State v. Connor

• Citation: 11 N.E. 454,110 Ind. 469
• Parties: State v. Connor.
• Decision Date: 23 April 1887
• Court: Indiana Supreme Court

110 Ind. 469

11 N.E. 454

State

v.Connor.

Supreme Court of Indiana.

April 23, 1887.

Appeal from circuit court, Gibson county.Fields & Ewing, for appellant. McCullough & Miller, for appellee.

NIBLACK, J.

At the September term, 1886, of the court below, an indictment against John W. Connor, the appellee, for obtaining property under false pretenses, was returned by the grand jury. The indictment was in two counts, and, on a motion to quash, both counts were held to be insufficient, and the appellee was discharged. The first count charged that on and prior to the sixth day of March, 1885, the appellee and one James A. McClellan were partners in the sale of dry goods and of general merchandise in the town of Oakland, in the county of Gibson, in this state, under the firm name of Connor & McClellan; that on said sixth day of March, 1885, at said town of Oakland, the appellee willfully, knowingly, falsely, and feloniously, and with intent to defraud Charles P. Kellogg & Co., a firm of merchants doing business at Chicago, in the state of Illinois, and with the further intention of inducing the said Charles P. Kellogg & Co. to sell a large quantity of clothing and other merchandise to the said firm of Connor & McClellan on credit, represented and pretended to the said Kellogg & Co. that the said firm of Connor & McClellan commenced business on the first day of January, 1885, with a capital of $15,000 contributed and paid in by its members; that there was then due said firm in notes and accounts the sum of $1,000, and that said firm had on hand in cash $350; that said firm had also remaining on hand goods and stock in trade of the value of $14,000; that the total indebtedness of said firm amounted to only the aggregate sum of $1,400; that said firm was doing business at the rate of $20,000 a year; “that said Charles P. Kellogg & Co., relying on said representations and pretenses, and believing the same to be true, and being deceived thereby, on the twenty-fourth day of March, 1885, sold on credit and delivered to said firm of Connor & McClellan, at their special instance and request, at the town of Oakland, Gibson county, Indiana, the following goods and chattels, the property of the said Charles P. Kellogg & Co., to-wit, eleven overcoats of the value of ten dollars each,” and a large amount of other property, particularly describing it. The count then proceeded to negative in detail the several representations charged to have been made by the appellee, and to aver that said firm of Connor & McClellan was, at the time the same were made, wholly insolvent, all of which was fully known to the appellee. The second count gave more in detail, but contained...