Webb v. State
| Decision Date | 12 May 1919 |
| Docket Number | (No. 214.) |
| Citation | 212 S.W. 567 |
| Parties | WEBB v. STATE. |
| Court | Arkansas Supreme Court |
Appeal from Circuit Court, White County; J. M. Jackson, Judge.
Roy Webb was convicted of illegally disposing of alcoholic liquors, and he appeals. Affirmed.
The section of the statute under which the indictment in this case was returned reads as follows:
"After January 1, 1916, it shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to manufacture, sell or give away, or be interested, directly or indirectly, in the manufacture, sale or giving away of any alcoholic, vinous, malt, spirituous or fermented liquors or any compound or preparation thereof, commonly called tonics, bitters or medicated liquors within the state of Arkansas." Acts 1915, p. 98.
Eb Boles, a witness for the state, testified that he saw the defendant and a companion named Lexington in an automobile on the 24th day of December, 1918; that they asked how to go to Bradford, and that he asked them if he could go with them and show them the way; that they replied that he could, and he rode with them until their automobile broke down; that, while riding with them in the automobile, they gave him a drink of whisky out of a quart bottle, and that when he and his companion got ready to leave they gave them a pint apiece; that the defendant and Lexington were both in the car, but that he does not remember which one of them gave him the whisky; that the back end of the automobile was loaded, but he did not know what it was loaded with.
On cross-examination Boles testified that he showed the defendant and Lexington how to get along the road to Bradford, and that they gave him some whisky, but he did not remember whether the defendant or Lexington actually handed him the whisky.
T. C. Plant, the sheriff of White county, testified that he arrested the defendant just north of Bradford, in White county, on Christmas day in 1918; that the defendant was in charge of an automobile which was filled with whisky; that it contained about 324 pints and 20 some odd quarts; that, at the time the defendant was arrested, Lexington had gone to Little Rock for repairs on the car.
Roy Webb, the defendant, testified for himself. He admitted that he was in the car, and that he had gone to St. Louis to drive the car back for Lexington. He stated that before they got to Bradford, in White county, they met some men who wanted to ride to town, and Lexington let them ride; that Lexington took out a quart of whisky, and he and the men drank together; the defendant did not drink; that, when the car broke down, Lexington took out two pints of whisky and gave each one of them a pint; that he did not have any interest in the whisky; that he had been driving into the state secondhand automobiles for Lexington for about three months, which had been purchased outside of the state; that he went to St. Louis with Lexington for the purpose of driving the car back.
On cross-examination he admitted that he tried to escape as soon as he was placed in jail; that he had some saws, which he brought to the jail and gave to the other prisoners. It was shown that when the car broke down the whisky was taken out of it and placed in a house near by, and that the defendant was placed in charge of the car and the whisky. The defendant admitted on cross-examination that some men came up there and took whisky away from the house while he was in charge of it, but that it was not his whisky.
The jury returned a verdict of guilty, and from the judgment rendered the defendant has appealed.
W. F. Terral, of Little Rock, for appellant.
Gardner K. Oliphint, of Little Rock, amicus curiæ.
Jno. D. Arbuckle, Atty. Gen., and Robert C. Knox, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.
HART, J. (after stating the facts as above).
It is first earnestly insisted by counsel for the defendant that the court erred in permitting the prosecuting attorney to ask the defendant of he had not tried to escape, and if he had not brought some saws into the jail and given them to the other prisoners for the purpose of escaping. It appears from the record that the defendant was first arrested near Bradford, in White county, and subsequently released from custody....
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