State v. Mincher

• Decision Date: 08 October 1919
• Docket Number: 209.
• Citation: 100 S.E. 339,178 N.C. 698
• Parties: STATE v. MINCHER.
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court

100 S.E. 339

178 N.C. 698

STATE v. MINCHER.

No. 209.

Supreme Court of North Carolina

October 8, 1919

Appeal from Superior Court, Lenoir County; Daniels, Judge.

E. W Mincher was convicted under an indictment charging larceny and receiving of stolen goods, and he appeals. No error.

Evidence as to defendant's possession of a watch stolen at another time and an article in the daily paper which defendant took relating to the theft, were competent evidence on the question of guilty knowledge.

The defendant appeals from a judgment pronounced upon an indictment, charging in one count larceny and in the other receiving one gold watch, three pieces of English gold coin and one $2 1/2 gold piece of United States coin, the property of E. A. Adrey.

The state's evidence tended to show that the defendant had been for six years an overseer of the convict road force of Lenoir county. Among the other prisoners, under the control of and worked by the defendant at the convict camp of the county, was Will Gorham, who had been a trusty for some time. About the 18th or 20th of December, 1918, a watch and chain were stolen from J. T. Hearne, a witness for the state. On the night of Tuesday, January 28, 1919, several stores in the city of Kinston were broken open and goods and other articles were taken from them. On the same night the home of E. A Adrey, a Syrian merchant of the town, was entered and about $300 in bills, gold, and checks were stolen. Among this money were three English gold pounds, one $2 1/2 gold piece of American money, a $5 gold piece, a half pound of African money, some Greek money, about the size of a quarter, a Chinese dime, and some Philippine Island money. On the next morning (Wednesday morning) the officers found a track of a man in his stocking feet and tracked him from about the edge of town to the iron bridge and to the stockade. There they arrested Will Gorham. In consequence of what they learned from him the latter part of March, 1919, they took out a search warrant and searched the house and premises of the defendant, Mincher. This was about 40 or 50 yards from the stockade. Put away in a trunk, which was locked, were three gold pieces, the property of Adrey, and later they obtained from him, in addition to these three gold pieces, a $2 1/2 gold piece, also the property of Adrey. The defendant at the time was wearing the watch of Hearne attached to another chain. The hands had been changed and the number inside had been scratched out. Will Gorham was convicted at the August term, 1918, of Lenoir county of housebreaking and was serving the sentence of five years on the roads for such offense. Adrey did not succeed in finding or recovering any of the rest of his money. It appeared further from the testimony of Rhem, superintendent of roads, that Gorham was made a trusty in the fall of 1918, and that he (Rhem) left the stockade on Saturday night and other nights. During his absence the convicts were left in charge of Mincher one Saturday and Sunday, and of John Ipock on the next. He further testified that the defendant, Mincher, had entire charge of the camp when he (Rhem) was absent. The defendant was a subscriber to the Kinston Daily News during the period when these robberies were going on, and had been for several years before. It was taken to him by a rural carrier. In the issue of that paper of January 30, 1919, there was a full account of the robberies the preceding Tuesday night, including those of the Adrey home and also a list of the coins stolen therefrom. There was evidence also on the part of the state that Will Gorham was permitted to leave camp nearly every Saturday night and would not be back until after 11 o'clock Sunday night; that Will Gorham brought money back with him on some of these trips $10 and $20 bills, which he gave to the cook another trusty, to keep for him; that he gave the $2 1/2 piece, the English pounds, and some paper money to the defendant on the road; that the defendant knew of Will's bringing to the camp a large quantity of Reyno cigarettes, as the witness overheard Mincher tell Will, "You had better get them cigarettes, out of the cage, old Thad Tyndall is talking," and the defendant and Will were having secret talks together mostly every night after supper.

The defendant in his testimony admitted getting the $2 1/2 and English pound pieces from Will some time in February, 1919. He admitted also getting the watch from Will, but claimed that he did not know that they were stolen. It appears in the testimony that defendant was in Kinston the night in which Hearne's house was robbed; this, also, he admits.

The...