State v. Cousins

• Decision Date: 12 May 1908
• Citation: 110 S.W. 607,131 Mo. App. 617
• Parties: STATE v. COUSINS.
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

110 S.W. 607

131 Mo. App. 617

STATE v. COUSINS.

St. Louis Court of Appeals, Missouri.

May 12, 1908.

WEAPONS — EXHIBITING WEAPONS — PERSONS PRIVILEGED.

Under Ann. St. 1906, § 1862, punishing one who carries a concealed weapon, or who, in the presence of another or others, exhibits any such weapon in a rude, angry, or threatening manner, and section 1863, providing that the preceding section shall not apply "to police officers * * * nor to persons * * * traveling peaceably" through the state, such travelers are as a class exempt from the provisions of section 1862, but one who, while traveling through the state, conducts himself in such a manner as to disturb the peace, is not exempt, and therefore one who, while traveling, exhibits in the presence of others a weapon in a rude, angry, or threatening manner, is guilty of a violation of the statute.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Oregon County; W. N. Evans, Judge.

Lee Cousins was convicted of unlawfully exhibiting a weapon, and he appeals. Affirmed.

Geo. M. Miley, for appellant. Jno. D. Brooks, for the State.

BLAND, P. J.

By information containing two counts, filed in the Oregon county circuit court, defendant was charged in the first count with unlawfully carrying a pistol concealed on his person; by the second count with unlawfully exhibiting a pistol in the presence of J. M. Huddelston, Ira Hull, and Joe Mooney in a rude, angry, and threatening manner. The jury acquitted defendant on the first count of the information, but convicted him on the second one, and assessed his punishment at a fine of $75.

The evidence tends to show defendant was a dealer in cattle, and that he traveled about in this state and in the state of Arkansas for the purpose of buying cattle. On the day the offense is alleged to have been committed defendant was boarding at a hotel in Koshkonong in Oregon county, and preparatory to boarding a railroad train to go to the state of Arkansas he put on his overcoat, took his pistol from a dresser drawer, and placed it in his overcoat pocket. On his way to the station defendant met the prosecuting witness, and became involved in a quarrel with him about some stock, and during the quarrel pulled the pistol from his pocket, cursed and abused the prosecuting witness, and repeatedly threatened to shoot a hole through him. Defendant moved the court to instruct the jury as follows: "You are instructed in this case that if you believe from the evidence that at the time the matters charged in the information herein occurred the defendant was moving or traveling peaceably through this state, then you should find the defendant not guilty." The court refused to grant the instructions, and instructed the jury as follows: "(1) If you believe from the evidence that defendant at the time of the alleged offense was peaceably traveling in the state, or just about starting on a trip, then he would have a right while so traveling to carry a...