State v. Grubbs
| Decision Date | 20 December 1926 |
| Docket Number | No. 27528.,27528. |
| Citation | 289 S.W. 852 |
| Parties | STATE v. GRUBBS. |
| Court | Missouri Supreme Court |
Appeal from Circuit Court, Christian County; Fred Stewart, Judge.
John Grubbs was convicted of burglary in the second degree and grand larceny, and he appeals. Affirmed.
Moore & Moore, of Excelsior Springs, for appellant.
North T. Gentry, Atty. Gen., and Alexander H. Meyer, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.
Statement.
On January 8, 1926, the prosecuting attorney of Christian county, Mo., filed in the circuit court of said county, a verified information which, omitting formal parts, reads as follows:
"Omer E. Brown, prosecuting attorney, within and for the county a Christian, in the state of Missouri, informs the court that on or about the ____ day of February, A. D. 1925, at the said county of Christian, state aforesaid, John Grubb (alias John Foster), did then and there into a certain store, shop, and building of the J. W. Clemons & Son Hardware Store, a partnership composed of J. W. Clemons and Leslie Clemons, there situate and being, feloniously and burglariously, forcibly did break and enter, with felonious intent then and there and thereby to feloniously and burglariously steal, take, and carry away certain goods, wares, and merchandise and other valuable things the personal property in said store, shop and building, then and there kept and deposited in the said store, shop, and' building, 2 Ever Ready flash lights of the value of $2, 2 Yale flash lights and batteries of the value of, $5, and Yale and Ever Ready bulbs of the value of $1, and W. R. Case & Sons pocket cutlery of the value of $10, Remington pocket cutlery of the value of $5, safety razors of the value of $5, silverware of the value of $10, hack saw blades and hack saws of the value of $5, one double-barrel shotgun of the value of $20 of the personal goods of J. W. Clemons & Son, a partnership in the said store, shop, and building, then and there found, then and there feloniously and burglariously did steal, take, and carry away, with felonious intent then and there to permanently deprive the owner of the use thereof, against the peace and dignity of the state."
Defendant waived formal arraignment and entered a plea of not guilty. Thereafter, on January 26, 1926, upon a trial before a jury the latter returned into court the following verdict.
Thereafter, on the following day, defendant filed his motion for a new trial, which was overruled, allocution granted, judgment rendered, sentence pronounced in conformity with the verdict, and an appeal allowed defendant to this court.
Counsel for respondent have made a full and fair statement of the evidence, as disclosed by the record, as follows:
J. W. Clemons testified that he lived in Sparta, Mo., and had lived in that place for 23 years; that he was in the hardware and lumber business and owned a building in the city of Sparta, where he had a hardware store which he had operated for 8 or 10 years; that his son was in business with him; that he kept a general stock of hardware in this store valued at $6,000 or $7,000; that the foregoing statements were true as of the ____ day of February, 1925, the date of the alleged crime; that during the February aforesaid, his store was burglarized and considerable goods taken, including pocket knives, flash lights and flash light supplies, safety razors and blades, shears, auger bits, cold chisels, punches, hack saws, racket braces, pliers, and a shogun; that the burglary and larceny occurred during the night following February 13th; that witness was in the habit of closing his store some time between 7 and 9 o'clock in the evening; that he kept the store locked with a Yale lock on the front door, and the back door was the only other entrance, and that it was locked; that the front door was locked the night before the alleged burglary, and that on the following morning witness found the front door, which was a double door, open; that it bore marks showing that bars had been inserted between the double doors forcing them apart so that the lock was sprung; that the right-hand door was standing ajar.
Witness further testified that he later recovered some of the stolen goods; that among the goods recovered was a pair of seven-inch shears, which had been taken from his store, and that when recovered both blades had been broken off; that these shears had witness' price mark on them; that other of his property was recovered by him in Springfield at the house of one Sampey, chief of detectives at that place; that among the goods so recovered was a case of anger bits in a wooden box, and that that box bore witness' private cost mark; that this was about a week after the "robbery"; that some flash lights were also recovered, and were contained in a carton bearing witness' private cost mark; that he recognized his handwriting. A pasteboard box was handed to witness and identified by him as the box in question, and witness testified it had been taken from his store during the "robbery" on the night of the 13th.
Witness further identified several pocket knives as having been taken from his store, and testified that he was present when the knives were found by Sheriff Turner of Christian county and other officers at the office of the special agent of the Frisco at Sapulpa, Okl.
Witness further identified some safety razors as part of a lot which he had purchased from a certain firm called Rogers & Baldwin, and which had been in his store at the time of the crime. These had been returned to him through the same channels through which the knives had been recovered. A flash light, which had been recovered by witness at Springfield after the robbery, together with the box above mentioned, was identified as being of the same size and make as some of the flash lights taken from witness' store.
On redirect examination, witness testified that the property which he had identified had been turned over to Mr. Turner by officers in Sapulpa, and that the crime in question was committed in Christian county, Mo.
Mrs. Gertrude Knab testified that she and her husband lived at 1316 Washington avenue, Springfield, that they owned another piece of property also during February, 1925, which was rented to a man identified by the witness as the defendant on a day between the 1st and the 15th of February, for a consideration of $55 for one month, and that the defendant, in renting the house, gave his name as John Foster. The house so rented was located at 523 East Division street, about a block and a half from her residence. Witness testified that the contract of rental was made on Saturday, at which time defendant made a deposit and that he paid the remainder of the rent on the following Thursday, at which time he told her that he had that day moved into the property; that defendant came to her home on both occasions; that she saw a woman and child as well as defendant at the house she had rented him; and that the house was vacant in about 10 days afterwards and before the month, for which rent had been paid, had expired.
Re-examined, witness testified that at the time she rented the house to defendant he said that five or six people would occupy it; that she was enabled to fix the approximate date of renting the house to defendant as in the forepart of February, because she and her husband had lived there until the 6th of January preceding.
Dr. Henry Knab corroborated the testimony of the previous witness as to matters within his knowledge, and testified that the people who rented the house had a Buick sedan.
Ernie Stapp testified that he had had stolen from a Chevrolet car belonging to him a set of automobile license tags. His testimony was withdrawn from the consideration of the jury.
Al Franklin of the Springfield police department testified that he was a plain clothes man, that he saw the license tags alleged to have been stolen from the previous witness on a Buick sedan at a place on Division street in Springfield and that this car was afterwards found wrecked at another place. This testimony was withdrawn from the consideration of the jury. Witness further testified that he again visited the house at 523 East Division street about the 18th of February, and found there some auger bits, flash lights, and razor blades, and the pasteboard box previously identified by the witness Clemons as having been taken from his store, that the auger bits were in a wooden box with a cost mark on them, and that the house had been vacated at that time.
Mrs. Forbes testified that she lived at 850 North Jefferson about the length of the courtroom from the house at 523 East Division street, and lived there in February, 1925; that the latter place was inhabited during a part of February, but that the people left about the 18th of that month on Wednesday; that the tenants referred to had a closed car which was kept in a garage on the place; that on a Thursday previous some people drove up to the house in question in a car, and next day the house was occupied. The following morning—that is, about 3 o'clock on Saturday morning—this car was driven up to the back door without any lights, and there was only one light in the house, upstairs ; that "they" unloaded things from this car for about an hour, and that a light was turned on in the basement; that there seemed to be more than one person unloading goods from the car—"They were going in and out." This occurred between 3 and 4 o'clock on Saturday morning before the 18th, which last...
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