State v. Weber

• Decision Date: 05 July 1916
• Docket Number: No. 19313.,19313.
• Citation: 188 S.W. 122
• Parties: STATE v. WEBER.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

188 S.W. 122

STATE v. WEBER.

No. 19313.

Supreme Court of Missouri, Division No. 2.

July 5, 1916.

Rehearing Denied July 18, 1916.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Jasper County; Joseph D. Perkins, Judge.

William Weber was convicted of murder, and he appeals. Affirmed.

Defendant has appealed from a conviction of murder in the first degree. His punishment was fixed by the jury at life imprisonment.

Louisa E. Hagenbaugh, the deceased, about 60 years of age, was the keeper of a bawdy-house in the city of Joplin. The evidence for the state tended to prove that she kept about her person a large amount of money, and that she never paid anything by check. The evidence for defendant was to the effect that she was without any money except her current receipts. At times she drank wine and beer freely. Defendant was then known in Joplin as Roy Miller. It developed afterward that at least one reason for such alias was the fact that he had been getting money on forged postal orders. He had no visible means of support. In the apartment of deceased were three rooms in a row, each opening on the hall. They were numbered 1, 3, and 5. Rooms 1 and 3 had a door between, and were occupied by the deceased, No. 3 being her bedroom. Room 5 was next to 3, but with no door between. It was occupied by defendant. Tom Whitsell, known as "Mulligan Tom," a hard drinker, was an inmate of the house. There were two other "women" in the house, Edith Anderson, known as "Blondy," and Mrs. Lyons. They occupied rooms 9 and 10, across the hall from each other, but not contiguous to the rooms of Mrs. Hagenbaugh. Mrs. Anderson had been in the place only two days prior to November 19th. As to what occurred on the morning of Thursday the 19th, she testified:

"He came into my room and lit my fire, and we talked a while on different things. Then he says, `The old lady has lots of money,' referring to Mrs. Hagenbaugh. I says, `You wouldn't marry that old lady, would you?' He says, `No, but if she was to die she could will her money to who she wanted to.' That was all he said about it that morning that I recollect."

Mrs. Lyons testified that she had a talk with defendant between November 11th and 19th, in which he said that Mrs. Hagenbaugh was a nice old lady, and that he would be a fool if he wouldn't marry her for her money. She further testified that on Thursday night, November 19th, the defendant, Whitsell, two women, and Mrs. Hagenbaugh were in room 1 at 9 o'clock. She continued as follows:

"Q. What were they doing there? A. They were drinking. Q. Who do you mean by `they'? A. Mr. Whitsell and Mr. Miller and Mrs. Hagenbaugh. Q. What were they drinking, if you know? A. Some wine and beer. Q. Who furnished the wine? A. Well, Mr. Miller brought the wine in. I saw him take it out of his pocket, and Mr. Whitsell, he brought the beer, and, as far as I know, Mr. Miller gave him the money to buy the beer with. Of course the two ladies never drank anything, and neither did I. Never drank a drop. Q. Were those two ladies occupants of the house, or just callers? A. Just callers. And I took the baby and went back to No. 9 and put the baby to sleep. Q. About what time was that? A. It was about 9 o'clock. Q. Did you see the defendant, Weber, or Tom Whitsell any more during the night? A. No, sir."

The evidence shows that Mrs. Anderson was then at a picture show. About 2:30 the following morning Mrs. Anderson and Mrs. Lyons heard the defendant telephoning to Mrs. Seiders in Illinois to pack her suit case and come at once. The telephone operator repeated a portion of the conversation for the defendant at the time, as the hearing was difficult. She testified that when Mrs. Seiders asked defendant for his reason for calling her to Missouri, defendant answered by saying that he could not tell her then.

Wallace, a barkeeper, testified that defendant and Whitsell came to his saloon in Joplin about 5:30 the morning of Friday November 20, 1914, and remained until 7:20, having spent about $3.80 for drinks; that while there the defendant exchanged $35 in silver for bills, and displayed a roll of bills as large as one's arm, saying that he had been in a game that night; that defendant said that he had just bought a rooming house; that he was going away, and wanted Tommy to run the house until he got back, saying that Tommy was stopping at the rooming house, and that he had thrown $40 on Tommy's bed and waked him up; that he was going to give Tommy $50 and a new suit of clothes; that defendant told Tommy he could occupy his room, but not to let anybody go in 1 and 2 as he (defendant) had them securely locked, and that he said:

"But one thing I want you to particularly look for is a diamond ring that I dropped on the floor of my room, about a carat ring worth about $125."

