113 So. 202 | Miss. | 1927
In a public place, namely, at one of the doors entering Union Church, with one of his hands resting on the facing of the door, at a time when Sunday school was being held in the church and those in attendance were standing to be dismissed, appellant, in the presence of more than one person (referring to the fact that the Sunday school was being dismissed), used the following language: "Well, the damn thing is done broke up."
The question is whether, under section 1295, Code of 1906 (section 1028, Hemingway's Code), appellant was guilty of the crime of profanity as denounced by that statute. The statute provides that, if any person shall profanely swear or curse, or use vulgar or indecent language, or be drunk in any public place, in the presence of two or more persons, he shall, on conviction thereof, be fined not more than one hundred dollars.
In State v. Wiley,
In the definition of "damn," given in Webster's Dictionary, are:
"To invoke condemnation; to curse; to swear; to invoke condemnation upon; to condemn to eternal punishment in a future world; to consign to perdition."
We think the Wiley case is decisive of the question here involved in favor of the holding of the trial court. We think the language "Well, the damn thing is done broke up" (referring to the Sunday school being held in the church), implied Divine condemnation, and was "so used as to constitute a nuisance."
Affirmed.
HOLDEN and COOK, JJ., dissenting.