144 Mo. 323 | Mo. | 1898
This is a prosecution originating in-Putnam county, Missouri. The indictment, omitting formal parts, contained three counts as follows:
First count. “That one Ira Baker, on the-day of April, A. D., 1895, at the said county of Putnam, State of Missouri, did then and there unlawfully, willfully and feloniously dig up, disinter and remove the dead body and the remains of a human being, to wit, the dead body and remains of one Mary J. Williamson, deceased, from the grave in which the said body and remains had then before been interred and then and there was, for the purpose of selling the dead body and remains, against the peace and dignity of the State.”
Second count. “That one Ira Baker, on the..... day of April, 1895, at the county of Putnam, State-
Third count. “That one Ira Baker, on the-day of April, 1895, at the county of Putnam, State of Missouri, ^ did then there willfully, unlawfully and feloniously dig up, disinter and remove the dead body and remains of one Mary J. Williamson, deceased, from the grave in which the said body and remains had then before been interred and then and there was, for the purpose of surgical and anatomical experiment and preparation of the said body and remains, against, etc.”
At the September term of said court, 1897, the defendant was put on trial and the jury brought in a general verdict, finding the defendant guilty and assessing his punishment at a term of two years in the penitentiary. Defendant assigns three grounds of error for reversal.
I. The first and the substantial assignment is that the sentence should be reversed because there was a total failure of proof to show a violation of the criminal law under either of the counts in the indictment. The burden of the evidence was that defendant lived at Lemon Station, in Putnam county, and was operating a brickyard some distancerom his house; that one Dr. Chapman also lived in the same village; that he and defendant were quite good friends; that Chapman was much addicted to intoxication and defendant often took him to his home and that on one occasion the doctor had injured defendant by striking him in the side. Kennedy, the witness upon whom the State relies to sustain this conviction, was a half-brother of
Kennedy says he reported to Chapman what defendant said, and Chapman requested him to say nothing about it, as people would say Chapman was concerned in the disinterment; that he never mentioned it until after Chapman’s death and the preferment of defendant’s claim against Chapman’s estate. The evidence tended to show that defendant was a man of good character and an industrious man. He testified and