State v. Scroggs

• Decision Date: 18 November 1902
• Citation: 170 Mo. 153,70 S.W. 480
• Parties: STATE v. SCROGGS.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

70 S.W. 480

170 Mo. 153

STATE v. SCROGGS.

Supreme Court of Missouri, Division No. 2.

November 18, 1902.

FALSE PRETENSES — FELONY.

1. An indictment charging the defendant with attempting to obtain $350 by false and fraudulent pretenses charges a felony; Rev. St. 1899, § 1927, making the obtaining of money by false and fraudulent pretenses punishable as for stealing the same, the stealing of that amount being, under sections 1898, 1899, grand larceny, punishable by imprisonment in the penitentiary for not more than five years; and section 2360 making an attempt to commit an offense, where the offense so attempted is punishable by imprisonment in the penitentiary, and a maximum punishment be prescribed therefor, punishable by imprisonment in the penitentiary for not exceeding one-half the longest time prescribed for such offense.

Appeal from criminal court, Greene county; J. J. Giddon, Judge.

James H. Scroggs appeals from a conviction. Affirmed.

Robertson & Robertson, for appellant. The Attorney General and Jerry M. Jeffries, for the State.

GANTT, J.

This is a prosecution by information filed in the criminal court of Greene county by the prosecuting attorney of that county. By it the defendant was charged with an attempt to obtain from William V. Hamel $350 by means of certain false and fraudulent pretenses and false representations. For some six months prior to July, 1901, the defendant and one William V. Hamel were doing business in the city of Springfield, Mo., under the firm name of J. H. Scroggs & Co., their business being that of a retail meat market; and under the terms of the partnership that existed between them William V. Hamel furnished all the money for said business, and the defendant acted as manager of the business, and attended to all the details, buying cattle for said meat market, paying for the same, making all collections, and attending to the matter in every way, and the net profits were to be divided between them. The prosecuting witness, William V. Hamel, the record shows, is a minister of the gospel, and defendant pretended to be worked up over religious matters, and attended Mr. Hamel's church, and finally became a member thereof, under probation, however. It was during this time that defendant induced Mr. Hamel to go into this business under these terms. In July, 1901, the defendant and Hugh Hulse and Mike Nibler went into a combination by, through, and under the direction of the defendant by which they were to cheat and defraud Mr. Hamel out of the sum of $350. By their scheme defendant represented to Mr. Hamel that he had borrowed from Hulse and Nibler the sum of $350, and had invested it in the business in which they were partners; that he had no money with which to pay this debt and undertook to induce Mr. Hamel to pay the same, as he had done on occasions previous to this; and he gave as his reasons for not having the money to pay this debt that the iron safe in the office of J. H. Scroggs & Co. had been opened, and about $680 belonging to the said firm stolen, by some unknown parties, and that on account of this the said Hamel would have to put up the money to pay Hulse & Nibler. They failed to carry out their plan, and Hamel was not cheated out of the said $350, but it was for the attempt to so cheat and defraud him that defendant brought upon himself this prosecution. He was found guilty under the instructions to the jury, and his punishment assessed at two years in the penitentiary.

In due time he filed his motions for a new trial and in arrest, which were overruled, and he perfected his appeal to this court, and gave a supersedeas bond.

The defendant is not represented in this court, and we have been required to examine the record without assistance from his counsel. The information states that on the ______ day of July, 1901, the defendant, Scroggs, and one William V. Hamel were copartners doing business under the firm name and style of J. H. Scroggs & Co. at Springfield, Greene county, Mo.; that Hamel furnished all the capital in said business, and Scroggs was the manager, and attended to all the business, and had charge of all moneys and accounts, and had authority to contract debts in behalf of said firm and borrow moneys therefor, the said debts to be paid out of the receipts of said business, and, when not sufficient, said Hamel was to furnish the same. The information then charges that: "On the said day of July, 1901, at the county of Greene and state of Missouri, the said James H. Scroggs, being then and there a partner of the said William V. Hamel, as aforesaid, and operating said business as aforesaid, and having authority to borrow money for the firm of J. H. Scroggs & Co., as aforesaid, and being then and there in an unlawful conspiracy, combination, confederation, and agreement with Hugh Hulse and Mike Nibler, then and there being, then and there feloniously and unlawfully to cheat and defraud the said William V. Hamel of a large amount of money, to wit, of the sum of three hundred and fifty dollars, lawful money of the United States, belonging...