State v. Farr

• Decision Date: 03 November 1925
• Docket Number: No. 19082.,19082.
• Citation: 277 S.W. 354
• Parties: STATE v. FARR.
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

277 S.W. 354

STATE v. FARR.

No. 19082.

St. Louis Court of Appeals. Missouri.

November 3, 1925.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Lincoln County; Edgar B. Woolfolk, Judge.

"Not to be officially published."

Leonard Farr was convicted of a violation of the Blue Sky Law, and he appeals. Affirmed.

John L. Burns, D. E. Killam, and Howell & Jackson, all of Troy, for appellant.

Grover C. Huston and D. B. Williams, both of Troy, for the State.

DAUBS, P. J.

Defendant was convicted in Lincoln county of a violation of section 11931, Revised Statutes Missouri 1919, commonly known as the Blue Sky Law, and his punishment was fixed at a $100 fine, and he appeals.

This is the second time this case is here; a former conviction having been set aside by this court for error in instructions. State v. Farr, 255 S. W. 1039.

This appeal is brought here on a "short form" transcript; subsequently a bill of exceptions was filed here. The defendant filed a brief and has orally argued the case, but the state is not represented, though we are persistently pointing out the duty of the prosecuting attorney to represent the state in criminal cases in this court. Nowhere in the record is the information set forth, though the substance of the information is given in the brief. The information was filed in 1920, charging the defendant with wrongfully and unlawfully, as agent of the Fallsberry Oil & Gas Company, a foreign investment company, selling to one Jesse K. East, 100 shares of the capital stock of the Fallsberry Oil & Gas Company for $150; that defendant was not at the time a duly registered agent of the Fallsberry Oil & Gas Company, and did not comply with the provisions of the statutes in that respect.

The evidence on behalf of the state tended to show that defendant in March, 1920, sold and delivered to one Jesse K. East, 100 shares of stock in the Fallsberry Oil & Gas Company, a Delaware corporation, for the sum of $150; that this stock belonged to the corporation and was paid for with a check to the company. The receipt given East by the defendant recited that defendant was the agent of the oil and gas company. It was then shown by the records in the office of the commissioner of finance of the state of Missouri that, at the time of this sale of stock, the records contained no entry authorizing this company to sell stock in this state, and contained no entry showing the registration of defendant as its stock salesman, as required by law. The company maintained an office in Ellsberry, Lincoln county, during the early part of 1920, equipped it with furniture, and employed a bookkeeper and a stenographer, and maintained such force for about two months. The office was in charge of defendant, who was secretary of the company.

The defense offered testimony tending to show that defendant engaged in the organization of the Fallsberry Oil & Gas Company and in the sale of its stock at Ellsbegry in 1920; that, after the corporation was organized, defendant secured and equipped an office and secured leases in said county. There was testimony that defendant never sold any of the stock of this corporation as the agent of the company, but that defendant explained to East the purposes and prospects of the company and sold 100 shares of the stock to him for $150; that the stock was promotion stock owned by one Newman and the defendant. It was admitted that defendant was secretary of the corporation.

The point is made that the court erred in giving the state's first instruction. This instruction is as follows:

"The court instructs the jury that if you find and believe from the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant, Leonard Farr, at the county of Lincoln, and state of Missouri, on or about the 20th day of March, 1920, or at any time within one year before the filing of the information in this case, to wit, December 30, 1920, did willfully and unlawfully sell to one Jesse K. East 100 shares of oil stock of the Fallsberry Oil & Gas Company without first being registered with the bank commissioner of the state of Missouri, as agent for said Fallsberry Oil & Gas Company, and if you further find and believe from the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that at the time the said Leonard Farr sold the said oil stock to the said Jesse K. East, if you find and believe from the evidence that the defendant did so sell said oil stock, that the said Leonard Farr was then and there acting as the agent of the said Fallsberry Oil & Gas Company in making said sale, then it is your duty to find the defendant guilty, and assess his punishment as a fine of not less than $100 and not more than $5,000 or an imprisonment in the county jail for not more than 90 days, or by both such fine and...