Wood v. The State Of Ga.

• Decision Date: 31 January 1873
• Parties: MYRON D. Wood, plaintiff in error. vs. The State of Georgia,defendant in error.
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court

48 Ga. 193

MYRON D. Wood, plaintiff in error. vs. The State of Georgia, defendant in error.

Supreme Court of the State of Georgia

(Atlanta, January Term, 1873.)

Wood, plaintiff in error.

Georgia, defendant in error.

Criminal law. Seduction. Indictment. Presumption. Witness. Charge of Court. Res gestæ. Adultery and fornication. Before Judge Hopkins. DeKaIb Superior Court. March Term, 1872.

^*Myron D. Wood was placed on trial for the offense of seduction. The indictment contained three counts. The first alleged "that the said Myron D. Wood, in the county aforesaid, on June 27th, 1868, did, by persuasion and promise of marriage, to-wit: by then and there promising to marry one Emma I. Chivers, when his, the said Myron D. Wood\'s wife, to whom he was then married, should die, he, the said Myron D. Wood, then and there declaring and stating to said Emma I. Chivers, that his, the said Myron D. Wood\'s wife, to whom he was then and there married as aforesaid, was in bad health and would not live long, and that he, the said Myron D. Wood, loved her, the said Emma I. Chivers, better than any other woman living, that he thought that she, the said Emma I. Chivers, and he, the said Myron D. Wood, were congenial, and that they, the said Myron D. Wood and the said Emma I. Chivers, would marry as soon as his said wife should die, and he, the said Myron D. Wood, then and there persuaded the said Emma I. Chivers to yield herself to his lustful embraces, and to allow him to have carnal knowledge of her, the said Emma I. Chivers, by telling her, the said Emma I. Chivers, that it was not wrong for her to yield herself to him, and that his passion for her was pure and holy, and the said Myron D. Wood, then and there, by the promise of marriage and persuasion as aforesaid, did seduce her, the said Emma I. Chivers, she then and there being a virtuous, unmarried female, and did then and there, induce her, the said Emma I. Chivers, to yield to his lustful embraces, " etc.

The second alleged that he, the said Myron D. Wood, "did, by false and fraudulent means, seduce one Emma I. Chivers, she then and there being a virtuous, unmarried female, and induce her to yield to his lustful embraces, and allow him, the said Myron D. Wood, to have carnal knowledge of her, the said Emma I. Chivers, to-wit: by then and there promising to marry her, the said Emma I. Chivers, when his, the said Myron D. Wood's then wife, should die, and that his wife could not live long, and was in bad health, and that he, *the said Myron D. Wood, loved her, the said Emma I. Chivers, better than any woman living, and that his, the said Myron D. Wood's present wife, was only so in name, and that he and his said wife were not congenial, and that it was not wrong for her, the said Emma I. Chivers, to yield herself to him, the said Myron D. Wood, as he and she, the said Emma I. Chivers, were congenial; that he, the said Myron D. Wood, had made it (her yielding herself to him) the subject of prayer to God, and that it was not wrong for her to do so, as his wife, then married to him, would die soon, and they, the said Myron D. Wood and Emma I. Chivers, would then marry, and that his, the said Myron D. Wood's, passion for her was pure and holy, and that he, said Myron D. Wood, would not harm her, the said Emma I. Chivers; he, the said Myron D. Wood, when making said promises of marriage, and using said persuasions, and said false and fraudulent means to seduce her, the said Emma I. Chivers, being then and there a minister of the gospel, and her pastor, and her preceptor in school, and by means of such persuasions and promises of marriage, and by the false and fraudulent means used by the said Myron D. Wood as aforesaid, did then and there induce her. the said Emma I. Chivers, to yield to his lustful embraces, and allow him, the said Myron D Wood, to have carnal knowledge of her, the said Emma I. Chivers, " etc.

The third alleged that the said Myron D. Wood "did, by persuasion and promises of marriage, and by other false and fraudulent means, seduce one Emma I. Chivers, then and there being a virtuous, unmarried female, and the said Myron D. Wood, then and there, by persuasions and promise of marriage, and other false and fraudulent means, to-wit: that he, the said Myron D. Wood, loved her, the said Emma I. Chivers, better than any other woman alive, and that it was not wrong for her, the said Emma I. Chivers, to yield herself to him, and that his then present wife was only so in name, and that she, his then present wife, would not live long; that he thought that she, the said Emma I. Chivers, and he, the said Myron D. Wood, were congenial—he, the said Myron *D. Wood, when using said persuasion and making such promises of marriage, and using said false and fraudulent means to seduce her, the said Emma I. Chivers, being then and there a minister of the gospel, and her pastor and her preceptor in school, and by means of such persuasion and promises of marriage, and by the false and fraudulent means used by the said Myron D. Wood as aforesaid, did then and there induce her, the said Emma I. Chivers, to yield to his lustful embraces, " etc.