There was no evidence as to gambling in the case except the above statement of defendant. Rooms 1, 3, and 5 remained locked from that night until Friday the 27th. Whitsell was in bed drunk Friday the 20th and the following Saturday, on which day Mrs. Anderson got on a table and looked through the transoms of Mrs. Hagenbaugh's rooms. The blinds were down in her bedroom, and she could not see whether any one was in the bed.

About 2 o'clock the following Sunday morning the police raided the place; found rooms 1, 3, and 5 locked; did not enter them, looked over the transoms, finding room 3 dark; carried off Anderson and Lyons to the police court, leaving the place practically vacant except for Whitsell and the disordered household stuff. On Sunday the 22d, defendant and Mrs. Seiders reached Webb City, the former stopped, and Mrs. Seiders went to Joplin to see "if everything was all right." Defendant then joined Mrs. Seiders in Joplin and went to the Hagenbaugh apartments. They stayed about an hour and disappeared. It does not appear that they entered rooms 1 and 3.

On Friday, November 27th, Mr. C. C. Carter, a lawyer, a partner of Mr. Shepherd who owns the apartments mentioned, went to show them to a prospective tenant. He broke open the door of room 1, entered it, and found, among other things, two trays on which were quart bottles and glasses containing dregs of liquor. Passing thence into room 3, he found more bottles, one of them half full of whisky. In the bed, with the covers drawn evenly up to the chin, he found a dead human body. He locked the rooms and called Mr. Shepherd, who called Dr. Snyder, the coroner. The three, with others, entered the rooms. They found the body of Mrs. Hagenbaugh, fully dressed, with shoes or slippers on, lying in the bed on her back with arms folded, and with the head "wadded down in the pillow," which was bloody, and there was a bloody pillow under the bed. There had been a hemorrhage from mouth and nose. Dr. Snyder testified that he held an autopsy; that the body had begun to decompose; that the hair came out of her head as he tried to turn her; that there was evidence of finger prints and bruises on her neck and on her right chest; that he cut into her breast and lifted her breastbone, finding four broken ribs on the right side and the lung bruised just like jelly and full of blood; that the ribs were like they had been crushed down by some weight. There were red spots at various places on the body. He testified that the rug in the front room was turned up, and that they found a dollar bill on the floor there, and that in room 3 in front of her bed they found a ring and the stone which had come out of it. There was evidence that her purse or bag which she ordinarily carried was found on the floor of the room with no money in it, and that the purse which she usually carried in her bosom was still there, but with only a dime in it. No money except the dime and the dollar above mentioned was found about the place. A witness for the defendant testified that an open purse was found on the floor with nothing in it but a buttonhook. There was no blood about the place, so far as the evidence shows, except on the pillows and about her mouth and nose. There was evidence that a gas jet in the room was turned on about halfway, and that the gas was escaping at the time of the discovery of the body.

About February 24, 1915, Officers Milligan and Portley brought the defendant under a requisition from St. Paul, Minn., where he was known as Joe Brown. He talked to them at various times on the way, and after getting to Joplin. He said that after leaving Joplin the last time he gave Mrs. Seiders $500 at Weir City and left her; that he got money at Pueblo by cashing some money orders. At first he said that he was sorry for Mrs. Hagenbaugh's death, but that he was not guilty. Later he said that he would rather do five years in Missouri than in any other penitentiary, and would be willing to plead guilty to manslaughter. Still later he said that he did not have to kill her that way; that the old lady was stuck on him and wanted to marry him and buy a hotel at Branson; that he could go down there, take her out rowing on the river and dump her, if he wanted to dispose of her that way. Later he said that he might be responsible for her death; that he was in the room with her, and Blondy came in and whispered to him to come to her room, and that Mrs. Hagenbaugh told him that he shouldn't go to Blondy's room, and that she grabbed him; that he said, "I'll go where I damn please, and its none of your damn business," that he shoved her away with his hand, and that she fell against the post onto the stove; that he asked her if she was hurt, and she said, "Yes;" that he took her into the front room and laid her on the lounge; that afterward she came into the hall, and again told him that he couldn't go; and that he left her. He said that she might have taken tablets or carbolic acid, or might have fallen on a chair; that both of them were drinking a good deal; that he had intended to put Seiders in charge of the rooming house until he could "turn it." A box of tablets was found on the floor of...