Williams v. State
| Decision Date | 06 June 1893 |
| Citation | 98 Ala. 52,13 So. 333 |
| Parties | WILLIAMS v. STATE. |
| Court | Alabama Supreme Court |
Appeal from city court of Montgomery; Thomas M. Arrington, Judge.
Callie Williams was convicted of night walking, and appeals. Affirmed.
John W A. Sanford, Jr., for appellant.
Wm. L Martin, Atty. Gen., for the State.
The constituents of the offense of night walking, with which defendant is charged, made essential by the averments of the present indictment, are that defendant "was a common night walker, and did walk and ramble in the streets and common highways in the city of Montgomery, Ala., at unseasonable hours of night, without having any lawful business, and without any necessity therefor, for the unlawful purpose of picking up men for lewd intercourse against good morals and goods manners, to the common nuisance of all good people of said county." Stoke v State, 92 Ala. 73, 9 South. Rep. 400. The only evidence introduced by the state for the purpose of supporting this charge is the testimony of Murphy, a police officer, that he had seen defendant at O'Rear's bar, at night, in the city of Montgomery, and had seen her talking to men at that bar; that one night witness went to the house of Carrie Stoudenmire, and found defendant and Carrie in bed with a man, and that the character of people who visited O'Rear's bar was that of prostitutes. And the testimony of one Doran that he had seen the defendant in O'Rear's Bottom, and at a dance in O'Rear's five or six months ago; that tough people attended O'Rear's dances; that the dance kept up as late as 12 o'clock; that he had seen her in the streets, going to and from O'Rear's bar, and coming from O'Rear's dance, late at night, but not with any man; that he saw her once talking to a man on O'Rear's corner. The proof further showed that O'Rear kept a general grocery store and bar under one roof, and that other people went there besides prostitutes, and that defendant was between 12 and 13 years of age at the time of the alleged night walking. The defendant, in a proper way, objected and excepted to each of the several facts testified to by the witness Murphy, and objected and excepted also to the statements of Doran that he had seen defendant in O'Rear's Bottom, and at a dance in O'Rear's, five or six months ago, and that tough people attended O'Rear's dances. We think these several facts, taken in connection with the further testimony of Doran that he had seen defendant in the streets, going to and from O'Rear's dance, late at night, and that she had seen talking to men on O'Rear's corner, had some tendency to prove the offense charged in the indictment. Although they may have been weak and inconclusive, they were circumstances which the jury had the right to consider for what they were worth. There was no error in admitting them.
The defendant introduced herself as a witness,...
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