42 Pa. Super. 300 | Pa. Super. Ct. | 1910
Opinion by
The first assignment of error violates rule fifteen, of this court, in that the error, if any, was in the answer to a point, while neither the point nor the answer are quoted. The second and third assignments of error violate rule fourteen, for the reason that they each embrace more than one point, refer to more than one bill of exceptions and raise more than one distinct question. The assignments of error might all be quashed and the judgment affirmed upon this ground. We will, however, consider the question raised by the written request of the defendant for binding instructions and the refusal of that point by the court below. The sole contention of the appellant is that the prosecutor parted not only with the possession of but the property in his money, when he handed it to the appellant, and received in return a note for $50.00, purporting to be issued by the Confederate states of America in the year
The prosecutor was a newly arrived immigrant who had come to Pittsburg directly from his home in Germany and had to wait at the Union station, Pittsburg, for a short time, for a train which would carry him to his ultimate destination, Swissvale station, near the city. He did not understand the English language and was unfamiliar with our current paper money. He was accosted in his native tongue by the defendant, who having ascertained where he was going told him that he was also going to that place and said they would have a good while to wait, the train did not leave until after eleven. Defendant asked the prosecutor if he had any friends in Pitts-burg, and the latter said he had but had not hunted them up yet. The defendant asked prosecutor to go with him to a German salodn and there make inquiry about his friends. They went to a saloon and had a glass of beer and then went out upon the street. The defendant picked up something in the street, or pretended to do so, and then exhibited what seemed to be a roll of money, upon the outside of which was a one dollar bill. The defendant said, “I have found a dollar.” He kept on unrolling it and said, “Oh, there is more than a dollar.” The defendant then said, “Have you any money about you?” The prosecutor said he had a few dollars. Defendant then said, “We will just divide this; have you $25.00? We will just divide this, but you must not tell anybody about it, not even your friends about it.” The prosecutor accepted this proposition and gave $25.00 in bills, current lawful money , of the United States, and received from the defendant a piece of paper, which the latter told him was $50.00 in money. The defendant then took the prosecutor into the Union station and telling him to wait there until he came back went out and never returned. The prosecutor subsequently continued his journey to his destination and afterwards was informed by his friends that the paper which he had received from the defendant was not lawful money of the country, but a bill which had been issued by the Confederate states of America,
The manner in which the case was left to the jury and the verdict upon that submission distinctly determines the following facts: The defendant entered upon the transaction in question with the preconceived design of fraudulently obtaining possession of the money of the prosecutor by a trick, and converting that money to his own use. The prosecutor did not know that the piece of paper which he received from the defendant was a Confederate bill, he believed it to be lawful money of the United States, and the defendant was aware of the ignorance of the prosecutor and of his mistaken belief that he was receiving lawful money. The defendant knew that the paper which he gave to the plaintiff in exchange for his good money was a Confederate bill, was not current money of the country and was worthless. The whole scheme beginning with the pretended finding of the money was a trick devised by the defendant for the purpose of inducing the prosecutor to exchange his money for other money, while the defendant did not intend to give him money in the pretended exchange. The learned counsel for the defendant now contend that the court below should have held, as matter of law, that the taking of the money of the prosecutor by the defendant did not constitute larceny, but false pretenses.
“The correct distinction in cases of this kind seems to be, that if by means of any trick or artifice, the owner of property is induced to part with the possession only, still meaning to retain the right of property, the taking by such means will amount to larceny; but if the owner part with, not only the possession of the goods but the right of property in them also, the offense of the party obtaining them will not be larceny, but
When property is obtained with a preconcerted design to f steal it, the possession is supposed to continue with the true} owner, whatever may be the means or the pretense under! which the property is obtained: 1 Hawkin’s P. C. 145. When goods or money are delivered with the understanding and intention that the property shall remain in the presence of the owner until the goods are paid for, or other money is immediately returned in exchange for that delivered, the legal possession remains in the owner till the property is altered by the perfection of the contract, which remains inchoate until perfected by the parties: 2 East’s P. C. 677. A man may be guilty of larceny of a bill or coin given him in payment of a debt of less amount in expectation of receiving change: Com. v. Lannan, 153 Mass. 287. The devices through which rogues. have deceived honest men in making change have been very numerous, and long ago the system came to be designated as “ringing the changes.” The rule is now well established, with regard to cheats of this character, that when an owner of money hands it to another in a transaction involving the making of change the possession of and title to the money remains in the true owner until he receives the money to which he is
The judgment is affirmed, and it is ordered that the defendant appear in the court below at such time as he may be there called and that he be by that court committed until he has complied with that part of the sentence which had not been performed at the time this appeal was made a supersedeas.