State v. Ruckman

Citation161 S.W. 705,253 Mo. 487
PartiesSTATE v. RUCKMAN.
Decision Date09 December 1913
CourtUnited States State Supreme Court of Missouri

Appeal from Circuit Court, Jefferson County; E. M. Dearing, Judge.

Clarence A. Ruckman was convicted of arson in the third degree, and he appeals. Reversed.

The count of the information upon which defendant was tried charged arson in the third degree, as defined by section 4509, R. S. Missouri 1909. Trial was had in the circuit court of Jefferson county, Mo. Defendant was convicted and his punishment assessed at two years in the penitentiary.

The evidence upon the part of the state tends to show the following facts: On the 25th day of January, 1912, and for some months prior thereto, defendant was engaged in running a pool and billiard hall at De Soto, Mo. About 3 o'clock a. m. on said day, fire was discovered in said pool room.

B. J. Peasley testified that, as he got off a train at the depot in the town of De Soto, he saw the fire break out the front windows of the pool room, and that the blaze shot nearly across the street and looked like oil was burning.

Mr. Herman Hamel, the owner of the building, testified: That defendant occupied the first floor for a pool room and that the second floor was occupied by different offices. The front of the building opened on Main street, and just back of the building was a small warehouse, and in the rear of the warehouse was a back yard, and back of that was the alley. On the north side of the pool room was a building, the lower floor of which was occupied by a clothing store and the upper portion as a family residence. The building on the south side of the pool hall was used as a dwelling. The pool room had three doors, a front door, one back door into the warehouse, and a side door which entered the pool hall from an outside hallway. Witness first went down to the scene of the fire about 7 o'clock a. m., and, at that time, found that the pool tables and billiard tables were nearly destroyed by fire; that there was some kindling around the legs of the pool tables; and that behind the last pool table was an empty whisky barrel containing some coal oil and a pan. Witness further stated that the scent of coal oil was strong in the building, and that he noticed some oil out in the outside hall, and that the pool room floor was burned out.

A. J. Blair, justice of the peace and fire insurance agent, testified: That on May 1, 1911, he insured defendant's pool tables and fixtures and delivered to defendant an insurance policy in the Providence-Washington Insurance Company, for a term of one year. The total insurance was $1,300, divided as follows: $1,150 on four tables, balls, cues, cue racks, cuspidors, and chairs; $50 on showcases and stock of cigars; $100 on lighting plant. The policy provided that, in the event of loss, no table was to be valued at more than $210. Loss, if any, under the policy, was made payable to the Kansas City Billiard Table Manufacturing Company, mortgagee, as their interest might appear. Before issuing the policy of insurance, the witness looked at the property and ascertained the value of the same for the purpose of insurance. That he was at the building for a short time, about 8 o'clock on the morning of the fire, and found the four pool tables badly damaged by the fire and the pool room floor was badly burned and saw the whisky barrel in the pool room. On being asked if he noticed any coal oil around there, he said: I don't know exactly, there was something in a tin can there, and there was something in the barrel with some kindling in there. I suppose there was some water among the coal oil." He further testified that he noticed some coal oil on the wall in the hallway, to the left of the steps leading upstairs; that he saw some kindling under one of the pool tables; that the defendant lived at the Commercial Hotel, which was 80 or 90 feet south of the pool hall; that in the rear of the hotel was an incline runway, leading from the alley to the second floor of the hotel, up which trunks were moved to the sample room on the second floor; that, at the time of the issuing of the insurance, defendant told him that the tables were mortgaged for $600; that, shortly before the fire, defendant asked witness to find him a buyer for the property; the witness thought defendant made one price of $400. (This was evidently for the defendant's equity in the property, but the evidence does not so show.)

W. A. Welch, chief of the De Soto Fire Department, testified: That he went to the fire and found the front of the room all ablaze and that the flames from the fire shot out about halfway across the street. The fire department put the fire out and found that the floor was burned out and the ceiling broken through in several places; some kindling wood was found in the pool room, stacked up around the pool tables and in rows under the tables. That he smelled coal oil in the building, and that "it seemed to be everywhere." He also found a whisky barrel in the back part of the pool room, and said that the door going from the pool room into the outside hallway was open. That the defendant came to the fire shortly after the fire department arrived, and that witness directed defendant to take hold of one of the nozzles and turn it upon the fire.

James Couch, liveryman, and member of the fire department, attended the fire; had charge of the hose in the rear of the building; saw some pine kindling, split up so as to go into a stove, under the pool tables and around the legs. He did not see any oil, in any part of the building, but testified that the building was so badly burned that there was no oil there, except what was in the barrel.

John Anderson, a driver of a transfer wagon, testified that some time during the last part of December, 1911, he hauled one-half load of kindling for defendant and delivered it at the rear of defendant's place of business; that it was the same kind of kindling that he hauled for many other citizens of the town at that time of year.

A. Rush testified that he was the son of the lady who conducted the Commercial Hotel at De Soto; that defendant lived at the hotel in room 24 on the third floor; that a few days before the fire he cut up some kindling for the defendant and stacked the kindling in the warehouse; that he had never seen a coal oil lamp in the pool room; that he saw some of this kindling under the pool tables after the fire; that the door to the sample room on the second floor of the hotel is supposed to be kept closed; that on the night of the fire he occupied room 23 at the hotel, which room is separated from the room that defendant occupied by the stairway leading down to the second floor; that he heard nothing during the night, until he heard the porter call the defendant and give the fire alarm, and that after he got to the fire he saw the defendant there; that he did not know when defendant went to bed; that the pool room was heated with a coal stove and lighted with gas lights, the gas being supplied by an individual gas plant, the tank of which was in the corner of the pool hall; that the kindling he cut for defendant was for use in the stove, and that there was no attempt to conceal the splitting of the kindling; that defendant had nothing to do with the sample room, but that the sample room was used for storing canned goods and bedclothes at this time; that there were only two ways to go from the third floor of the hotel to the yard in the rear of the hotel: One way was to go down the front stairs and through the office, the other way was to go down the back steps and through a door leading into the kitchen, and then through a door leading from the kitchen into the back yard, and that the kitchen door was generally locked.

William Spiker, night clerk at the Commercial Hotel, testified: That he was on duty as night clerk on the night of the fire. That about 1 o'clock a. m. defendant came to the hotel and went upstairs to bed. That about 3 o'clock witness went up...

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