State v. Barbee

• Citation: 37 S.W. 1119,136 Mo. 440
• Parties: STATE v. BARBEE.
• Decision Date: 15 December 1896
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Missouri

37 S.W. 1119

136 Mo. 440

STATE v. BARBEE.

Supreme Court of Missouri, Division No. 2.

December 15, 1896.

FALSE PRETENSES — INDICTMENT — INSUFFICIENCY.

Under Bill of Rights, § 22, and U. S. Const. Amend. art. 6, declaring that an accused shall have the right to demand the nature and cause of the accusation, an indictment (under Rev. St. 1889, § 3564, making it an offense for any one, designedly, by false writing or other false pretense, to obtain money, etc., from another) against one for procuring the payment by a bank of overdrafts to a specified amount drawn on it by him, by falsely representing that he was the owner of a certain note, which avers neither the date, amount, or date of maturity of the note; nor that the maker was, or was represented by defendant to be, solvent; nor that the overdrafts were authorized by reason of defendant's representations; nor the dates, amounts, or payees of such overdrafts, — is bad for uncertainty.

Appeal from circuit court, Caldwell county; E. J. Broadus, Judge.

William O. Barbee was convicted of obtaining money by false pretenses, and appeals. Reversed.

Lavelock, Kirkpatrick & Divelbiss, for appellant. R. F. Walker, Atty. Gen., for the State.

SHERWOOD, J.

The defendant was indicted under section 3564, Rev. St. 1889, for obtaining $329.75 from the Farmers' Bank of Polo, by means of false pretenses. Being tried, he was convicted, and his punishment assessed at two years' imprisonment in the penitentiary.

The indictment, so far as necessary to quote it, is the following: "That William O. Barbee, at the county of Caldwell and state of Missouri, on or about the 24th day of October, 1894, did unlawfully, feloniously, designedly, and knowingly, with intent to cheat and defraud the Farmers' Bank of Polo in said county, a corporation duly incorporated under and by virtue of the laws of the state of Missouri for banking purposes, out of a large sum of money, to wit, the sum of three hundred and twenty-nine dollars and seventy-five cents, lawful money, did falsely pretend to one Manford Kern, cashier of said bank aforesaid, that he, the said Barbee, was then and there the owner of a certain promissory note, given in payment of a load of cattle sold by him to one William Watson, said note being made, executed, and delivered by said William Watson for the purchase price thereof, and so stated as aforesaid for the purpose aforesaid; and the said Manford Kern, as cashier aforesaid, believing the said false pretenses so made as aforesaid, and being deceived thereby, was induced by reason thereof to pay divers overdrafts on said bank, on said day and within five days thereafter, drawn by said Barbee on said bank; and on account of said overdrafts or checks the said Barbee received from said bank, through said Kern as cashier, the sum of three hundred and twenty-nine dollars and seventy-five cents, lawful money of the United States, and of the value of three hundred and twenty-nine dollars and seventy-five cents; and the said Barbee, by means of the said false pretenses, and then and there well knowing them to be false, so made by said Barbee as aforesaid, to said Kern as cashier aforesaid, unlawfully, feloniously, designedly, and knowingly did obtain of and from said bank, through said Kern, cashier as aforesaid, the said sum of three hundred and twenty-nine dollars and seventy-five cents, lawful money, of the value of three hundred and twenty-nine dollars and seventy-five cents, of the money and property of said bank, with intent it, the said bank, then and there to cheat and defraud of the same; whereas, in truth and in fact, said Barbee was not then and there the owner of said note, as he then and there well knew, and said pretense was wholly false and untrue, and against the peace and dignity of the state."

The only question the record presents is the sufficiency of the indictment, and for that reason it has been set forth. That portion of section 3564, supra, on which the indictment is based, is in these words: "Every person who, with intent to cheat or defraud another, shall designedly, by color of any false token or writing, or by any other false pretense, obtain the signature of any person to any written instrument, or obtain from any person any money, personal property, right in action or other valuable thing or effects whatsoever." Section 22 of our bill of rights declares that: "In criminal prosecutions the accused shall have the right to demand the nature and cause of the...