Taylor v. State

• Decision Date: 25 January 1943
• Docket Number: 35143.
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court
• Parties: TAYLOR v. STATE.

11 So.2d 663

194 Miss. 1

TAYLOR v. STATE.

No. 35143.

Supreme Court of Mississippi

January 25, 1943

[Copyrighted Material Omitted]

G C. Clark, of Waynesboro, Grover C. Powell, of Atlanta, Ga and Hayden C. Covington, of Brooklyn, N. Y., for appellant.

Greek L. Rice, Atty. Gen., by Geo. H. Ethridge, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.

ROBERDS Justice.

The Legislature of Mississippi at its 1942 regular session enacted Chapter 178, General Laws of Mississippi 1942, which the Reporter will set out in full.

Appellant was indicted, tried, convicted and sentenced for violation of Section 1 of that Act. He appeals.

He first contends that the evidence is not sufficient to support his conviction.

Summarized the evidence is that appellant and his wife, the latter part of May and the first of June 1942, appeared at the homes of a Mrs. Joyner and Mrs. Denson in Madison County, Mississippi, and then and there, according to the testimony of Mrs. Joyner, said to those present: "Well, he came in and said he wanted to talk with me; and they came in and sat down and he began to talk, and looked through the Bible; he didn't read any in the Bible, but just turned through it, and talked; and told me that the President was doing wrong to send our boys across to be killed for nothing, and that Hitler would rule, and he wouldn't have to come over here to do it, but he would do it; he would rule, but he wouldn't come here. And he said it was wrong for us to salute the Flag; that we just worshipped our Government and our Flag, and looked on it as something sacred; and that it was wrong for us to do that; and that no doubt my son thought he was doing the right thing by going where he was and doing what he did; but that it was wrong for him to fight the enemies, and to go there."

A Mrs. Bryant, who was present, testified: "Well, he said it was wrong for our President to send these boys across in uniform to fight our enemies; said it was wrong to fight our enemies; said they were being shot down for no purpose at all; said Hitler would rule, but he wouldn't have to come here to rule; and he said the quicker the people here quit bowing down and worshiping and saluting our Flag and Government, the sooner we would have peace."

Mrs. Denson gave the same version in substance of what was said at her home, except she added: "He said there were just as many sheep-he divided the people as sheep and goats, the Jehovah's witnesses were the sheep and the believers; and he said there were just as many sheep in Germany as there were here. And just at that time, Mrs. Taylor spoke up and says, 'You know you would hate to see a German mother lose her son as much as you would anyone else.' But he told me to study the literature, and that I would get comfort from it." He had theretofore appeared at the home of Mrs. Bryant and sold her some literature.

Mrs. Joyner and Mrs. Denson had each lost a son in the attack upon Pearl Harbor. He also said their sons would come back and live with them forever. Appellant says it was his intention to comfort them. They were strangers to appellant and the record does not disclose how he knew their sons had been killed.

Appellant admitted making some of the statements and flatly denied making others. He alone testified in his own behalf as to whether the statements were or were not made. His wife, who was present when it is claimed the statements were made, was not present at the trial and did not testify. It was the province of the jury, not ours, to say who was testifying truthfully-these three ladies or appellant.

The proof furthermore is that each of these three ladies purchased from appellant certain written literature, consisting of twenty-two books and pamphlets, for thirty-five cents. A number of these books and pamphlets were introduced in evidence. Certain excerpts from this literature were selected and introduced by the State. Four of such excerpts were:

"All nations of the earth today are under the influence and control of the demons. * * * All the nations suffer the same fate or come to the same end, because all nations of earth are on the wrong side, that is, on the losing side. All of such nations are against the Theocratic Government, that is the government of kingdom of the Almighty God. * * * and all are under the control of the invisible host of demons, * * *."

"But to compel people to salute a flag or any other image is wrong, and particularly if that person believes on God and Christ Jesus. For the Christian to salute a flag is in direct violation of God's specific commandment."

"Almighty God commands that they must remain entirely neutral in the controversy. Because his covenant people are servants and representatives of The Theocracy they must hold themselves entirely aloof from warring factions of this world."

