United States v. Crowe, 10215.
| Decision Date | 13 April 1951 |
| Docket Number | No. 10215.,10215. |
| Citation | 188 F.2d 209 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES v. CROWE. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit |
John M. Karns, Louis Beasley, East St. Louis, Ill., for appellants.
William W. Hart, U. S. Atty., Ray M. Foreman, Asst. U. S. Atty., Danville, Ill., and Ernest R. McHale, Asst. U. S. Atty., East St. Louis, Ill., for appellee.
Before KERNER, DUFFY and FINNEGAN, Circuit Judges.
William L. Crowe, Silas Brooks, Adrian Higgins, Newton H. Higgins, Dorothy S. Crowe, Annie Higgins and Mary Cornwell were indicted, charged with violations of sections 472 and 473, Title 18 U.S.C.A. and Section 371, Title 18 U.S.C.A. The indictment contained nine counts.
Mary Cornwell was granted a severance, Brooks pleaded guilty, and all other defendants pleaded not guilty and were tried by a jury.
The first four counts charged defendants with unlawfully uttering, publishing and passing certain falsely made, forged and counterfeited ten dollar Federal Reserve notes to three different persons on different dates, knowing said notes to be falsely made, forged and counterfeited with intent to defraud, in violation of section 472, Title 18 U.S.C.A.
Count five charged defendants unlawfully kept in their possession certain falsely made, forged and counterfeited obligations of the United States, in violation of section 472, Title 18 U.S.C.A.
In count six it is charged defendants unlawfully bought and received certain forged and counterfeited ten dollar Federal Reserve notes, in violation of section 473, Title 18 U.S.C.A.
Count seven charged defendants unlawfully sold and delivered certain forged and counterfeited ten dollar Federal Reserve notes, in violation of section 473, Title 18 U.S.C.A.
Count eight charged defendants with unlawfully transferring and delivering certain forged and counterfeited ten dollar Federal Reserve notes, in violation of section 473, Title 18 U.S.C.A.
Count nine charged defendants with an unlawful conspiracy to commit certain criminal offenses against the United States, in violation of section 371, Title 18, U.S. C.A.
The cause was submitted to the jury as to defendants William L. Crowe and Dorothy S. Crowe on all counts; as to defendants Newton H. Higgins and Annie Higgins on counts 5, 6, 7 and 9; as to Adrian Higgins on counts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8 and 9.
Verdicts of guilty against William L. Crowe and Dorothy S. Crowe were returned on counts 5 and 9; against Adrian Higgins on counts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8 and 9; against Newton H. Higgins and Annie Higgins on counts 5, 6, 7 and 9. Judgments were entered on the verdicts and the appellants were each sentenced to imprisonment for various terms. This appeal followed.
Appellants assigned sixteen errors, but in their brief they say: "The defendants herein are prosecuting this appeal from the judgment of the District Court and limiting their review to a consideration of alleged errors in the admission of certain testimony against them over their timely and repeated objections." Their oral argument in this court directed our attention to two alleged errors of the District Court in admitting testimony, (1) relative to the seizure and search of Crowe's Plymouth car on November 10, 1949, at Cairo, Illinois; and (2) the admission on rebuttal of the written statement of Silas Brooks made shortly after his arrest.
The evidence for the Government consisted of the testimony of Silas Brooks, an accomplice, United States Secret Service agents, a sheriff of an Illinois county, and several other witnesses. In order to understand the alleged errors, it is necessary to state the facts as the jury might have found them from the evidence.
It appears that for more than two years before their conviction in this case, William L. Crowe and Dorothy, his wife, resided at 2938 Yeiser Street, in Paducah, Kentucky. Mary Cornwell, a sister of Adrian Higgins, resided a few blocks from where the Crowes lived in Paducah for a period of over two years, before April 1950. Adrian Higgins and the Crowes had been acquainted with each other for two or three years prior to April 1950. On November 10, 1949, Mrs. Crowe's brother, James C. Skekell, and his friend Raymond S. Hicks, were given Crowe's Plymouth car at the Crowe home on Yeiser Street, in Paducah, Kentucky. Within three hours after getting the automobile, Skekell and Hicks were arrested in Cairo, Illinois, about forty-five miles distant from Paducah, for passing a number of ten dollar counterfeit notes. They were apprehended while one of them was driving Crowe's Plymouth car.
In the right hub cap of the Plymouth automobile were found eighty-one ten dollar counterfeit notes. Under the steering wheel in a sack, hooked to the ignition wires, were found three ten dollar counterfeit notes. In the ash tray of the car, a torn, crumpled ten dollar counterfeit note was found. All of the notes found in Crowe's Plymouth car at Cairo, Illinois, bore the same serial number, and were all identical with the counterfeit ten dollar bills which had been obtained from Crowe and subsequently passed by the several defendants during April 1950, and introduced in evidence.
It appears as to Adrian Higgins that in early January, 1950, Adrian wanted to sell the family 1942 Chevrolet automobile for $1400. He planned on getting $100 in genuine money and $1300 in counterfeit money for the car from some person in Paducah, Kentucky.
While in jail on another charge, Adrian asked his former wife to visit him there, which she did. He asked her to get his billfold from the sheriff, in whose custody it was left when Adrian went to jail. He told his former wife he wanted to see if any of the counterfeit bills were in the billfold. Finding none there he requested his former wife to look under the floor mat, and other parts of his truck, to see if he had placed one of the counterfeit bills there. Before she could comply with Adrian's request, Newton (Sweety) Higgins, Adrian's brother, came from East Prairie, Missouri, where he lived, to Metropolis, Illinois, and asked for and was given the keys for Adrian's truck. He examined the truck thoroughly, looking under the floor mat, in the glove compartment, and other parts of the truck.
Shortly after Adrian's release from jail, April 3, 1950, he took Brooks with him, on occasions, to Paducah, Kentucky, where Adrian procured counterfeit bills from William L. (Buddy) Crowe and Dorothy Crowe, at the Crowe home on Yeiser Street. Some of such bills were given to Newton (Sweety) Higgins by Adrian. Thereafter, when Adrian was absent from Metropolis, Newton asked Brooks for some of the counterfeit bills. On a later occasion Brooks went to Paducah in a taxicab to Crowe's home. He identified himself to the Crowes as the man who had been there with Adrian on prior dates. He was told by the Crowes to come back in an hour, which he did, and received $300 in counterfeit ten dollar bills, for which he paid Crowe $120 in genuine money.
Brooks, Adrian Higgins and Mary Cornwell were together in Metropolis when Brooks passed some of the counterfeit bills for himself and some for Adrian.
Annie Higgins and Newton Higgins passed a number of the counterfeit bills in Missouri. Newton (Sweety) Higgins discussed the possession of counterfeit bills on a trip from Metropolis, Illinois, to East Prairie, Missouri, in the company of Cecil Williams and Brooks. All of the ten dollar bills...
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