11 N.Y.S. 433 | N.Y. Sup. Ct. | 1890
This case presents very little for consideration. The jury, on conflicting evidence as to the assault charged, found for the people, and under instructions to which no exceptions could be well taken. The story of the appellant was incredible. The attempt to put upon the complainant the infliction upon himself, by his own weapon, of the wounds he received, is one of those remarkable subterfuges to which criminals resort to shield themselves from the consequence of their misdeeds. One of these wounds was in the chest, extending inward and forward, penetrating into the pericardium or sack which surrounds the heart. If the complainant entertained a suicidal intention, and tried to carry it out, this injury he might have done himself, but he was engaged in an altercation begun by the appellant, as the jury have found, the latter having a knife, which he used with felonious design, no doubt. The evidence shows a bad feeling by these parties, and a previous quarrel. Bad blood had been engendered by a variety of circumstances, and the offer in regard to the training of the filly, which was designed to further prove it, and for no other purpose, is too insignificant, under the circumstances disclosed, to receive a moment’s consideration. If there were not abundant evidence of the ill feeling established by grave facts and circumstances a different view might be entertained of it. It affords, therefore, no
All concur.