State v. Lowe

• Citation: 68 N.W. 1094,66 Minn. 296
• Parties: STATE v LOWE.
• Decision Date: 24 November 1896
• Court: Supreme Court of Minnesota (US)

66 Minn. 296

68 N.W. 1094

STATEvLOWE.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

Nov. 24, 1896.

(Syllabus by the Court.)

1. Held, to sustain a charge of murder in the third degree, under the first part of section 6440, Gen. St. 1894, it is not necessary that more than one person was or might have been put in jeopardy by the reckless acts of the accused, but it is necessary that the act was committed without special design upon the particular person or persons with whose murder the accused is charged.

2. Held, further, the indictment in this case does not state a public offense, because it does not sufficiently charge that death was caused by any of the acts or omissions of the accused.

Appeal from district court, Ramsey county; William Louis Kelly, Judge.

Charles R. Lowe was convicted of murder in the third degree, and appeals. Reversed.

E. M. Card and C. N. Akers, for appellant.

H. W. Childs and Geo. B. Edgerton, for the State.

CANTY, J.

The appellant was convicted on the indictment hereinafter set out, and sentenced to the penitentiary. The only points urged on this appeal are: First, that the indictment does not state facts sufficient to constitute murder in the third degree; and, second, that it does not state facts sufficient to constitute any degree of murder or manslaughter, because it does not sufficiently charge that Clara Bergh died by reason of, or as a result of, the acts or omissions of appellant.

Excluding the title and formal ending, the indictment reads as follows: “Charles R. Lowe is accused by the grand jury of the county of Ramsey, by this indictment, of the crime of murder in the third degree, committed as follows: The said Charles R. Lowe on the 5th day of July, A. D. 1895, at the city of St. Paul, in said county, then and there being, did wrongfully, unlawfully, feloniously, and without authority of law, with a design then and there had and entertained by him, the said Charles R. Lowe, to effect the death of one Clara Bergh, but without deliberation and pre-meditation, kill and murder the said Clara Bergh, to wit: She, the said Clara Bergh, being on the 18th day of June, A. D. 1895, a woman pregnant with child, and about to become sick in the labor of childbirth, was induced to go with, and was taken by, said Charles R. Lowe, to a room in a building known as the ‘Globe Hotel,’ in said city, upon the express promise and agreement of said Charles R. Lowe to and with her, the said Clara Bergh, that he, the said Charles R. Lowe, for hire and reward to be given and paid by her to him, would, during her sickness in and after the labor of childbirth, provide for her the treatment, care, and medicine of a skilled physician, the nursing, care, and attention necessary to be given her in her sickness, together with all other things needed during the time she remained sick. And she, the said Clara Bergh, immediately upon being taken to said room by said Lowe, became sick therein, in the labor of childbirth, and was thereafter delivered of the child with which she was pregnant, and thereafter, until her death, remained in said room, sick, weak, and helpless, and was and remained during all said time wholly unable to leave said room, or in any manner to care or provide for herself. And he, the said Charles R. Lowe, from the said 18th day of June until her death, evincing a depraved mind, regardless of human life, and by an act imminently dangerous to others, unlawfully, feloniously, and designedly, although with a premeditated design to effect the death of any individual, failed, neglected, and refused to procure for her any medicine, or the care, treatment, or attention of any physician or medical men, and refused to allow her to be nursed or in any manner to be treated or cared for by other persons (except at divers times between the 19th day of June, 1895, and the 28th day of June, 1895, he permitted one W. H. Sigler to visit and prescribe for her, said Clara Bergh, but at no other time or times), during all of which said time, from the said 18th day of June until her death, she, said Clara Bergh, was by said Lowe kept in said room, in the sole charge and custody of said Charles R. Lowe, from which said room she was unable to go, and to which he refused to allow others to come, and during all of said time she was sick, and in great suffering and pain, from and in consequence of said labor, and from blood poisoning, and other diseases and sicknesses to this grand jury unknown, and was unable to move, or procure or ask for assistance from any person, which said blood poisoning, diseases, and sicknesses were then and there threatening and imminently dangerous to the life of said Clara Bergh; and she was then and there, and during all of...