The defendant filed a special plea in bar of said indictment, as follows:

"That at the time the offense charged in said indictment is alleged to have been committed, the defendant was a married man, and was then living and cohabiting with his lawful wife, and had been so living and cohabiting with his lawful wife for more than eleven years; that he then had, and at the time the offense is alleged to have been committed, did have a lawful wife and three children, with whom he was then, and at the time of the trial, still living, all of which facts, stated in said plea, were well known to Emma I. Chivers, the female alleged to have been seduced. At the time of the alleged seduction, and for several years previous thereto, the said Emma I. Chivers being then and there a matured woman of about nineteen years of age, of sound sense and discretion, and of good education, and who was then and there well acquainted with the family of the defendant, and who could not have been a party to a contract of marriage with the defendant, and to whom the defendant could not have made a valid or lawful promise of marriage."

The Solicitor General demurred to the plea. The demurrer was sustained, and the defendant excepted.

The case went to the jury upon the plea of not guilty.

The following evidence was introduced:

for the state.

Emma I. Chivers, sworn: My name is Emma I. Chivers; Ilive in Decatur, DeKalb county; I have lived here since I *was a child; I am twenty-one years old; I am acquainted with the defendant, Myron D. Wood; I knew him beforehe was here as pastor, when he lived in Yorkville, South Carolina, when he came to visit here; I am not certain, but think he came here in July of 1866; he taught school in 1867; he brought his family in 1867; I knew him then; he was a preacher of the gospel—a Presbyterian preacher; he had charge of a Presbyterian church; he taught a school—a mixed school—male and female; I was living over across the railroad when he came; we moved from there in the fall of 1867, I think in October, to a house between Mr. Wood\'s house and Mr. Winn\'s; I don\'t know how far from Mr. Wood\'s; nearer to Winn\'s than Wood\'s house; I was fifteen, going on sixteen, in 1866; in 1867, I commenced going to school to Mr. Wood; I did not go to school to him when living at the big house, near depot; I began when we moved over to the house between Wood\'s and Winn\'s; I don\'t think we lived there quite a year; we moved then to Mr. Wood\'s, into his family; Mr. Wood said to mother, he wanted me to go, so he could better instruct me, and she could do the work in the family if she would; it was at his suggestion that we moved to his house; I did belong to the church; I joined in 1866—in March, I think; Mr. Burkhead was pastor then; I think in March, 1866, I joined the Presbyterian church; there is one Presbyterian church here; that is the same church that Mr. Wood was pastor of; the first time he ever took any liberties with me, I was going to school; first time I noticed that he cared particularly for me; if I passed him he would smile very kindly; then he would give me little presents, such as candy and grapes; he seemed to take a good deal of notice of me; then he asked mother to put me under his charge; he would not charge tuition for me, as I had no means to pay, as I had no father; he said he wanted to raise me as a daughter; he wanted to just raise me his way; that the intellect I had he wanted to cultivate; he knew mother\'s ambition was for me to be a first class teacher; he said if she would keep young men from visiting me— (Testimony objected to by defendant\'s counsel; *"no such charges in indictment." Objection overruled.) Mr. Wood told mother to place me under his charge; that I had a great many studies, and he thought young men would distract my attention, and he wanted her to say to them, "I had rather not receive young men\'s company;" I was young, and he wished her to pledge that the young men should be kept away; and then young men began to think it strange of me refusing their company; my mother agreed to do as he wished; I continued going to school to him; whenever he saw me do anything likely to produce remark, he told me kindly of it, and said he wished me to avoid anything that was wrong; I tried to do all I could to please him, seeing he was so kind and good, and when he told me to do anything, I thought it my duty to do it; sometimes when I started from school, he would go with me; we passed home by Mr. Mason\'s; sometimes he would walk with me towards home; he would compliment me; I thought he was good and kind to me; I thought it was all right, I did not suspect anything wrong by it. He told me that I must have known that I was his favorite inschool; he said one of the young ladies asked who was his favorite. (Defen...