State v. Knotts

• Decision Date: 23 December 1914
• Docket Number: 434.
• Citation: 83 S.E. 972,168 N.C. 173
• Parties: STATE v. KNOTTS ET AL.
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court

83 S.E. 972

168 N.C. 173

STATE v. KNOTTS ET AL.

No. 434.

Supreme Court of North Carolina

December 23, 1914

Appeal from Superior Court, Mecklenburg County; Shaw, Judge.

James Knotts and others were convicted of a secret assault with intent to kill, and they appeal. Affirmed.

Under Revisal 1905, § 3254, the quashing of an indictment for duplicity will be refused, unless the defect is gross and apparent.

The prisoners were indicted below for a secret assault on A. B Moore and Neal Elliott, were convicted, sentenced to confinement in the state prison for terms ranging from 4 to 15 years, and have appealed from the judgment to this court.

The indictment charged that the four prisoners jointly committed the assault with pistols upon Moore and Elliott, shooting both of them. The prisoners moved to quash the indictment because it charged a secret assault by all the prisoners upon two persons named in the bill, Elliott and Moore. The motion was overruled.

Owing to the character of the other exceptions, it will be necessary to set forth the evidence somewhat at large.

Neal Elliott, witness for the state, testified:

"I was assistant chief of police of Charlotte when I was shot on the morning of the 18th of July, 1914. I have known the defendant Sikes for two or three years, Knotts for five years, Helms for four or five years, and Stamey for five years. I was on duty that night. I had a call from Andy James. A. B. Moore and I went in an automobile to investigate the trouble. Call came about 12:30 a. m. Went on North Brevard street, where it crosses Seaboard Air Line Railway. Got there about 12:35 a. m. We hunted all over the neighborhood, but could not find the parties. We then crossed over the Norfolk Southern Railroad tracks, and approached the house in the angle between the Norfolk & Southern and Southern Railways. This afterwards proved to be a vacant house, where the shooting occurred. Policeman Moore was in front of me about five feet, and had a flash light, which he used in walking while we were approaching the house from the railroad fill, and flashed it in Sikes' face. [Witness here used a plot of the premises to explain his evidence.] Hiram Sikes said, 'Take that light out of my face,' and at once shot Moore down and shot at Moore two more times. I recognized Sikes by the flash light in Moore's hands. I also recognized Will Stamey, who was standing by Sikes. I shot at them, and they disappeared behind the end of the house, but ran around the house when the shooting began. Sikes and Stamey were to my left. At the same instant some one shot me from the right, seven or eight feet away. As I turned, Jim Knotts fired at me and struck me, and I shot at him. Helms then shot at me, and I shot at him. I shot four times, and they disappeared around the east end of the house. I had no information that Knotts and Helms were there until they shot at me. They were shooting so fast that I could not tell how many times they shot. This house was an old, unoccupied house. The house was between the two railroad fills--the Norfolk & Southern and the Southern. I recognized Knotts when his pistol flashed, and I recognized Helms when his pistol flashed. It was about a minute from the time of Sikes' shooting till Knotts and Helms shot. I was shot here [[[[[[indicating a point just above the heart]. And it came out about that far [[[[[[indicating to the jury] from my backbone. The defendants were in the rear of the vacant house, the porch of which faces towards the fill from which we approached. I never saw Stamey shoot. So far as I could observe, Stamey had nothing to do with the shooting. Just standing there. I had seen Sikes before he shot while the flash light was in his face. I recognized him. I recognized his voice when he said, 'Take that flash light out of my face.' I saw Stamey standing by Sikes, and I recognized him before any shooting. Helms shot at me, but did not hit me. I don't know who shot at me first, whether Knotts or Helms. I turned, and then Knotts shot at me. Helms was standing when he shot. I don't know about Moore firing. I fired the first shot after Sikes shot Moore down. Sikes only shot at Moore and not at me. I was shot down after Jim Knotts shot me. I saw Helms shoot at me. Lloyd Hipp was the first man who got to me. Bob Malcolm was the second one. I know Jule Freeman. I don't know whether he was there. The last thing I remember, they were taking me up the elevator at the hospital."

