State v. Dines

• Decision Date: 19 November 1907
• Citation: 105 S.W. 722,206 Mo. 649
• Parties: STATE v. DINES.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

105 S.W. 722

206 Mo. 649

STATE v. DINES.

Supreme Court of Missouri, Division No. 2.

November 19, 1907.

1. FALSE PRETENSES — ELEMENTS OF OFFENSE — PROOF.

To authorize a conviction under Rev. St. 1899, § 1927 [Ann. St. 1906, p. 1312], for obtaining property under false pretenses, every essential element of the offense must be established.

2. SAME — RELIANCE ON PRETENSE — PROOF.

In prosecutions for obtaining money or property under false pretenses, positive proof is not at all times required as to the reliance of the victim upon the representations made, but an inference of such reliance must be authorized by the facts and circumstances in proof.

3. SAME — SUFFICIENCY OF EVIDENCE.

Evidence in a prosecution for obtaining property under false pretenses held insufficient to warrant submitting to the jury the question whether defendant had falsely represented that in his own name and as trustee he was the owner of certain land.

4. SAME.

Evidence in a prosecution for obtaining property under false pretenses held insufficient to warrant submitting to the jury the question whether defendant had falsely represented that certain tracts conveyed by him were real and actual tracts of land in Montgomery county, Ga.

5. PUBLIC LANDS — GRANT BY STATE — EVIDENCE — RECORDS.

The failure or inability to locate or find upon the records any definite description of the land contemplated by a grant from the state of Georgia is not a basis for the conclusion that there was in fact no land embraced in the grant.

Appeal from St. Louis Circuit Court; Daniel G. Taylor, Judge.

William C. Dines was convicted of obtaining property under false pretenses, and he appeals. Reversed, and defendant discharged.

This cause is now pending in this court upon appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the circuit court of the city of St. Louis, convicting him of obtaining property under false pretenses. Omitting formal parts, the indictment upon which this prosecution and judgment is predicated is as follows:

