State v. Hubbard

• Decision Date: 23 November 1909
• Citation: 122 S.W. 694,223 Mo. 80
• Parties: STATE v. HUBBARD.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

122 S.W. 694

223 Mo. 80

STATE v. HUBBARD.

Supreme Court of Missouri, Division No. 2.

November 23, 1909.

1. CRIMINAL LAW (§ 784) — NECESSITY FOR INSTRUCTIONS — CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE.

It is only when conviction is sought on circumstantial evidence alone that it is necessary to charge on the weight of such evidence.

2. WITNESSES (§§ 319, 337) — IMPEACHMENT OF ACCUSED — ADMISSIBILITY OF EVIDENCE — OTHER CONVICTIONS.

One charged with larceny, having offered herself as a witness, is open to impeachment, and under express provisions of Rev. St. 1899, § 4680 (Ann. St. 1906, p. 2549), records of former convictions may be introduced to affect her credibility.

3. LARCENY (§ 55) — PROSECUTION — SUFFICIENCY OF EVIDENCE.

Evidence held to support a conviction of larceny.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Pettis County; Louis Hoffman, Judge.

Dora Hubbard was convicted of larceny, and she appeals. Affirmed.

A. L. Shortridge, for appellant. E. W. Major, Atty. Gen., and John M. Atkinson, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.

BURGESS, J.

The prosecution in this cause was commenced by the filing of an information by the prosecuting attorney of Pettis county in the circuit court of said county, charging the defendant with a larceny of $80 from the person of S. E. Scarlatt, in the nighttime in the city of Sedalia, on the 6th day of December, 1907. The defendant was duly arraigned, and pleaded not guilty, and upon a trial for said charge was found guilty, and her punishment assessed at two years in the penitentiary. From the sentence upon this verdict, she has appealed to this court.

The evidence tends to establish the following facts: The prosecuting witness left Higginsville, Mo., about 8 o'clock on the evening of December 6, 1907. He purchased a railroad ticket from Higginsville to Stamps, Ark., over the Missouri Pacific and Iron Mountain System. On leaving Higginsville he had $80 in paper money and some $5 in silver. He came to Sedalia on what is known as the Lexington Branch of the Missouri Pacific System, reaching there about 9:45 that night. On his arrival at Sedalia, he went to the Missouri Pacific depot, and remained there a short time, when he discovered that he had lost one of his rubbers from his overcoat pocket, and he started out to buy a rubber. While on the street in search of an open store, he was accosted by the defendant on two different occasions. On the first, she said that she must get away or they would catch her, or something of that kind, and went. He thereupon continued his search for the store, and she met him again, and he detailed the circumstance in this manner: "She came right up in front of me. My vest was open and my overcoat over my shoulder, and I had the money in here [indicating his inside vest pocket]. I had $80 in paper money in a pocketbook. I also had a railroad ticket. I had the pocketbook in this vest pocket. I had my head down, and she came right up to me and grabbed me, and ran her hands around and said, `You are a nice fat old fellow,' and made a swipe around me, and I did not think about the money, and it kinda excited me, and she let loose and went on. I did not miss the money until I got into the depot. She had on a red skirt and a big hat and a brown looking coat — I do not know whether it was a coat or not — and she was a yellow woman." Having discovered the loss of his money and railroad ticket, the prosecuting witness immediately notified the police, and the defendant was arrested within a very few minutes in McGurren's restaurant, near the depot, about 11 o'clock, and was taken to the police station, where she was identified by the prosecuting witness as the woman who had robben him on the street a few minutes prior thereto. When arrested the defendant wore a red skirt and a big hat and a brown looking cloak. She had $6 in currency and $4 and 15 cents in silver on her person. The pocketbook and railroad ticket were found about 4 o'clock on the following morning in front of Holdner's store, on the south side of Main street, by a negro man. The money had all been taken from the pocketbook, and the railroad ticket alone remained. Between 10 and 11 o'clock on this same night the defendant was seen by the witness Flossie Guy, a negro girl, on the south side of Main street, in front of said Holdner's store, where the pocketbook was afterwards found. Defendant was in a stooping position as if she was hunting something or tying her shoe. She afterwards had a conversation with this witness Guy, in which she said that "The trouble Will and I had I need not say anything about. I did not have to bring it up at court; and about seeing her over at Holdner's, I need not bring that up." When arrested on the night of the robbery, defendant...