State v. Briscoe
| Decision Date | 20 May 1907 |
| Citation | 67 A. 154,22 Del. 401 |
| Court | Court of General Sessions of Delaware |
| Parties | STATE v. EDWARD BRISCOE |
Court of General Sessions, New Castle County, May Term, 1907.
INDICTMENT for obtaining money by false pretenses from The Wilmington City Railway Company, a corporation of the State of Delaware.
At the trial the State proved, among others, the following facts viz:
That at about half-past nine o'clock on the evening of April 19 1907, the defendant Briscoe approached two men at Pennsylvania Avenue and Du Pont Street in the City of Wilmington, stating that he had been struck by a car of The Wilmington City Railway Company running north on Du Pont Street; that a large quantity of blood was seen on the tracks of said company on Du Pont Street at Pennsylvania Avenue and while the same was being examined by two of the State's witnesses the defendant called the attention of said witnesses to a Wilmington City Railway car which was running on Du Pont Street south from Delaware Avenue, the terminus of the Du Pont Street line, three squares from Pennsylvania Avenue and Du Pont Street-- stating that that was the car which struck him and requesting that they examine the car as it approached them towards the south and see if there was blood on the north end of the car and also to get the number of the car and write it down for him so that he might not forget it.
Said witnesses noticed something like blood on the north end of the car as it passed them and also stated that the number of the car was 62. They also testified that the face and shirt front of the defendant were covered with blood. At the request of the defendant an ambulance was telephoned for and the defendant was sent to the Delaware Hospital; that he was there examined by a physician and no injuries whatever were found upon him, although he complained of pains in his head and he was discharged from the hospital the following morning.
There was further evidence showing that blood was found on the pavement near the railway tracks at the terminus at Delaware Avenue. Two quart fruit jars smeared on the inside with what looked like blood, found near the scene of the alleged accident early the following morning, were admitted in evidence. The State also proved that between nine and ten o'clock on the morning of April 19th, the defendant went to the Wilmington Abattoir and purchased one quart of ox blood, stating that he wanted it to drink. The State further proved by Dr. A. Robin, City Bacteriologist and blood expert that samples of blood taken from the fender of Car No. 62, from the tracks of the Company at Du Pont Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, and from the shirt worn by the defendant on the night of April 19th, were examined by him scientifically and microscopically and that said examination disclosed that none of said samples showed the usual characteristics of human blood, but that each and all of the same were consistent with ox blood. The State also showed that the prisoner obtained from the Wilmington City Railway Company the sum of $ 85.00 as compensation for his alleged injuries.
The State contended upon the above facts that the only reasonable inference that could be drawn therefrom was that the defendant, after purchasing the ox blood from the Abattoir Company, had smeared the same upon the north end of the bumper of Car No. 62 while it was lying over at the terminus at Delaware Avenue and Du Pont Street, then hastened back to Du Pont Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, poured blood upon the track there, smeared himself with the blood and left the jars in which he had brought the same where they were subsequently found, and then called the attention of the State's witnesses at Pennsylvania Avenue and Du Pont Street to the evidences of his alleged injuries, which were wholly feigned and pretended; and having received compensation of $ 85.00 upon the basis of such pretended injuries, it rendered him clearly guilty of obtaining money by false pretenses.
The defendant denied the allegations of the State and stated that he purchased the ox blood in question but drank the same upon the premises of the Wilmington Abattoir Company, explaining that the blood upon his shirt...
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