State v. Miller

Decision Date09 February 1953
Docket NumberNo. 16715,16715
Citation223 S.C. 128,74 S.E.2d 582
CourtSouth Carolina Supreme Court
PartiesSTATE v. MILLER.

R.B. Hildebrand, York, for appellant.

Robert W. Hemphill, Sol., Chester, for respondent.

STUKES, Justice.

The appellant and nine others were indicted for alleged criminal conspiracy, upon the first count to injure the person and property of ones Branham, Gregory and Munn by exploding dynamite under the automobile of Branham, under the homes and property of Gregory and Munn; and, under the second count of the indictment, about the property of one Melton. The defendants and the victims of the conspiracy were employees of a textile plant at Rock Hill and all were members of a trade union which had gone on strike several months before; the victims, however, had recently returned to work upon the re-opening of the plant, and were strike-breakers; the defendants continued on strike and, in cooperation with other strikers, maintained a picket line at the gate of the plant, by which and other means they harrassed the workers who had returned to their jobs.

Eight of the ten defendants pleaded guilty, and the defendant Miller, who is now appellant, and defendant West went to trial together upon their pleas of not guilty. Two of the defendants who pleaded guilty testified for the State and of them one Jack Baker was a principal witness for the prosecution, although apparently somewhat unwilling. He testified concerning appellant that the latter took him in his automobile on Thursday or Friday before the explosions on the following Monday night at about one A.M., to a bridge on a nearby highway where a sack containing the dynamite (and unattached caps and fuse) was obtained by appellant from a hiding place under the bridge, and they took it to Baker's river resort to which they returned Monday afternoon and appellant then inserted the caps and fuses in the sticks of dynamite, using for that purpose his knife and pencil. The dynamite, thus finally prepared for use, was divided into four parcels, two sticks to each parcel, and brought back to Rock Hill and hidden again near the bridge, except one parcel which appellant kept in his automobile, and that was the last the witness saw of this fourth parcel which was retained by appellant. A reasonable inference from all of the evidence is that it was used in one of the explosions. Direct evidence by this witness of the planning and conspiring by appellant is here reproduced from the record:

"Q. And you and Miller fixed the dynamite by putting the caps in them and fused the dynamite? A. He fixed them.

"Q. Did you have any discussion as to what the dynamite was to be used for at that time? A. Yes.

"Q. What agreement, if any, and what was said between you and Miller? A. Well, we talked about trying to scare the ones going in the mill. We just wanted to scare them out. We didn't want to hurt nobody.

"Q. But you were going to use the dynamite to scare them? A. That is right.

"Q. What did you say? Just give us the conversation between you and Miller. A. I don't remember what all was said.

"Q. I mean with reference to what you were going to use the dynamite for? A. What I was going to use it for?

"Q. Yes, between you and Miller? A. He asked me did I know anybody I could get to help use it.

"Q. Wait a minute. I am talking about what use the dynamite was made for. What use were you going to put the dynamite to? A. To dynamite like we did."

The three victims of the explosions testified, none of whom suffered personal injuries; but the automobile of one was destroyed and the home of one and the barn of another were extensively damaged. The homes of two of them were in the mill village but the third was about three miles distant.

Officers were on watch at the mill at the time of the explosions which they undertook to investigate and discovered appellant as he arrived at his home shortly afterward. They placed him under arrest after which they took from his person pliers, knife, pen and pencil which were later sent by them to the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Washington for examination.

The defendant West testified that after he and his companions started with some of the dynamite to explode under the automobile or about the premises of intended victim Munn, he decided to abandon the mission and persuaded his companions also to desist from it. Afterward that parcel of dynamite was buried and subsequently officers were carried to the hiding place where it was recovered by them and a stick of it was also sent to the F.B.I. Further recovery by the officers consisted of four additional sticks of dynamite and eight caps which were found at Baker's river resort to which he directed them. Sweepings from the barbecue stand, where Baker testified the dynamite was capped and fused, were also sent to the F.B.I. for examination.

A Special Agent of the Bureau, a trained chemical engineer and long employed by it, testified for the State that he examined the dynamite, sweepings and other articles. The hole in the stick of dynamite for the insertion of the cap was made by the round end of the pencil, the stationary end of the pen, or an instrument of the same size and shape; and on a blade and on the screwdriver of the knife he found fragments of orange-colored wax similar to that in the wrapper of the fuse, which indicated that the knife blade and screwdriver (it was a Boy Scout knife) had been used to cut and insert this particular fuse in the dynamite. The wax fragments were mounted on slides by the witness, identified and placed in evidence. Separate lengths of fuse (which had been obtained from the river resort and dug up near the mill) were found to be so alike, including an unusual defect in manufacture, as to show that they came from the same coil of fuse. The witness was even able to determine the manufacturer, whom he named. In the sweepings were found small fragments of sulphur and bits of red and white fibres which were identical with that used in the manufacture of the fuse. All of this expert testimony was convincing corroboration that appellant prepared the dynamite for use with his knife and knife-screwdriver, as Baker testified.

At the conclusion of the evidence in chief for the State counsel who represented West and appellant moved for the acquittal of West, adding, quoting from the record, page 121, "We have no motion as to Miller." The motion, which was thus expressly limited to West's behalf, was refused. Again at the close of...

To continue reading

Request your trial
13 cases
  • State v. Crawford
    • United States
    • South Carolina Court of Appeals
    • January 31, 2005
    ...Horne, 324 S.C. at 381, 478 S.E.2d at 294 (citing State v. Childs, 299 S.C. 471, 385 S.E.2d 839 (1989)). Indeed, State v. Miller, 223 S.C. 128, 74 S.E.2d 582 (1953), notes: "Often proof of conspiracy is necessarily by circumstantial evidence alone." Id. at 133, 74 S.E.2d at 585 (citation om......
  • State v. Condrey, 3471.
    • United States
    • South Carolina Court of Appeals
    • April 1, 2002
    ...circumstantial evidence or by circumstantial evidence alone. State v. Childs, 299 S.C. 471, 385 S.E.2d 839 (1989). As State v. Miller, 223 S.C. 128, 74 S.E.2d 582 (1953), instructs: "Often proof of conspiracy is necessarily by circumstantial evidence alone." Id. at 133, 74 S.E.2d at 585 (ci......
  • State v. Cope
    • United States
    • South Carolina Court of Appeals
    • April 2, 2009
    ...323, 555 S.E.2d 402, 405 (2001). "Often proof of conspiracy is necessarily by circumstantial evidence alone." State v. Miller, 223 S.C. 128, 133, 74 S.E.2d 582, 585 (1953). Nevertheless, "the law calls for an objective, rather than subjective, test in determining the existence of a conspira......
  • State v. Horne, 2562
    • United States
    • South Carolina Court of Appeals
    • September 10, 1996
    ...circumstantial evidence or by circumstantial evidence alone. State v. Childs, 299 S.C. 471, 385 S.E.2d 839 (1989). As State v. Miller, 223 S.C. 128, 74 S.E.2d 582 (1953) instructs: "Often proof of conspiracy is necessarily by circumstantial evidence alone." Id. at 133, 74 S.E.2d at 585 (cit......
  • Request a trial to view additional results

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT