State v. Fraga

Decision Date20 November 1906
PartiesSTATE v. FRAGA.
CourtMissouri Supreme Court

Appeal from St. Louis Circuit Court; Robt. M. Foster, Judge.

Charles Fraga was convicted of murder in the second degree, and he appeals. Affirmed.

Claiborne & Shaner, for appellant. The Attorney General and John Kennish, for the State.

BURGESS, P. J.

Under an information duly filed by the circuit attorney of the city of St. Louis, in the circuit court of said city, charging the defendant with murder in the second degree for shooting to death with a pistol one Julia Lamm at said city on the 2d day of October, 1904, the defendant was found guilty of the offense charged and his punishment fixed at imprisonment in the penitentiary for 10 years. He appeals.

The facts as stated by the state are substantially as follows: Defendant, Charles Fraga, at the time of the homicide, was living in a rented room in the rear of the basement of a rooming house at 3216 Locust street at said city of St. Louis. This house was then being conducted by Mrs. Maggie S. Harding as a rooming house. The defendant had moved to this room on the 4th of August next preceding, and had been living there about two months. When he rented the room he told Mrs. Harding that he had a wife, and, on Monday next before the homicide, he asked her if his wife could come there to live with him. Mrs. Harding gave her consent, and, on Wednesday of the same week Julia Lamm, the deceased, whom the defendant represented to be his wife, moved her property into the defendant's room and came there to live. The deceased was not defendant's wife, but was a woman whom he had known for two years, and who had frequently visited the defendant at his room before she came there to live. About half past 10 o'clock Saturday night, October 2, 1904, a light was seen burning in the defendant's room. Mrs. Harding, the landlady, was sleeping that night in the room directly above the defendant's room, and a guest, Mr. Downing, was sleeping in one of the other rooms in the basement. About 1 o'clock Mr. Downing was awakened by what he thought was a shot, and he thinks he heard, at the same time, a woman scream. Two more shots were fired in succession, and then there was an interval of two or three minutes. Then there were two more shots in succession followed by another interval of about five minutes. During this second interval, a person was heard opening the outside door and striking matches. Then there was a sixth shot; this was followed by a silence of several minutes. Then someone was heard calling. The shots and the movements of the person in the basement were heard by Mr. Downing and Mrs. Harding and each got up to see what was the matter. The police were called and the defendant was found lying in the door leading from his room into the adjoining room, the greater part of his body being in the latter room. He was calling, "Help! Help!" The light was burning low in the defendant's room, and the deceased was found lying across the bed, on her right side, dead. Her clothes were on and her feet were hanging over the side of the bed and nearly touching the floor. She was holding a letter in her right hand, which letter was offered in evidence. The defendant was taken to the hospital, and found to be suffering from three pistol shot wounds on the breast near the left nipple, the wounds being not over an inch apart. In each of two of the wounds the bullet had struck a rib and was deflected around the body and lodged in the back. The bullet making the other wound broke away a part of the rib and pierced the lung. The first two wounds described were not serious, and though the defendant, when taken to the hospital, was suffering from a shock, the effect of the third wound, which wound was of a serious character, he soon recovered, and was able to leave the hospital in about a month. The post mortem disclosed three bullet wounds on the body of the deceased, two of which were necessarily fatal, and either of which would have caused almost instant death. One wound in the chest, and midway between the middle line of the breast bone and the left nipple was powder stained, and contained particles of powder. The bullet which made this wound passed entirely through the heart and lodged near the spinal column. The second wound was found on a line drawn straight down from the arm pit on the left side at a point below the sixth rib. This bullet passed from left to right into the chest, passed through the lower part of the left lung and embedded itself in the spinal column. The third bullet entered the head at the juncture of the ear with the head at a point over the left temple bone. This bullet passed directly through what is called the temple lobe of the brain and embedded itself in the middle part of the skull below the temple lobe, in which place it was found. The two wounds last described were not powder burned. A person receiving such a wound as the deceased received in the heart, according to the testimony, would drop immediately, and the wound in the breast was also fatal, and would probably cause the deceased to drop when she received it. The deceased was lying as if she had been sitting on the edge of the bed and had dropped back on her right side, with her head towards the head of the bed and the feet hanging towards the floor. The lighted lamp was found on the table right in front of the bed and a revolver was lying on the same table open, or what is called "broke." There was one empty shell in the revolver, and the extractor had jumped over the cartridge so that the shell could not be gotten out or the revolver closed; and it was shown by the evidence that such a revolver was liable to get in that condition by having only one cartridge in it at the time it was discharged. One empty shell was found on the table and three...

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24 cases
  • State v. Malone
    • United States
    • Missouri Supreme Court
    • June 5, 1931
    ...148 Mo. 488; State v. Holloway, 161 Mo. 135; State v. Lewis, 118 Mo. 79; State v. Pohl, 170 Mo. 422; State v. Bryant, 102 Mo. 24; State v. Fraga, 199 Mo. 127; State v. Gartrell, 171 Mo. 489; State v. Webb, 205 S.W. 187; State v. Seward, 247 S.W. 150; State v. Webb, 205 S.W. 187. (d) Where a......
  • State v. Malone
    • United States
    • Missouri Supreme Court
    • June 5, 1931
    ... ... Roberts, 242 S.W. 669; ... State v. Dettmer, 124 Mo. 426; State v ... Pollard, 139 Mo. 220; State v. Hancock, 148 Mo ... 488; State v. Holloway, 161 Mo. 135; State v ... Lewis, 118 Mo. 79; State v. Pohl, 170 Mo. 422; ... State v. Bryant, 102 Mo. 24; State v ... Fraga, 199 Mo. 127; State v. Gartrell, 171 Mo ... 489; State v. Webb, 205 S.W. 187; State v ... Seward, 247 S.W. 150; State v. Webb, 205 S.W ... 187. (d) Where a review of the entire record shows that no ... harm has resulted to appellant, the case will not be reversed ... though error ... ...
  • State v. Roberts
    • United States
    • Missouri Supreme Court
    • January 26, 1920
    ...thereto. State v. Tucker, 232 Mo. 18; State v. Arnold, 206 Mo. 600; State v. King, 203 Mo. 571; State v. Vaughan, 200 Mo. 22; State v. Fraga, 199 Mo. 136; State Hamilton, 170 Mo. 377; State v. Holloway, 161 Mo. 144; State v. Hancock, 148 Mo. 488. (2) Under the evidence in this case Instruct......
  • State v. Roberts
    • United States
    • Missouri Supreme Court
    • January 26, 1920
    ...50 S. W. 112; State v. Holloway, 161 Mo. loc. cit. 144, 61 S. W. 600; State v. Hamilton, 170 Mo. 377, 70 S. W. 876; State v. Fraga, 199 Mo. loc. cit. 136, 97 S. W. 898; State v. Vaughan, 200 Mo. loc. cit. 22, 98 S. W. 2; State v. King, 203 Mo. loc. cit. 571, 102 S. W. 515; State v. Arnold, ......
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