State v. Bronstine

• Decision Date: 07 February 1899
• Citation: 147 Mo. 520,49 S.W. 512
• Parties: STATE v. BRONSTINE.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

49 S.W. 512

147 Mo. 520

STATE v. BRONSTINE.

Supreme Court of Missouri, Division No. 2.

February 7, 1899.

INDICTMENT — DESCRIPTION OF WOUND — JURORS — COMPETENCY — REVIEW — INSANITY — WITNESS — COMPETENCY — OPINION — HOMICIDE — INSTRUCTION.

1. An indictment for homicide is not defective as describing an impossible wound, since such indictment need not describe the wound nor state on what part of the body it was inflicted.

2. A juror was not incompetent where he stated that he had a "conditional" opinion, and his evidence on his voir dire showed his impression was based on newspaper reports and public rumors, and was not such as to prevent his returning an impartial verdict.

3. The question of a juror's competency cannot be reviewed where he was not challenged at the time of his acceptance by the court.

4. On the issue of accused's insanity, it is competent for witnesses, who were his neighbors, and had known, visited, seen him frequently for many years, and had observed his manner of acting and conversation, to testify that they saw nothing peculiar or strange in his conduct, and that, in their opinion, he was sane at and just before the crime.

5. Where accused prepared a murderous weapon the night before the crime, and, under pretense of visiting his children, went to where they and his wife were, and there deliberately shot her, without provocation, a charge on murder in the second degree was properly refused.

Appeal from circuit court, Clark county; E. R. McKee, Judge.

Fred Bronstine was convicted of murder in the first degree, and he appeals. Affirmed.

Eli W. Gwynne, J. S. Tall, N. T. Gentry, and J. A. Whiteside, for appellant. Edward C. Crow, Atty. Gen., Sam. B. Jeffries, Asst. Atty. Gen., and W. W. Graves, for the State.

GANTT, P. J.

From a conviction of murder in the first degree, defendant appeals to this court. The homicide occurred in Clark county on the 12th day of March, 1898. The indictment was returned at the April term, 1898. Defendant was duly arraigned. Being without means, the court appointed two members of the bar to represent the defendant. The cause was set down for trial on June 25, 1898. At that time a trial was had, and defendant found guilty.

The facts are few and simple. The defendant was a married man. His wife had borne him six children, two of whom had died before the homicide occurred. He had become so cruel in his treatment of his wife and children at times that his wife left him, and took her children to her mother's home. On the 12th of March, 1898, he went to the home of her mother, and shot and killed his wife.

