Steele v. People of State
| Decision Date | 30 September 1867 |
| Citation | 1867 WL 5237,45 Ill. 152 |
| Parties | JOHN R. STEELEv.THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS. |
| Court | Illinois Supreme Court |
WRIT OF ERROR to the Recorder's Court of Chicago; the Hon. EVERT VAN BUREN, Judge, presiding.
The plaintiff in error was indicted for forgery at the October Term, A. D. 1866, of the Recorder's Court of Chicago. On being arraigned, he pleaded not guilty, and entered his motion for a continuance, which being overruled, exceptions were taken.
The affidavit for a continuance was as follows:
“ State of Illinois, Recorder's Court of the city of Chicago.
J. R. STEELE ads. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS.
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¦CITY OF CHICAGO, ¦)¦ ¦
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¦ ¦)¦ss. ¦
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¦COOK COUNTY, ¦)¦ ¦
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John R. Steele, being duly sworn, says he is indicted in this court under three indictments for forgery, two for passing forged checks, and one for attempting to pass a forged check; that this affiant cannot safely proceed to the trial of either of said causes for the want of material witnesses who are absent, and whose presence this deponent has been unable to procure at this present term of this court; that John Lynch is a material witness for this deponent; that he resides in the city of Philadelphia; that this deponent has made every exertion in his power, by writing letters and telegraphing, and by the exertion of his friends, to obtain his presence at the present term of this court, and has been unable to do so, but verily believes he can procure the attendance of the said John Lynch at the next term of the said court; that this deponent can prove by said John Lynch that the check purporting to have been drawn by H. M. Thompson & Co., was given to this affiant in payment of a precedent debt, and was represented to this deponent to be genuine, and he, the deponent, took it as such; that the name of the man who thus transferred it to this defendant is J. B. Cross, and that such transfer was in the afternoon before this defendant attempted to pass the same on the Merchants' Savings, Loan and Trust company of this city, as alleged in said indictment; that this deponent expects to prove by John McCoy, who lives in the city of New York, that a man by the name of P. G. Rice or Wright, and not this deponent, was the man who presented the check to the Union National bank, as alleged in said indictment, and procured the money on the same, and that he is a man who resembles this deponent in appearance; that said McCoy is a material witness for this defendant, and he cannot safely proceed to the trial of said cause without said witness McCoy; that this defendant has not been able to procure the attendance of said witnesses, but expects to be able to procure the attendance of said witnesses by the next term of the said court; that this defendant knows of no other witness by whom he can prove the facts above set forth, which he expects so as aforesaid to prove by said witnesses Lynch and McCoy; that this affiant is not a resident of this city, and he avers that if time is given him till the next term of this court, he can procure a large number of respectable witnesses who have known this affiant for years, and can testify to his uniform good character; that the names of some of said witnesses are Norman T. Stevens, Samuel Blair, Albert Fitler, George Anendel, Charles Brooks, William L. Hirst, Joseph Levi, Freeman Scott and Gen. Cadwallader, who all reside in the city of Philadelphia; that this deponent would have made this application before, but for the reason he has been confined in jail since his arrest; that he has been unable to retain counsel for the want of funds, which he has been daily expecting for that purpose; that his counsel have both of them refused to consider themselves fully retained as such until they were paid a retaining fee, which has not been done.
J. R. STEELE.
Sworn to and subscribed this 16th day of Oct., A. D. 1866.
DANIEL O'HARA, Clerk.”
The defendant was put upon trial, and the jury found him guilty and fixed the term of imprisonment in the penitentiary at thirteen years.
Motions for new trial and in arrest of judgment being overruled, the court rendered judgment upon the verdict. The defendant sued out this writ of error.
Messrs. TYLER & HIBBARD, for the plaintiff in error.
Mr. R. G. INGERSOLL, Attorney General, for the defendants in error. Mr. CHIEF JUSTICE BREESE delivered the opinion of the Court:
This was an indictment in the Recorder's Court of the city of Chicago, at the October Term, 1866, against J. R. Steele, for attempting to pass, as genuine, a forged check, purporting to have been drawn at Chicago, on the 25th of September, 1866, by H. M. Thompson & Co., on the Merchants' Savings, Loan and Trust company, and in favor of William E. Hudson or bearer, for $990.
Being duly arraigned for trial on the indictment, the prisoner...
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