"Non-Christians may salute the flag without reference to the foregoing rules. Those who are real conscientious Christians are in a class entirely different from others of the world. Jehovah's witnesses are Christians and in a covenant to be entirely obedient to God's law. They must teach their children and admonish them to obey God's law, as he has commanded. They are conscientious and they sincerely believe that for them to indulge in the formalism or ceremony of saluting any flag is a violation of God's specific commandment * * *." Other passages in this literature teach that "the so-called democracies" hold out no hope of peace, security, life or happiness-that the only place of safety is in Theocracy; that if there is a conflict between state law and what Jehovah's witnesses conceive to be Jehovah's law, the state law should not be obeyed; that Jehovah's witnesses take a pledge not to salute the flag and that to undertake by law to force a child to salute the flag is to "fame mischief by law." Appellant justified his attitude and conduct by quoting on the stand certain passages of the Scriptures and calling attention to other passages therefrom appearing in the literature.

In addition to the foregoing, appellant himself testified that he was an ordained minister. His earthly ordination was evidenced by a printed postcard, containing the printed signature of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society and its president, and which card has a blank space for the name of the person to be ordained and a blank for the identifying signature of such person. Both of these blanks had been filled in by appellant. Appellant also evidenced his ordination as a minister by referring to certain Scriptural passages. He said he had been a full time Jehovah Witness for twelve years; that he came to Mississippi from Alabama and had been here some three months; that he had contacted many of the other citizens, white and colored, of Madison County and had sold to them many sets of the literature; that his financial income from this work consisted of the excess of the sale over the cash prices of the literature and as much as $25 per month paid him by said society, "upon our getting in so much time, If we don't work we don't eat"; that there were one hundred and forty-four thousand such workers in the United States; that the workers were under a superintendent; that he was not a pacifist and he loves his country; that he was in the Army in the last World War on duty in Honolulu, and after having served about eighteen months he purchased his release therefrom by paying "the government $140."

Placing these words and acts against the statute, it will be seen that they may be reasonably construed to violate it in these respects: (1) that they are calculated to encourage disloyalty to the Governments of the United States and of Mississippi, and discourage enlistment in the armed forces of the Nation; (2) that they advocate the cause of the enemies of the United States; and (3) that they reasonably tend to create an attitude of stubborn refusal to salute, honor, or respect the flag or government of the United States. Assuming the validity of the law, we think the evidence is sufficient to support the verdict of the jury.

Appellant contends that this statute is unconstitutional as to him because it deprives him of the right of free speech and free press guaranteed by the Constitutions of Mississippi and the United States.Const.Miss.1890, § 13; Const.U.S. Amend. 1. The act, as an entirety, is sufficiently comprehensive in its objects, including, for instance, sabotage and acts of violence against the sovereign, to meet this constitutional attack, but the question is whether it is constitutional as applied to appellant and his conduct. The question should be tested by the powers of the sovereign in war-time and the corresponding rights and duties of the people during such time. Even in peace-time the right of free speech does not mean unbridled license of speech. The right may be abused, for which abuse punishment may be meted out under the police power of the State. The Constitution protects the right but not the abuse. For instance, one has no right even in times of peace to use language, oral or written, which wrongfully injures another in person or property, or tends to corrupt public morals, induce crime, endanger the public safety, or which advocates a change in industrial conditions or the form of government by use of force, violence or other unlawful means. State v. Quinlan, 86 N.J.L. 120, 91 A. 111; State v. Boyd, 86 N.J.L. 75, 91 A. 586, affirmed 87 N.J.L. 328, 93 A. 599; State v. Fox, 71 Wash. 185, 127 P. 1111, affirmed in 236 U.S. 273, 35 S.Ct. 383, 59 L.Ed. 573; People v. Most, 171 N.Y. 423, 64 N.E. 175, 58 L.R.A. 509; State v. Gibson, 189 Iowa 1212, 174 N.W. 34; State v. Tachin, 92 N.J.L. 269, 106 A. 145, affirmed 93 N.J.L. 485, 108 A. 318; State v. Gabriel, 95 N.J.L. 337, 112 A. 611; People v....