Rauguth v. People

• Decision Date: 21 June 1900
• Citation: 57 N.E. 832,186 Ill. 93
• Parties: RAUGUTH v. PEOPLE.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

186 Ill. 93

57 N.E. 832

RAUGUTH

v.PEOPLE.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

June 21, 1900.

Error to criminal court, Cook county; Theodore Brentano, Judge.

William Rauguth was convicted of larceny, and from the judgment he brings error. Reversed.

Ossian Cameron, J. R. Burres, and M. L. McKinley, for plaintiff in error.

Charles S. Deneen, State's Atty. (Ben M. Smith, Asst. State's Atty., of counsel), for the People.

WILKIN, J.

This is a writ of error to the criminal court of Cook county to reverse a judgment of conviction against plaintiff in error for larceny. The indictment upon which the trial was had consisted of nine counts, but the substance of the charge is found in the first, which alleges that William Rauguth and other parties named, on the 1st day of June, 1896, being agents in the employ of Barbara Hellgoth, embezzled and converted to their own use $600 in money belonging to her, which came to the possession of defendants by virtue of their employment, whereby they ‘are deemed to have committed the crime of larceny’; and so the jurors say that the said William Rauguth and other defendants (naming them) ‘then and there, in manner and form aforesaid, the said personal goods, funds, money, and property of the said Barbara Hellgoth, from the said Barbara Hellgoth then and there being found, did then and there feloniously steal, take, and carry away.’ The evidence introduced upon the trial showed that the defendant for about three years prior to 1893 was connected with the National Building & Loan Association of Chicago, as its secretary, and that Mrs. Hellgoth was a stockholder therein. In April of that year defendant resigned his office as secretary of that association, and, with others, organized the Atlas Building & Loan Association; he becoming the secretary of that company. In 1894 he withdrew from the Atlas, and organized a third company, known as the Northwestern Real-Estate Loan Company, of which he also became secretary. The evidence tends to show that upon the organization of the second company the defendant induced the prosecuting witness to transfer to the new company her membership, her stock then being worth $300. This transfer was effected by defendant purchasing for Mrs. Hellgoth from the latter company $300 worth of stock, paying in his own money therefor; she afterwards, as she says, surrendering to the new company her pass book of the National Association, and receiving a new one of the Atlas. She continued to be a member of the latter company until she had paid in $265 in addition; making, in all, $565 to her credit in the Atlas. Soon after the organization of the Northwestern the prosecuting witness claims that at the solicitation of the defendant she transferred her $565 of stock to that company, and that he induced her to put in $35 additional, making a total of $600, for which she then received a certificate, as follows: ‘No. 1,005. Amount, $600.00. Northwestern Real-Estate Loan Co., Chicago, Illinois. Know all men by these presents, that the Northwestern Real-Estate Loan Company of Chicago, in the county of Cook and state of Illinois, for value received, hereby promises to pay to Barbara Hellgoth, or the legal holder thereof, at its office, in the city of Chicago, ten years after date, the sum of $600, lawful money of the United States of America, with interest thereon at the rate of six per cent. per annum, payable semiannually, on the first day of January and July in each year, as shown by, and upon the surrender of, the annexed coupons, as they severally become due and payable. The legal holder hereof may withdraw the amount of this certificate at any time after three years, by first giving a written notice of sixty days to the company of his or her intention to do so, and shall be entitled to receive the amount of this certificate, and the interest agreed thereon, up to the date of such notice. The company reserves the right to cancel this certificate at any time after three years, paying to the legal holder hereof the amount of this certificate, and the interest agreed thereon. No transfer of this certificate is good unless made on the books of the company. In witness whereof, the president and secretary of the said Northwestern Real-Estate Loan Company have subscribed their names, and have...