defendant was convicted of larceny, and upon appeal to the general term the court reversed his conviction, and directed his discharge. The district attorney then brought this appeal.

P. F. King, Dist. Atty. For the People.

Richard Crowley, for respondent.

EARL, J., (after stating the facts.)

In the early history of English jurisprudence a prisoner came to his trial under great disadvantages. He was no permitted to have counsel or witnesses, or a copy of the indictment, and hence very technical rules were evolved for the construction of indictments and the conduct of the trial, and thus a prisoner was now and then enabled to make a successful defense. But for many years more humane views of the condition and rights of...