State v. Thomas

Citation99 Mo. 235,12 S.W. 643
PartiesSTATE v. THOMAS.
Decision Date21 December 1889
CourtUnited States State Supreme Court of Missouri

Appeal from circuit court, Saline county; J. E. RYLAND, Judge.

J. P. Strother and Davis & Wingfield, for appellant. Atty. Gen. Wood and A. F. Rictor, for the State.

BRACE, J.

At the March term, 1888, of the criminal court of Saline county the defendant was indicted for murder in the first degree. The indictment, in two counts, charges him with having murdered John Lowry on the 11th of October, 1884, in said county. He was arraigned, pleaded not guilty, and the case was continued until the September term, when it was set down for trial on the 2d day of January, 1889, at which time he was tried, found guilty of murder in the first degree, and sentenced to be hanged. His motion for new trial and in arrest of judgment having been overruled, he appeals, the circuit court staying the execution until his appeal be heard.

So far as the personal knowledge of any of the witnesses who testified in this cause goes, the last time that John Lowry was certainly seen alive was on the evening of Saturday, the 11th of October, 1884, when "the sun was about a half an hour high." The evening was "dark and rainy." He was in his pasture, driving a cow, and had on a "gum coat and overalls." About sunset of the same day, or a little before, a man was seen standing in the front door of Lowry's house, whom one of the witnesses supposed to be Lowry; but, as he was at a distance, and the view obstructed by trees, it may or may not have been he. On Monday, the 13th of October, the mother and sister of John Lowry's wife, about 2 o'clock in the afternoon, went to Lowry's house. They found a cow in the house, in the east room, used as a dining-room and kitchen. The table was set, chairs around it; the dishes indicating that a meal had been eaten. On the window-sill there was a coal-oil lamp; the oil consumed, the light gone out. In the adjoining room, on the bed, fresh ironed clothes were found lying. No living soul was found. The daughter went to the door; hallooed two or three times, when Lowry's bird dog came to them. "He acted strangely; went to the door, and looked back; went down the steps, and looked back again; ran to the fence, hopped over, and waited." The daughter followed him to the dead body of John Lowry, clothed in a gum coat and overalls, about 150 yards north-west of the house, and about 20 or 30 feet north-west of the barn, lying on his breast, with his skull crushed in on the right side, just above the ear, and above a puncture, as if made with a blunt instrument, and "two small cuts on the left side of his neck;" his hat lying, also punctured, 8 or 10 feet south-east of him. The alarm was given; some neighbors came; and soon afterwards the body of John Lowry's wife was found, dead, behind an old hen-house, about 50 or 60 feet north of the house, her head crushed, the back of the skull split open, as if with a sharp, wedge-shaped instrument, after the body had fallen. Decomposition had set in when the bodies were discovered; and the physician who examined them, soon after their discovery, on Monday, expressed the opinion that "the wounds on both Mrs. Lowry and John Lowry were made on the Saturday evening before. He testifies that he formed this opinion from the condition of the wounds, and the circumstances surrounding the case at the time; the bodies having been rained on since they had fallen, and there having no rain fallen after Saturday night. "I remember there was no rain between that time and the time I made the examination of the bodies." "He [John Lowry] must have been killed Saturday evening. There had been a rain-fall since the body had fallen. The blood had been washed away from the lower part of the face." Another witness testified: "It had rained on the body where it laid. The mud had been washed off his shoes, and the wrinkles in the gum coat showed it had rained since the body fell." The other evidence tended to show that it commenced raining Saturday evening, between 2 and 3 o'clock, continued, in showers, until after dark, — probably until about 8 o'clock, — when it ceased, and did not rain any more until after the bodies were found. The whole evidence tends to show that John Lowry and his wife were murdered between sundown and 8 or 9 o'clock Saturday evening, October 11, 1884. At the time of the murder, Lowry and his wife were living alone, in their little two-roomed house. About 50 yards south of their house was a public road, running east and west. North and east of the house, and near along by the barn, ran Straddle creek. South-east from the barn it crossed the public road west of and between Lowry's premises and a neighbor by the name of William J. Adams, whose home was east of the creek and of Lowry's about a quarter of a mile. North-east of Lowry's house, across the creek and distant about three-quarters of a mile, was the home of John Thomas, defendant's father. The defendant, then a youth between 19 and 20 years of age, was living with his father, mother, two brothers, and two sisters. The discovery of the murdered bodies of Lowry and wife created great excitement, and in a short time almost every man in the neighborhood was there. No further developments seem to have been made on that day, or the next. On Wednesday, however, in the creek north-east of the barn, and close to it, an axe and part of a wagon-brake, being an iron bar about 2 feet long, 1 inch wide, and ½ inch thick, were found, both having blood on them. They were fished out of the creek by witness Miller, who says he found tracks near the edge of the water, at the place where the axe and bar were found, as if some one had walked up to the creek and stepped back. The track was about the size of a No. 8 boot. There had been a good many people there. Thinks there had been rain since the track was made. He followed the track to a foot log, crossed over creek, and found same track. Followed it out of the timber going north. About 200 yards from the place where the axe and rod were found, he measured the track with a stick, which he notched, but afterwards lost. Does not know whether he got the exact size of the track or not. About a week afterwards, in Marshall, he measured tracks of defendant, and says they "corresponded very well." About a week after the murder a witness found a white handkerchief with a red border, "with blood on it," — looked like hands had been wiped on it, — about 10 steps from a road, and about a quarter of a mile north-west of Thomas' house. In the summer of 1886, a witness found a pair of drawers and overalls in some buck bushes that he was cutting north of the creek, about one-third or one-fourth of a mile south-west from Thomas' house. The drawers were cotton flannel, and "pretty much rotten." "The drawers were dirty. Can't say they were bloody."

The foregoing statement contains, substantially, the positive and direct evidence for the state. The connection of the defendant with the murder is sought to be established by his extra-judicial confessions, criminating admissions, conduct, and contradictory statements, which will be now given, as briefly as possible. On Sunday after the murder, and before the bodies were discovered, the defendant took dinner at the house of the said William J. Adams. In a conversation which he then had with Mrs. Adams in regard to a noise which she heard on the creek the night before, she said to him: "Rid, was you out coon hunting, Saturday night?" to which he replied: "No, he was in town Saturday night. If he had been coming home an hour earlier or later [the witness didn't remember which] he would have heard the noise, and found out what it was." The defendant went home from Adams', and arrived there about 1 o'clock. Went up to the boys' room, where a neighbor youth, by the name of Chat Lacey, was. Lacey, on leaving a short time afterwards, left his knife in the room. John W. Bartlett, for the state, testified that in October, 1884, he was city marshal of the city of Marshall, and John R. Cason was then deputy-sheriff. First heard of the killing of Lowry on Monday. Was out there next day, (Tuesday.) "Saw a good many tracks along creek. I crossed on north side. Found large tracks along fence, going north, towards Thomas' house. Creek was crossed on water-gap and log. Water-gap is a little east of north of Lowry's residence. Did not know defendant before. Cason was with me. We conversed with defendant at that time. First saw him on Thursday, at his father's premises. Cason told defendant we were investigating the Lowry murder, and...

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