State v. Beabout

• Citation: 69 N.W. 429,100 Iowa 155
• Parties: STATE v. BEABOUT.
• Decision Date: 10 December 1896
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

100 Iowa 155

69 N.W. 429

STATE

v.BEABOUT.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Dec. 10, 1896.

Appeal from district court, Taylor county; H. M. Towner, Judge.

The defendant was indicted, tried, and convicted of the crime of rape, committed upon the person of Myrtle Bristow, and he appealed from the sentence or judgment of the district court. Affirmed.L. T. McCoun and J. R. McCoun, for appellant.

Milton Remley, Atty. Gen., and Jesse A. Miller, for the State.

ROTHROCK, C. J.

The crime with which the defendant was charged was alleged to have been committed on the 30th day of September, 1895. The defendant is a married man, and at the time of the trial he was 28 years of age, and engaged in keeping a drug store at Hopkins, a village in the state of Missouri, near the Iowa state line, and about 10 miles from Bedford, the county seat of Taylor county, in this state. The complaining witness, Myrtle Bristow, arrived at the age of 15 years on the 24th day of November, 1895, some 2 months after the crime, if any, was committed. It does not appear that she was abnormally developed physically. On the contrary, some of the witnesses in the case spoke of her and a companion, of about the same age, who was with her when the alleged crime was committed, as little girls. It appears that she and her companion, who was named Edith Corwin, were schoolmates. On the morning of September 30, 1895, they went to school, and the teacher or superintendent of the school suspended them from further attendance, for what was thought to be improper conduct, tending to demoralize the morals of the school. Immediately upon being suspended they left the town, and walked to Bedford, a distance of 10 miles. They did not return to their homes, and their families, on making inquiry about them, learned that they were at Bedford, and an arrangement was made to have them brought home. The defendant and one Lewis learned that the girls were at Bedford, and they procured a single-seated buggy, and drove to that place, and ascertained that the girls had, through directions from their families, been found by the marshal of Bedford; and they were being kept by him, awaiting some one who, they were advised, would come from Hopkins to take them home. The defendant appeared at the place where the girls were at about 10 o'clock that night, and represented that he had come after the children, to take them home. After some parley with the marshal, he consented to let the defendant take them to Hopkins. The marshal required him to bring the buggy where the girls were, and they started on their way. The defendant assured the marshal that he was all right, a married man, and that he ran a drug store in Hopkins. When they had driven about two blocks south and a block west, they found Ewing in waiting. He got into the buggy, and they left the town, on the way to their homes. While on the way, they stopped, and got out of the buggy; and Beabout had sexual intercourse with the prosecuting witness, and Ewing with Edith Corwin. There is no conflict in the evidence as to the fact of sexual intercourse. The four parties to the acts were all examined as witnesses on the trial. They differed as to disgusting details, and their testimony will not be repeated here. Beabout and both the girls testified that they stopped and got out of the buggy twice on the way. Ewing appeared to have remembered of but one stop. The prosecuting witness testified that the first time Ewing attempted to have intercourse with her, and that she successfully resisted him, and that during that time Beabout had intercourse with Edith Corwin, and that at the second halt in the journey the defendant dragged her out of the buggy, and, notwithstanding her resistance, he overpowered her, and accomplished his purpose. The party arrived at Hopkins at about 2 o'clock in the morning. The girls were let out of the buggy some distance from their homes. Myrtle went to her home, and it was at once discovered that something unusual had happened. Her underclothing was bloody. She was greatly excited, and cried, and, after some hours, told her mother that she had been ravished by Beabout.

We have thus far stated facts which are practically undisputed, except as to the manner in which the two men gratified their desires. They testified in the most positive terms that there was no force used, but that the girls were willing and anxious to have sexual intercourse with them. On the other hand, if the testimony of the girls is to be believed, both of the men were guilty of the crime charged in the indictment, and the attending circumstances were of the most brutal and revolting character.

The main contention of counsel for appellant is that the verdict was against the evidence, and that a new trial should have been granted for that reason. Much of the argument in behalf of appellant is devoted to a review and an analysis of the testimony of the witnesses, and counsel for the state, following the same lines, discuss the questions, and claim that the evidence of guilt is absolutely conclusive. It is not our practice to review the evidence in detail. After carefully examining the whole record, we think the verdict is not only supported by sufficient evidence, but that any other result than a verdict of guilty ought not to have been expected. It is true that the general reputation of the prosecutrix and her companion for chastity and moral character was attacked, and witnesses testified to facts which indicated that they were wayward children; but witnesses on the part of the state testified otherwise, and that question was fairly submitted to the jury. There are some features of the case that, in our opinion, fully sustain the testimony of the two girls. Our most important fact is the condition of the prosecuting witness when she arrived at her home. Her clothing and all her acts and demeanor showed unmistakably that she had been outrageously abused; and a most controlling consideration is that, about 48 hours after the affair occurred, two respectable physicians made a physical...