State v. Chinn

• Decision Date: 01 February 1898
• Citation: 142 Mo. 507,44 S.W. 245
• Parties: STATE v. CHINN.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

44 S.W. 245

142 Mo. 507

STATE v. CHINN.

Supreme Court of Missouri, Division No. 2.

February 1, 1898.

FORGERY — SUFFICIENCY OF INDICTMENT.

1. An indictment charged that defendant uttered as true "an order purporting to be the act of one Mrs. A., to wit, Sue E. A.," etc., knowing it to be forged. The order set out was signed, "Mrs. A." Held bad for uncertainty, in that it did not sufficiently show whose name was forged.

2. An indictment charged that defendant uttered as true a certain instrument, knowing it to be forged, which was entitled "The State against S.," "before ____, J. P.," and purported to be an order of A. on the clerk of the criminal court to pay a firm named "fees due me as a witness in the above-named case." Held bad, as not showing any case pending in which A. was entitled to witness fee.

Appeal from criminal court, Greene county; J. J. Gideon, Judge.

W. W. Chinn was convicted of uttering a forged instrument, and appeals. Reversed.

P. T. Allen and W. D. Tatlow, for appellant. Edward C. Crow, Atty. Gen., and Saml. B. Jeffries, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.

BURGESS, J.

At the March term, 1896, of the Greene county criminal court, the defendant was indicted by the grand jury of said county, and charged in the first count of the indictment with forging an order, and in the second count with uttering and publishing the same knowing it to be forged, with intent to defraud. At the July term, 1896, of said court, he was put upon his trial, and acquitted of the crime charged against him in the first count, but was convicted under the second count, and his punishment fixed at two years' imprisonment in the penitentiary. Defendant in due time filed motion for a new trial and in arrest, which being overruled, he saved his exceptions, and brings the case here by appeal for review. The indictment, leaving off the formal parts, is as follows: "The grand jurors of the state of Missouri, impaneled, sworn, and charged to inquire within and for the body of Greene county, upon their oath present that one W. W. Chinn, late of the county and state aforesaid, on the 11th day of January, A. D. 1896, at the county of Green and state of Missouri, did then and there unlawfully and feloniously forge, counterfeit, and falsely make a certain false, forged, and counterfeit instrument in writing, to wit, an order purporting to be the act of one Mrs. Austin, to wit, Sue E. Austin, by which a pecuniary demand and obligation purported to be transferred, which said false, forged, and counterfeit order is of the tenor following: `State of Missouri, Plaintiff, vs. William Sharp, Defendant. Before ____, J. P., Springfield, Mo., January 11, 1896. Clerk of the Criminal Court of Greene County, Mo.: Pay to Chinn Bros. fees due me as witness in above-named case. This order will be honored by criminal clerk of any county to which this case may be transferred. More or less, $.50. For value received I assign this claim to Chinn Bros. Attest: Mrs. Austin,' — with intent then and there and thereby feloniously to injure and defraud, against the peace and dignity of the state. And the grand jurors aforesaid, impaneled, sworn, and charged as aforesaid, upon their oaths aforesaid, do further say and present that one W. W. Chinn, late of the county and state aforesaid, on the 11th day of January, 1896, at the county of Greene and state of Missouri, and feloniously, a certain false and counterfeit instrument in writing, to wit, an order purporting to be made by Mrs. Austin, to wit, Sue E. Austin, by which a pecuniary demand and obligation purported to be transferred by the said Mrs. Austin to Chinn Bros., which said forged, false, and counterfeit instrument in writing is of the tenor following: `State of Missouri, Plaintiff, vs. William Sharp, Defendant. Before ____, J. P., Springfield, Mo., January 11, 1896. Clerk of Criminal Court Green County, Mo.: Pay to Chinn Bros. fees due me as witness in above-named case. This order will be honored by the criminal clerk of any county to which this case may be transferred. More or less, $.50. For value received I assign this claim to Chinn Bros. Attest: Mrs. Austin,' — feloniously did pass, utter, and publish as true to one D. C. Henshey, as treasurer of Greene county, Mo., with intent him, the said D. C. Henshey, then and there, and thereby, feloniously to injure and defraud, he, the said W. W. Chinn, then and there well knowing the said instrument in writing and order to be false, forged, and counterfeit, contrary to the form of the statute in such cases made and provided, and against the peace and dignity...