State v. Williams
| Decision Date | 05 June 1924 |
| Docket Number | 25327 |
| Parties | STATE v. WILLIAMS |
| Court | Missouri Supreme Court |
Jesse W. Barrett, Atty. Gen., and Geo. W. Crowder, Asst. Atty Gen., for the State.
Statement
On the 31st day of January, 1923, the grand jury of Jackson county Mo., returned into the circuit court of said county an indictment against appellant in two counts. The first count charges him with feloniously, etc., shooting Thomas F. A. Henry in said county on December 12, 1922. The second count charges that on said 12th day of December, 1922, appellant feloniously, etc., shot said Henry while committing the crime of robbery, for which he was indicted in said count. Defendant was formally arraigned on February 2, 1923, and entered a plea of not guilty. He was tried by a jury, and the latter, on February 21, 1923, returned into court the following verdict:
'We, the jury, find the defendant guilty of assault with intent to rob, as charged in the indictment, and assess his punishment at 50 years' imprisonment in the state penitentiary.
'H. A. Beynon, Foreman.'
At the conclusion of the testimony the state elected to go to trial on the second count of the indictment, and dismissed as to the first count therein.
On February 24, 1923, appellant filed herein an amended motion for a new trial, and, on the same day, filed a motion in arrest of judgment. Both motions were taken under advisement by the court, until March 8, 1923, when both were overruled. Thereafter, on the last-mentioned date, judgment was rendered and sentence pronounced in conformity to the verdict aforesaid.
On February 20, 1923, appellant was tried and convicted in the same court for the crime of robbery in the first degree alleged to have been committed upon William Eldridge, and appellant's punishment was fixed in that case at 25 years in the penitentiary, but sentence was deferred until after appellant had been tried and convicted in this case. The two crimes with which appellant was charged, tried, and convicted grew out of the same transaction.
We have carefully examined the transcript on file in connection with respondent's statement of the facts, and, finding that the latter is substantially correct, hereby adopt the same as our statement of the case, to wit:
Appellant, assisted by confederates, committed a bold highway robbery on five messengers, including the said Thomas F. A. Henry, of the Drovers' National Bank of Kansas City, Mo., while said messengers were leaving a branch post office located in the Live Stock Exchange Building in that city on the 12th day of December, 1922, at the hour of about 1:30 p. m. There were at least three of the robbers, and the evidence shows that they forcibly took possession of and carried away about $ 97,000 in money, this being the money of the Drovers' National Bank, but in the personal possession of Thomas F. A. Henry and four other messengers of the bank. In the commission of this robbery the evidence shows that appellant shot and very seriously wounded Thomas F. A. Henry, and for a time made good his escape. Later, about December 26, 1922, appellant was arrested in the city of New Orleans, La., where he had gone in company with one Ruth Adcock and James Caverty and the latter's wife. The evidence shows that at the time, and shortly before the robbery, James Caverty lived in what was called the Oregon Flats in Kansas City, Mo., at which place appellant and certain of his confederates temporarily stopped.
On the 12th day of December, 1922, the sum of $ 100,000 in money was sent by registered mail from the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Mo., to the Drovers' National Bank of that city. It was put in five canvas bags, and the bags addressed to the Drovers' National Bank, which bank received its mail at the branch post office in the Live Stock Exchange Building. The money was sent out by the post office to the branch post office at the hour of 12:50 p. m. December 12, 1922, and was due to reach the branch post office in the Live Stock Exchange Building at 1:04 p. m. the same day. On the same day, at about the hour of 1:32 p. m., the evidence shows this registered mail was delivered by the post office clerk at the branch post office in the Live Stock Exchange Building to Thomas F. A. Henry, a messenger from the Drovers' National Bank; that said Thomas F. A. Henry had with him four helpers, named William Eldridge, Robert A. Mulliken, Leslie E. Selder, and Barnett S. Timmons; that on receipt of this money from the post office clerk Mr. Henry gave one bag to each of the four messengers, and retained one for himself, and the five messengers started with said money out of the building. There was a hallway that led from the branch post office into the main lobby of the building, and adjoining the main lobby was the office of Alexander, Conover & Martin. As these messengers went around the corner into the lobby, a gun was viciously thrust against the body of William C. Eldridge, accompanied by the gruff command, 'Stick 'em up.' The robber at the same time pushed the said Eldridge through the doorway into the office of Alexander, Conover & Martin, and backed him up into a corner of that office, where Eldridge dropped his bag of money, and appellant quickly grabbed the bag so dropped, then turned and shot Thomas F. A. Henry. Appellant was positively identified as the man who picked up the bag of money dropped by Mr. Eldridge and as the man who shot the messenger Henry. Consternation prevailed for a time, and during the excitement the robbers made good their escape in an automobile, getting away with the sum of $ 97,000. When appellant shot Mr. Henry, he immediately ran out of the building, accompanied by two confederates, according to the testimony of those who observed them leaving. At the time appellant was tried Mr. Henry was still in a bad condition from the gunshot wound, and unable to attend court or testify in the case.
The testimony further showed that, the next day after this robber was committed, appellant, accompanied by Ruth Adcock and James Caverty, left Kansas City, and went to the city of New Orleans, La. On reaching New Orleans they stopped at the Lafayette Hotel, where appellant and Ruth Adcock registered under the name of 'Mr. and Mrs. Brown,' and were assigned a room together. Caverty, it appears, registered under the name of 'Murphy' at the same hotel. After appellant and Ruth Adcock had gone to their room, appellant told her that he and three of his pals named 'Martin,' 'Gibby,' and 'McCray' held up and robbed the messengers of the Drovers' National Bank, and that they had gotten $ 97,000 in money. After spending one night in New Orleans, appellant and the said Ruth Adcock started on their return trip to Kansas City appellant saying that he was going back to Kansas City to get his part of the money. They left James Caverty in New Orleans....
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