"The grand jurors of the state of Missouri, within and for the body of the city of St. Louis, now here in court, duly impaneled sworn and charged, upon their oaths present that: William C. Dines, then and there pretending a desire to sell the lands hereinafter described, on or about the twentieth day of October, one thousand nine hundred and three, at the city of St. Louis aforesaid, with the felonious intent then and there to cheat and defraud one Henry Alt, Jr., did feloniously, willfully, fraudulently, knowingly, designedly, and falsely pretend and represent to the said Henry Alt, Jr., that he, the said William C. Dines, was then and there the owner in fee simple of certain tracts and parcels of land situate in the county of Montgomery, and state of Georgia, more particularly described as follows, to wit: Grants numbers 46 to 60, both inclusive, being grants of 1,000 acres each, containing 15,000 acres, being a part of the Thomas Cooper survey of 77,000 acres, and lying within the 1221st and 51st districts, G. M., and being the same property conveyed to the said W. C. Dines, trustee, by deed dated June 25, 1895, recorded in the recorder's office of Montgomery county, Georgia, July 3, 1895, in Book SS, pages 374 and 375, together with all and singular the hereditaments and appurtenances thereto belonging, or in anywise appertaining, and the reversion and reversions, remainder, rents, issues, and profits thereof, situate in the county of Montgomery and state of Georgia, and that the said tracts and parcels of land, so above described, were then and there real and actual tracts and parcels of land, really and actually in being and existence in said county of Montgomery and state of Georgia aforesaid, and that he, the said William C. Dines, was then and there, individually and as trustee, owner of the said tracts and parcels of land above described, and that he, the said William C. Dines, as widower and trustee, did then and there have full power, right, and title to convey said tracts and parcels of land above described in fee simple, and that a certain deed of conveyance to said Henry Alt, Jr., of date October 20, 1903, executed by the said William C. Dines on said day, as an individual widower and as trustee, and describing said tracts and parcels of land hereinbefore described as situate in the said county of Montgomery and state of Georgia, was then and there a deed of conveyance of real and actual tracts and parcels of land, then and there really and actually in being and existence in said county and state, and that the said Henry Alt, Jr., believing the said false pretenses and representations, so made to him by the said William C. Dines, as aforesaid, to be true, and relying upon and confiding in the same, and being deceived thereby was induced by reason thereof to buy said purported lands from said William C. Dines, and as part of the consideration therefor to pay and deliver, and did in fact, then and there, pay and deliver to the said William C. Dines certain personal properties of the said Henry Alt, Jr., of great value, to wit: of the value of fifteen thousand dollars, lawful money of the United States, and consisting of a certain check drawn by said Henry Alt, Jr., at the city of St. Louis, Missouri, on October 20, 1903, on the American Exchange Bank of said city, payable to the order of said William C. Dines, trustee, in and for the sum of one thousand dollars, which said check was then and there of the value of one thousand dollars, lawful money of the United States, and of a certain cashier's check, issued by the American Exchange Bank of the said city of St. Louis, Missouri, to William C. Dines, trustee, on the same day, in the sum of fourteen thousand dollars, which said check was then and there of the value of fourteen thousand dollars, lawful money of the United States, both of which said checks were then and there the property of Henry Alt, Jr., and it is further averred that said William C. Dines, by means of said false pretenses and representations so made to the said Henry Alt, Jr., as aforesaid, then and there unlawfully, knowingly, feloniously, fraudulently, and designedly, did obtain of and from the said Henry Alt, Jr., the said personal properties aforesaid, consisting of a certain check drawn by Henry Alt, Jr., at the city of St. Louis, Missouri, on October 20, 1903, on the American Exchange Bank in said city of St. Louis, payable to the order of the said William C. Dines, trustee, in the sum of one thousand dollars, which said check was then and there of the value of one thousand dollars, lawful money of the United States, and of a certain check issued by the said American Exchange Bank of said city of St. Louis, to William C. Dines, trustee, on the same day in the sum of fourteen thousand dollars, which said check was then and there of the value of fourteen thousand dollars, lawful money of the United States, both of which said checks were then and there the property of the said Henry Alt, Jr., and both of which were together then and there of the aggregate value of fifteen thousand dollars, with felonious intent then and there to cheat and defraud the said Henry Alt, Jr.; whereas, in truth and in fact, he, the said William C. Dines, was not then and there the owner in fee simple of certain tracts and parcels of land, situate in the county of Montgomery and state of Georgia, more particularly described as follows, to wit: Grants numbers 46 to 60, both inclusive, being fifteen grants of 1,000 acres each, containing fifteen thousand acres, being a part or portion of the Thomas Cooper survey of 77,000 acres, and lying within the 1221st and 51st districts, G. M., and being the same property conveyed to the said W. C. Dines, trustee, by deed dated June 25, 1895, recorded in the recorder's office of Montgomery county, Georgia, July 3, 1895, in Book SS, pages 374 and 375, together with all and singular the hereditaments and appurtenances thereto belonging, or in anywise appertaining, and the reversion and reversions, remainder rents, issues, and profits thereof, situate in the county of Montgomery and state of Georgia, and whereas, in truth and in fact, the said tracts and parcels of land so above described were not then and there real and actual tracts and parcels of land, really and actually in being and existence in the said county of Montgomery and state of Georgia aforesaid; and whereas in truth and in fact the said William C. Dines, was not then and there, individually and as trustee, owner of the said tracts and parcels of land above described; and whereas in truth and in fact the said William C. Dines, as widower and trustee, did not then and there have full power, right, and title to convey said tracts and parcels of land, above described, in fee simple; and whereas in truth and in fact the certain deed of conveyance to Henry Alt, Jr., grantee, named therein, of date October 20, 1903, executed by the said William C. Dines, on said day as an individual widower and as trustee, and describing said tracts and parcels of land, hereinabove described as situate in the said county of Montgomery and state of Georgia, was not then and there a deed of conveyance of real and actual tracts and parcels of land, then and there really and actually in being and existence in said county and state, all of which the said William C. Dines then and there well knew; against the peace and dignity of the state."

This indictment was returned by the grand jury against the defendant William C. Dines at the June term, 1905, of the circuit court of the city of St. Louis. The cause was assigned to Division No. 9 of said court for trial, but, upon the application of the defendant for a change of venue from the judge of said division, the cause was transferred to Division No. 11 of said court. At the December term thereof, 1905, the defendant entered his plea of not guilty and the trial of the cause proceeded.

The record in...