State v. Wignall

• Citation: 128 N.W. 935,150 Iowa 650
• Parties: STATE v. WIGNALL.
• Decision Date: 15 December 1910
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Iowa

150 Iowa 650

128 N.W. 935

STATE

v.WIGNALL.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Dec. 15, 1910.

Appeal from District Court, Mahaska County; W. G. Clements, Judge.

Defendant was convicted of illegally transporting intoxicating liquors, and from the judgment imposed appeals. Reversed.Burrell & Devitt, for appellant.

H. W. Byers, Atty. Gen., and Chas. W. Lyon, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.

DEEMER, C. J.

Section 2419 of the Code of 1897, so far as material, reads as follows: “If any express or railway company, or any common carrier, or person, or any one as the agent or employé thereof, shall transport or convey to any person within this state any intoxicating liquors, without first having been furnished with a certificate from the clerk of the court issuing the permit, showing that the consignee is a permit holder and authorized to sell liquors in the county to which the shipment is made, such company, common carrier, person, agent or employé thereof, shall upon conviction, be fined in the sum of one hundred dollars for each offense and pay the costs of prosecution, including a reasonable attorney's fee to be taxed by the court. The offense herein created shall be held committed and complete and to have been committed in any county in the state in which the liquors are received for transportation, through which they are transported, or in which they are delivered.”

The information filed under this section was in five counts, each reading in substance as follows: “For that the said defendant on the 5th day of January, 1910, in the county of Mahaska and state of Iowa aforesaid, did willfully, unlawfully, and feloniously transport intoxicating liquor, to wit, beer, over the public highway, from Eddyville, Iowa, to White City, Iowa, and did deliver one case of bottled beer to Lewis Lanphere, contrary to law.”

The case was tried upon an agreed statement of facts, the material parts of which are as follows: “It is conceded that on or about the 27th day of December, 1909, various persons residing at White City, Iowa, by written orders, ordered from the Hamm Brewing Company of Rock Island, Ill., quantities of intoxicating liquor, as shown by the orders hereto attached, consisting of five orders. That in each case a money order was secured at the post office at White City and inclosed with the order. That the orders, with the money orders in payment of the same, were inclosed and sent by mail to the Hamm Brewing Company at Rock Island, Ill. That the parties sending the orders purchased the intoxicating liquor therein referred to for their own personal use in each case, and that none of said liquor was ordered by any of said persons for the purpose of selling the same within the state. That on or about the 30th day of December said orders were received by the Hamm Brewing Company at Rock Island, Ill., and were filled by them, and that the same were shipped from Rock Island, in the state of Illinois, to White City, in the state of Iowa, consigned and properly labeled ‘Beer’ according to law, addressed to the persons ordering the same, each in a separate package. That duplicate bills of lading which are hereto attached numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, being exhibits in the case, and by this reference made a part of the agreed statement of facts, were executed by the railroad company and filed and delivered to the agent of the Rock Island Railroad Company at Eddyville, Iowa. That White City is not upon the Rock Island Railroad, but is an inland town, situated about eight miles from Eddyville, the nearest station on said Rock Island Railroad to White City, in Mahaska county, Iowa. That each of the persons so ordering said liquor, to wit, E. J. Brugman, Frank Polito, Louie Abrahamson, L. D. Duprey, and Lewis Lanphere, gave the defendant, Thomas Wignall, an order on the Rock Island Railway Company to deliver to said Thomas Wignall the shipments of intoxicating liquor that they had previously ordered from the Hamm Brewing Company at Rock Island, Ill. That each of said persons employed said Wignall to deliver to them at White City the liquor that had been ordered from Rock Island and was carried on the Rock Island Railroad as far as Eddyville to finish the shipment from Rock Island to White City, by hauling the orders of liquor from the railroad depot at Eddyville to their residences in White City. That the said Thomas Wignall was the agent of the consignees who had ordered the liquor hereinbefore named, and was acting as their agent in hauling the liquor from the railroad station at Eddyville to their residences at White City. That the defendant, Thomas Wignall, as agent for the consignees named, presented the orders given by each of them to the agent of the Rock Island Railway at Eddyville, and said agent at Eddyville delivered to said Wignall, upon presentation of said orders, the packages of liquor that had been ordered by the parties before named, and that said Thomas Wignall, acting as agent for said parties, hauled said packages from the depot at Eddyville to the residences and delivered the same at the residences of each of the said parties in White City; said delivery being made on or about January 5th. Order: ‘12-27-1909. Hamm Brewing Company, Rock Island, Ill.--Gentlemen: Enclosed please find $1.50. Ship me, freight, one case new brew. [Signed] E. J. Brugman, Address, White City, Iowa. Agents not allowed to solicit orders. Cash must accompany orders unless parties are known to us.’ The other four exhibits, being orders, are similar to the above, except as to the names. Duplicate bill of lading: The bills of lading are in the ordinary form, showing shipment by Hamm Brewing Company; consigned to E. J. Brugman; destination, Eddyville, for White City; one case bottled beer. And stamped upon said bill of lading is the following: ‘Goods to be transferred at Eddyville by you to Thomas Wignall, drayman, to complete the transportation and delivery to consignee at White City.’...