State v. Feazell

• Decision Date: 21 January 1896
• Citation: 33 S.W. 788,132 Mo. 176
• Parties: The State, Appellant, v. Feazell
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

33 S.W. 788

132 Mo. 176

The State, Appellant, v. Feazell

Supreme Court of Missouri, Second Division

January 21, 1896

Appeal from Jasper Circuit Court. -- Hon. E. C. Crow, Judge.

Reversed and Remanded.

R. F Walker, attorney general, for the state.

The indictment follows the language of the statute. R. S. 1889 sec. 3564. It negatives the pretense. State v Peacock, 31 Mo. 413. And alleges that the party from whom defendant obtained the money parted with same by reason of the false pretenses. State v. Bonnell, 46 Mo. 395. An indictment for obtaining goods by false pretenses, which alleges several matters, one of which in contemplation of law may not be a false pretense, because it relates to something done in the future, is not thereby vitiated if others are such false pretenses as are contemplated by statute. State v. Vorback, 66 Mo. 168. An indictment for obtaining money by false pretenses which sets out such pretenses negatives their truth and alleges that the defendant "then and there well knew," is not obnoxious to the objection that the scienter was not sufficiently averred. State v. Janson, 80 Mo. 97. All the necessary averments to constitute a valid indictment are to be found in the one under consideration. It lays the venue properly, distinctly alleges the false pretense, negatives its time, avers that the owner parted with his money by reason of the false pretense and because he believed the same. These averments are held by this court to be sufficient. State v. Alexander, 119 Mo. 448; State v. Flanders, 118 Mo. 227; State v. Lichtliter, 95 Mo. 402.

Burgess, J. Gantt, P. J., and Sherwood, J., concur.

OPINION

Burgess, J.

The defendant was indicted in the circuit court of Jasper county under section 3564, Revised Statutes, 1889, for obtaining money under false pretenses. A motion to quash the indictment was sustained by the trial court, and the only question to be considered here is the sufficiency of the indictment, which, omitting the formal parts, is as follows:

"One Robert Feazell, intending, designing, and contriving to cheat and defraud one Arch King of his money, goods, wares, and merchandise, and with the view and intent to effect the loan hereinafter mentioned, did then and there designedly, feloniously, falsely, and fraudulently pretend and represent to the said Arch King that he, the said Robert Feazell, was then and there in good solvent circumstances, and then and there the sole and absolute owner, free of all incumbrances, of the following described property, goods, and chattels, to wit: One 50-horse power boiler, one 30-horse power engine, one crusher and rolls, one 10-inch lift pump, and one friction hoister, and that said machinery was then and there all located on lot 14 on the Lewelling lease in West Hollow in Jasper county, state of Missouri, and that a certain written instrument which he, the said Robert Feazell, by the name and style of R. Feazell, then made, executed, and delivered to the said Arch King, for the pretended purpose of securing the repayment of the said loan, was then and there a genuine and valid written instrument of security, and was then and there a good, genuine, and valid bill of sale and conveyance of the property, goods, and chattels hereinbefore mentioned and described, which said written instrument was in words and figures and of the tenor as follows, to wit:

"'Wm. Guengerich.

Robert Guengerich.

"'W. Guengerich & Bro.

"'Dealers in General Hardware, Stoves, Tinware,

Miners' Supplies, etc.

"'No 415 Main Street.

"'Joplin, Mo., May 10, 1895.

"'This is to certify that I have this day bargained and sold to Arch King all my right, title, and interest in the following described property, to wit: One fifty-horse power boiler, one thirty-horse power engine, one crusher and rolls, one ten-inch lift pump, one belt friction hoister, for value received, if the said R. Feazell pays back to Arch King the sum of $ 47 (forty-seven dollars) on or before the 20th day of May, then this shall be null and void. If not paid by the time mentioned, then this shall remain in full force and effect. Said machinery is located on lot 14, on the Lewelling lease, in West Hollow.

"'R. Feazell.'

"And the said Arch King, then and there believing the said false and fraudulent pretenses and representations so made as aforesaid to be true, and believing that the said written instrument was then and there a genuine and valid instrument of security; and that said written instrument was then and there a good, genuine, and valid bill of sale, and conveyance of the property hereinbefore mentioned and described, was thereby and was by means of the execution and delivery of said written instrument as aforesaid; and by means of the false and fraudulent pretenses and representations so made as aforesaid, induced to and deliver to the said Robert Feazell, and did then and there loan and deliver to the said Robert Feazell, to be repaid to him, the said Arch King, on or before the twentieth day of May, 1895, the sum of $ 45 in money, of the value of $ 45, of the moneys, goods, chattels, and effects of the said Arch King, and the said Robert Feazell did then and there obtain the said money, goods, chattels, and effects of the said Arch King as such loan, by means of the false and fraudulent representations and pretenses so made as aforesaid, and by means of the execution and delivery as aforesaid to him, the said Arch King, of the said written instrument and with intent to cheat and defraud the said Arch King of the said $ 45 in money, whereas in truth and fact the said Robert Feazell was not then and there in good solvent circumstances, and was not then and there the owner of the said property, goods, and chattels so falsely, fraudulently, designedly, and feloniously represented and pretended to be owned by him as aforesaid; and the said written instrument so made, executed, and delivered as aforesaid, was not then and there a genuine and valid written security, and was not then and there a good, genuine,...