State v. Stewart
| Decision Date | 20 December 1926 |
| Docket Number | 27069 |
| Citation | 289 S.W. 934 |
| Parties | STATE v. STEWART |
| Court | Missouri Supreme Court |
North T. Gentry, Atty. Gen., and H. O. Harrawood, Sp. Asst. Atty Gen., for the State.
On September 8, 1925, in the circuit court of Christian county the defendant was found guilty of transporting moonshine corn whisky. Judgment accordingly, from which she appealed.
The state introduced evidence as follows:
The sheriff of Christian county, John N. Turner, testified that on May 1, 1925, he met the defendant in a Ford car with Ellis Clifton, near the Bull creek bridge in Christian county. On his return journey a little later he came to the same car stopped in the middle of the road, about five miles south of Ozark. The sheriff went over to the car in which the defendant and Ellis Clifton were and asked, 'What is wrong?' Clifton said ' 'Nothing', stepped on the car and was gone.' The sheriff gave chase, followed the Clifton car about five miles, and overtook it where it had broken down. In the progress of the chase the sheriff came upon a jug in a tow sack which had been thrown out of the Clifton car and the jug broken. The sack was still wet with corn whisky which he detected by its smell. The sheriff preserved this sack in a fruit jar, and it was introduced at the trial for the inspection of the jury. Clifton's car wheel was introduced in evidence. The wheel had worn off, the rim was gone, and it was worn down to the brake bands.
Clifton and the Stewart girl got out of the stalled car and started to run across the fields, when they were stopped by the sheriff and arrested. On cross-examination the sheriff testified he did not see the occupants of the car he was chasing throw the sack out, but, when he went down into a low place in the road and the other car was in a low place ahead, he could not see exactly what they were doing. It was there that he found the sack and the broken jug.
He was corroborated in his testimony by Tom McCoy, who was riding with him at the time. Amother witness testified to seeing two persons, a man and a woman, get out of the car when it broke down and start to run through the fields. They were apprehended by the sheriff.
The defendant testified in her own behalf that she was married 18 years of age, and that her husband and Ellis Clifton at that time were engaged in the garage business together as partners. That she started from Springfield to Forsyth with Clifton to visit her uncle, who, she said, lived in or near Forsyth. They had car trouble, Ellis said there was no use to go on, and they turned back. She did not know just at what point they turned back, as she was unacquainted with the...
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