The facts are thus detailed by Mrs. Julia Rowe, the mother: "I am 78 years old. I was at home on the 12th of March. There was no one there but me and her and the two little children. The biggest child was up at Henry's. When I say `her,' I mean Mrs. Bronstine. She was my daughter. Her name was Amelia Jane, but she was generally called `Dud.' That was the nickname she always went by. I have seen Fred Bronstine. He came to my house on that day. He came there horseback. He came there, but no one knew it. I guess he must have slipped up, and then got on his horse. She went to the door. I did not go. I says, `What's out there?' I says, `Who is that? I don't know him.' `Well,' she says, `It's Fred.' I did not say nothing more, you know. He said he came to see the children. She said to come in, and he came in, but he did not come into the house, — only came to the door. The children got there, and it appeared like they did not want to see him. When one got up and went towards him, that was not what he came for, — the child. No, sir; it was not. He says, `Are you going to come back and live with me?' Said this to Mrs. Bronstine. She said, `No; I won't go back.' He jerked a revolver out of his pocket, and pushed and jammed her against the door, and shot at her, and she knocked the revolver away, and he did not hit her. She ran into the room, and he followed her, and shot her there. She ran back, and he ran back to where she was a-standing, and caught her with his left hand, and jammed her against the facing of the door, and drawed up the gun, and shot her in the eye. I did not know which eye it was. And she slipped till she fell upon the ground. He saw she was going to die, and said to me, `Come, help me take her in the house;' and then he laid her on the floor. She was dead then. He walked around her, and said to me, `Do you think she is dead?' I said, `My God, anybody would be dead!' He walked around, and said: `I am going to kill myself. Here is my pocketbook. Take that money, and keep it to bury me and Jennie.' He always called her Jennie. I took the pocketbook, and laid it upon the safe. Then he says, `Now, I am going to kill myself.' I says, `Just step out of doors, if you are going to kill yourself.' I didn't want him in the house. He then would not kill himself. He walked around, and the little girl went up to Mr. Clark. He was fixing something with his back to me, and directly the revolver shot, and the little girl said the bullet just passed her head. He shot four times at her in the door; once in the house. That made five times. The sixth time he went after the little girl. When he had Mrs. Bronstine against the door, and shot her, was the time he killed her. She was against the facing of the door, and just slipped down. She never struggled. There was no signs of life after that. Two little ones and me was there when he shot down their mother. I was there when the doctor came. The doctor washed her face. Bronstine got on his horse, and said he was going to Monticello to give himself up. He came back and got his pocketbook. He had gone pretty nigh a hundred yards, and came back, and asked me for his pocketbook. Mr. Clark came as soon as Fred got out of sight a little bit, and stayed with me. Mrs. Bronstine and the children had been at my house nearly two months. Before that she had lived with him. Bronstine and his wife had lived at my house some years ago. They farmed my place. That has been several years ago. Sometimes he appeared to treat her well, and again he was awful cross to her. We buried Mrs. Bronstine on the next day (Sunday), at Providence Church. Cross-examination: They lived with me about three years ago. He tended two crops on my place. He was kind enough to his family while there, except at times. He was unkind to his children when he got mad at them." Here counsel for the defendant showed by the witness that defendant would at times get mad at his wife and children, apparently without cause, the witness calling these spells "mad or mean spells." Concerning the murder, the witness then said: "The oldest girl was there when her mother was shot. This girl was standing in the room. The younger one — the one eight years old — was under the bed, I think. Mrs. Bronstine slipped and fell on the doorstep, down on the porch like, after the last shot. Bronstine was right on the doorstep, too. He pressed her right against the house, holding her with one hand and shooting her with the other. He had her against the doorfacing. I think he was a little lower than she, as they stood there. There were four shots out of doors, in all, and one in the other room, and one when he went out, and saw the little girl going to Mrs. Clark's. Six shots altogether. I don't think I ever heard him say that he would kill her. When I spoke of threats, it was what his wife and children told me. At the time he would have those spells, when he lived at my house, I never saw him strike the children; just abuse them. I can't tell you about the revolver at all. He had it in his hand, and drawed it up like this. It went right up against her, and shot her. I saw him load up after he shot. He went out doors, and loaded up. He had his back to me. You know I just said he was loading. We looked for the shells, but couldn't find them. I think he put them in his pocket."

Birdie Lee Bronstine, a child of defendant 10 years old, testified: "I am ten years old. I was down at grandma's the day mamma was killed. I was standing in the door. Papa came there on his horse. He said, `How do you do?' and I said, `How do you do?' He told her to come and kiss him, and she would not do it. Then he got off. I was going under the bed, and she told me to get out. Mamma was standing on the doorstep. He asked her if she would come back and stay, and she said, `No.' Then he held her and shot, and she knocked off the lick. He shot her again. She knocked it off, and ran in the house. He shot again, and then came back, and he caught her, and shot her, and she fell. She never done anything when she fell, and then I went up to Mr. Clark's. Papa was standing there when I left. He shot her in the right eye. I went and got Mr. Clark's folks. I told them what had happened. I did not go back then. The revolver was a bright one. I never seen him shoot but three times. He tried to shoot at mamma each time. Grandma and Nora and Allie and me were there. Before we went to grandma's, we lived over across the creek. I do not know what made us go over to grandma. Papa and mamma quarreled while we lived over there. They quarreled often. They never fought with one another. On the night before we left they quarreled. Papa choked mamma that night. Caught her around the throat, and choked her. Mamma was sitting on a chair by the eating stove. I seen them quarrel before that. Papa would cuss and swear at mamma." The cross-examination of this witness was along the line of showing that the husband would frequently take mad spells, without any apparent cause, evidently for the purpose of sustaining a plea of insanity. The witness states that when he was not mad he was good to her mother and the children.

Dr. Thomin testified that he was called on March 12th, and found Mrs. Bronstine dead at the home of her mother. He testified that the bullet entered at the inside angle of the eye, went in between the eyeball and the nose,...