A. B. Moore, witness for the state, testified:

"I was a policeman on the night of the shooting. In consequence of information received, Mr. Elliott and I went on North Brevard street, near the Seaboard Air Line Railway, looking for the parties reported by Andy James, who was supposed to be on the railroad, east of Brevard street. We then went west and crossed the Norfolk & Southern Railway fill, when I saw the flash of a pistol and fell to the ground. I wasn't far from a house when I was shot. I had a flash light, walking along with it. I did not see any one before I was shot. [[[[[[Witness here describes the wound, indicating that same was in his chest above the heart and ranged downward, going through his body in the center of the back.] The ball was found in my shirt. I did not recognize who shot me. One shot was all that I knew of, but I was also shot through the thigh. I was unconscious after I was shot. I do not recollect shooting any myself, but my pistol, I found after I regained consciousness, had been discharged. Every shell was empty. I said to Elliott, 'I am shot,' and he said, 'I am shot too,' and walked up on the bank. I never saw any one there. I didn't hear any one say, 'Take the flash light out of my face.' I was carrying the flash light in front, using it to walk by. I do not know why I did not see Sikes. I do not know why I did not hear him say, 'Take the flash light out of my face.' I cannot explain why Elliott, who was five feet behind me, could see Sikes and hear him when I did not. I do not remember shooting my pistol. It was a number 38 pistol. All the cartridges in my pistol had been shot."

Lester Tucker, witness for the state, testified:

"I am 20 years old. I have known Jim Knotts for 15 years, Will Stamey for 12 years, Helms 12 or 14, and Sikes about 12 years. I live in North Charlotte with my father. Five blocks from my house is where the shooting took place. On that night before the shooting, I saw all of the defendants on overhead bridge about 11:30. I saw pistol showing in the crowd. It was a 22 or a 32. I don't know who had it. Jim Knotts and Sikes were in the crowd. I heard the shooting. Then I dropped off to sleep. Soon Will Stamey came and waked me up. There was no one with him. He said a crowd over yonder had been shooting; said, 'Go over and see if the police got any of them.' We went to Seventeenth and Caldwell streets. Saw Knotts, and I whistled to him. He came up, and I asked him, 'Did they get any of them?' He said, 'No, sir.' He said Hiram Sikes was shot. Knotts asked me to go with Stamey and get Sikes and bring him on down, called and whistled for Sikes, but could not find him. Knotts said to Stamey, 'Protect yourselves with pistol if any one comes up.' The other two defendants I did not see until yesterday. I heard 12 or 15 shots fired. I could tell difference in sounds of pistols. The first four or five shots sounded louder than the others. The other shots sounded like 22 or 32 pistols. The first shots sounded like a 38 or 44. Stamey told me he ran as the shooting began. Stamey was in his shirt sleeves and had no pistol."

Charlie Simpson, witness for the state, testified:

"I lived at the time on Sixteenth street. I know the night the shooting occurred. Saw Hiram Sikes Saturday morning, when wounded, about 10 o'clock. I saw him the night he was shot about 2 o'clock a. m. He got to my house, called me, said, 'Come go a piece with' him. 'I am shot.' He said, 'I got in shooting scrape.' I said, 'If I go with you, they might think I was in it.' And he said, 'Yes, you had better go back.' Sikes never said he shot anybody."

R. H. Moore, chief of police, witness for the state, testified:

"I know defendants. I have known Helms one year, and the others five or six years. On the morning after the shooting on July 18th, about 6 o'clock, defendant Helms was brought into my office. His clothing was wet with dew. A part of the legs of his trousers was wet. I asked him where he had been the night before. He said he had been with Knotts and the other defendants in company with some others at the Caldwell bridge. Said he (Knotts) Stamey, and Sikes all left this crowd then. I asked him when he left. He said between 1 and 2 o'clock. I asked about the shooting. He said the defendants were all at this old house, and that the officers crossed the Norfolk & Southern Railway and were approaching them. He said that, as they were crossing the Norfolk & Southern Railway, Knotts said: 'Yonder come two of them G____ d____ policemen. Let's kill them.' And he said that, when the officers got down to them, Sikes told one of the policemen to take the light out of his face, and shot. Knotts was next brought into my office. He stated that he and the other defendants were the four at the old house when the shooting occurred. He said that Stamey did not shoot. He said that the three did the shooting from this side. I said something to him about being in trouble. He said that he was not in any greater trouble than he could come out of. I asked Knotts if they knew whom they were shooting at. He said he thought at the time it was McKnight and Orr, other policemen. He said he had nothing against Elliott; that Elliott had been nice to him. I next had a conversation with the defendant Sikes. I told him that Helms

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