State v. Mangum

• Decision Date: 05 March 1895
• Citation: 116 N.C. 998,21 S.E. 189
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court
• Parties: STATE . v. MANGUM.

21 S.E. 189

116 N.C. 998

STATE .

v.MANGUM.

Supreme Court of North Carolina.

March 5, 1895.

False Pretenses—Indictment—Demurrer.

1. An indictment for fraud in a horse trade, alleging that defendant falsely, etc., represented that the horse "was sound, " which was intended to cheat, and did cheat, is sufficient as alleging a misrepresentation of a subsisting fact.

2. A motion to quash an indictment consisting of two counts should be overruled, where either count is good.

Appeal from superior court, Wake county; Bynum, Judge.

Defendant was indicted for fraud, and from an order quashing the indictment the state appeals. Reversed.

There were two bills of indictment found at September term, 1894, to wit:

"(1) The jurors for the state upon their oath present: That John Mangum, late of the county of Wake, wickedly devising and intending to cheat and defraud, on the 1st day of February, A. D. 1894, with force and arms, at and in the county aforesaid, unlawfully, knowingly, designedly, and feloniously did unto one S. H. Perry falsely pretend that a certain horse was sound in every respect, and only about nine years old, and that he had had the horse for about four years; whereas in truth and fact the said horse was not sound, and was about fifteen years of age, and the said John Mangum had not had the horse for four years; by means of which false pretense he, the said John Mangum, knowingly and designedly did then and there unlawfully, willfully, and feloniously obtain from the said S. H. Perry the following goods and things of value, the property of the said S. H. Perry, to wit, one mule, and seven dollars in money, —with intent then and there to defraud, against the form of the statute in such case made and provided, and against the peace and dignity of the state.

"(2) The jurors for the state upon their oaths present: That John Mangum, late of the county of Wake, wickedly devising and intending to cheat and defraud, on the 1st day of February, A. D. 1894, with force and arms, at and in the county aforesaid, unlawfully, knowingly, designedly, and feloniously did unto one S. H. Perry falsely pretend and represent that a certain horse which the said John Mangum was then and there offering to trade to the said S. H. Perry was both sound and gentle, that a woman could manage the said horse, that the said horse was able to work well, that the said John Mangum had owned the horse for four years, that the said horse would be nine years old in the spring of 1894, and he, the said John Mangum had paid $175.00 in cash for the said horse; whereas in truth and fact the said horse was not sound or gentle, a woman could not manage the said horse, and the said horse was neither able nor did work well, the said John Mangum had not owned the said horse for four years, the said horse in the spring of 1894 was very much older than nine years of age, to wit, about fifteen years of age, and the said John Mangum had not paid $175.00 in cash for the said horse, all of which was well known to the said defendant at the time aforesaid; by means of which said false pretense he, the said John Mangum, knowingly and designedly did then and there unlawfully and feloniously obtain from the said S. H. Perry the following things and goods of value, the property of the said S. H. Perry, to wit, one mule of the value of fifty dollars, and seven dollars in money, —with intent then and there to defraud, against the form of the statute in such case made and provided, and against the peace and dignity of the state."

The defendant moved to quash. The motion was allowed, and the state appealed.

The Attorney General, for the State.

T. M. Argo, for appellee.

FURCHES, J. The defendant is indicted for a false pretense in trading...