State v. Masters

• Citation: 197 Iowa 1147,198 N.W. 509
• Decision Date: 06 May 1924
• Docket Number: No. 36106.,36106.
• Parties: STATE v. MASTERS.
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Iowa

197 Iowa 1147

198 N.W. 509

STATE

v.MASTERS.

No. 36106.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

May 6, 1924.

Appeal from District Court, Mahaska County; Chas. A. Dewey, Judge.

Indictment for larceny. From a judgment upon a verdict of guilty, the defendant appeals. Affirmed.Bates & Dashiell, of Albia, and Wilson & Shaw and C. C. Putnam, all of Des Moines, for appellant.

Ben Gibson, Atty. Gen., Maxwell A. O'Brien, Asst. Atty. Gen., Roscoe Woodard, Co. Atty., and McCoy & McCoy, all of Oskaloosa, for the State.

VERMILION, J.

The evidence on the part of the state tended to establish the following facts: On the night of May 8, 1922, a Cadillac sedan belonging to H. B. Patton was stolen from his garage in Oskaloosa. On the morning of that day the defendant and two other men were seen in Pella in a Cadillac roadster, with the top down, and bearing license No. 1-10907. They were there some time; the defendant was seen walking, and was not limping. About 4 o'clock they were seen driving south on the road to Oskaloosa. Between 11 and 12 o'clock on that night two men in a Cadillac roadster, with the top down, and towing the Patton car, in which was another man, were seen on a street in Oskaloosa leading to the road to Pella. The cars were going 35 or 40 miles per hour, and the lights on the cars were out. One of the witnesses called to them to turn on the lights, but they did not do so, and speeded up. One witness said the man driving the roadster resembled the defendant, another said he was not certain, but in his best judgment it was the defendant. Patton was called by telephone, discovered that his car was gone, and he and some officers started toward Pella in search of it. Some five miles from Oskaloosa they turned back over another road, and saw a roadster standing with two or three men in it. These men, as the party approached, turned their lights out, and started away. The next morning at the point where the roadster had stopped some wires and cigarettes were found lying around and foot tracks were seen, and not far from there the Patton car was found stripped of two spare tires and other articles, and with the wiring burned off. The car had been locked the night before, and was still in that condition, but the lock had been hammered. About 1 o'clock on the morning of May 9th a large roadster with the top down drove through Pella, going north. There were three men in it, and two or three spare tires on the back. As the car approached the witnesses the light were turned off and it slowed down, and speeded up after passing. At Prairie City, betwen Pella and Des Moines, the city marshal and a party of men, having been advised of the theft of the car, were watching where the road from Pella entered the town. About 2 o'clock of the same morning a large roadster, with the top down, approached with two or three men in it. One of the witnesses testified that he knew the defendant, and that he was one of the men in the car. They were ordered to halt, but instead of doing so increased their speed, and several shots were fired at the car. About 11 o'clock in the morning of May 9th or 10th an individual, called in the record a doctor, at Madrid, 28 miles north and west of Des Moines, received a call to go to a gravel pit about 2 1/2 miles west of Madrid. There he found the defendant in a small house or shack, lying on a cot, and two other men with him. He saw a Cadillac roadster at the shack, with the top down, and a hole through the left-hand door on the side where the steering wheel was, and with blood on the floor of the car, and in the car was a shoe with a hole in the upper part. He returned to the shack the next day, and no one was there. About May 15th two automobile tires were found under a bridge some 3 miles east of Prairie City, and were identified by Patton as those on his car the night it was stolen. The Patton car was of the value of about $4,500. At the time of the trial the defendant walked with a limp. License No. 1-10907 was issued in Polk county to Dave Masters for a Cadillac roadster.

Numerous errors are assigned. In many instances the assignment is wholly insufficientto require consideration. But three of the errors assigned are argued, and these are all that we are required to consider.

The first two relate to the admission of the testimony of Dr. Shaw and Dr. Walston. The argument is predicated on the statement that these witnesses were physicians and engaged in treating the defendant, and that they were incompetent, under section 4608 of the Code, to testify to any confidential communications intrusted to them in their...