State v. Kennade
| Decision Date | 08 May 1894 |
| Citation | 26 S.W. 347 |
| Parties | STATE v. KENNADE. |
| Court | Missouri Supreme Court |
2. Defendant assaulted a negro, with whom he had been playing pool in a saloon near deceased's house, a few minutes before the homicide, and, thinking he had gone into deceased's house, followed him there, and, being refused admittance, shot her. The state's witnesses testified that defendant tried to go in, and deceased closed the door, and he forced it open. Defendant testified that he shot her because she pointed a revolver at him, which missed fire when she pulled the trigger. In a voluntary statement made soon after the homicide, he stated that he shot deceased when she pointed the revolver at him, and that, as he went away, a man came to the door and attempted to shoot him, but the gun missed fire. Held, that a verdict for murder in the second degree was justified.
3. What defendant did in the saloon was admissible as a part of the res gestae.
4. One on trial for murder, testifying on his own behalf, may be cross-examined as to a statement made a few days after the murder, to lay a foundation for impeachment.
5. It was proper to permit only such part of the statement to be read as referred to the homicide.
6. Evidence as to deceased's business was properly rejected.
7. A question asked defendant, as to why he happened to be carrying the revolver with which he shot deceased, was properly excluded.
8. Evidence as to deceased's reputation for quarrelsomeness was properly rejected when it was not shown that defendant knew it.
9. In a criminal prosecution, a defendant who has testified in his own behalf may be recalled by the state for further cross-examination.
Appeal from St. Louis criminal court; H. L. Edmunds, Judge.
Louis Kennade was convicted of murder in the second degree, and appeals. Affirmed.
The defendant, a German, indicted for the murder of Cora Thompson, a negress, by shooting her with a pistol, was convicted of that crime in the second degree, his punishment being assessed at 20 years' imprisonment in the penitentiary, and he appeals to this court. The testimony on behalf of the prosecution was substantially this: On the afternoon of March 20, 1893, defendant was in a saloon on Eighth street, near Clark avenue, in the city of St. Louis. The saloon was called the "Tunnel House," and was frequented principally by negroes. In the rear of the saloon, fronting on an alley, was a small house, one room of which was occupied by the deceased. Defendant was playing pool in the saloon with a negro named Darlington, A young negro named Morris came in, and was challenged to play by defendant; upon his declining, on the score of having no money, defendant agreed to pay for the game, and they began to play. Morris won, and defendant proposed to play for a quarter. Another negro present "staked" Morris, and they played several games, doubling the stakes each time, Morris winning every game, until the amount at stake was four dollars, and the stakeholder paid over the money to Morris, who started to leave the saloon. Defendant went up to him, and, without saying a word, slapped him, knocked off his hat, and, putting his hand into his hip pocket, drew out a pistol. Morris ran out the rear door, through a gangway, into the alley near deceased's house, and there asked a colored woman to go into the saloon and get his hat for him. Meanwhile defendant put up his pistol, kicked Morris' hat over the floor, took a drink at the bar, and, in company with Darlington, went out on Eighth street to the corner of Clark avenue, and thence to the aforesaid alley. When they reached the corner of the alley, Morris was standing in the rear of the saloon, waiting for his hat. Defendant immediately started towards him, putting his hand in his pistol pocket, and Morris ran past the deceased's house to a vacant lot, and thence back to Eighth street. The deceased was in her room at the time, entertaining a visitor, a negro woman named Reynolds. The door of the room was immediately on the alley, about a foot above the level of the pavement, and had a single stone step in front of it. Hearing a noise in the alley, and some one shouting, "Run! run!" both women went to the door, and just then defendant came up to the door, and cried out, "Let me in!" Deceased said, "What do you want in here?" Defendant replied. "I want to get that nigger out of here." Deceased said, "There is no nigger in here; you may look in, but you can't come in." He tried to force his way in, placing his foot on the stone step, when deceased picked up a seashell from her bureau, and, raising it in her hand, said, "If you come in here, I'll knock you in the head." Defendant stepped back, and the woman closed the door. He drew out his pistol, advanced, fired twice through the door, and then forced the door open, and fired directly at the woman, who fell, shot through the heart, and died almost instantly. The defendant, testifying in his own behalf, stated substantially as follows: He dropped into the Tunnel House to speak to the barkeeper, who was a friend of his; he was himself a bartender, going on duty at 5 o'clock in the afternoon. He had a revolver in his pocket, belonging to another man, on which he had loaned a dollar, and had been carrying it two or three weeks. He got to playing with Morris, and lost four dollars, when he concluded it was time to stop. Morris wanted him to play some more, and caught hold of him, and tried to pull him over to the pool table, when he slapped Morris with the back of his hand. Morris ran out the back way, and his hat "flew off;" he kicked the hat out the back door, and then went up to the bar, and talked to the barkeeper several minutes. He denied drawing the pistol out in the saloon. When he left, and reached the corner of the alley, he saw Morris, and started towards him for the purpose of asking him to come over to his own saloon, and play with him, so he could have a chance to win his money back; but Morris ran away (defendant said) into the deceased's house. He went up to the door, and saw deceased standing there. He asked her, "Where did that nigger go that ran in here?" She told him he wasn't in there, then picked up a seashell from behind her, and said to him, "You son of a bitch, get away from me, or I'll kill you with this!" He "got scared," and pulled out a police whistle, and blew it. He put one foot on the step; he saw a white man in the room, standing behind deceased. "It seemed to him like" this man handed her a "gun;" and she threw the gun up at his face, and snapped the trigger twice at him. The weapon did not explode. He was a foot and a half or two feet from her, right in front of the door. He then pulled out his gun, and shot at her. She fell back into the house. The door was shut. He was "scared of 'em coming out," so he shot through the door twice, and moved away from there. On cross-examination, he stated that the door of the house was about halfway open, and Cora stood in the half-open door, facing him. He could not say whether the pistol was handed to her or not, but she snapped it at him twice, holding it in her left hand while she still held the seashell in her right, and with the left hand raised. The doorsill was about a foot higher than the level of the alley. They were only two or three feet apart. The woman never moved her position until she fell, after his shot. He was standing toward the south side of the door, facing northwest toward her, and she was facing southeast directly toward him. The autopsy revealed that the deceased was of delicate frame and above medium height, being 5 feet 4 inches tall. The bullet entered on the left side of the chest, about two inches to the left of the median line, between the third and fourth ribs, passing diagonally across the chest to the right, penetrating the left side of the heart near the entrance of the aorta, perforated the middle lobe of the right lung, and struck the fifth rib on the right side. Having laid the foundation for impeachment, the state offered in rebuttal a written statement made and signed by defendant in the police office about a half hour after his arrest, as follows: "I was playing pool with a young colored man. I beat...
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