State v. . ChristyState v. . Christy
The evidence tends to show that Ida Ball Warren was born in Forsyth County, near Muddy Creek, about 9 miles from Winston-Salem. At the time of her trial she was 36 years old. She lived in Forsyth (773) County until she was 25 years old, and at that age had established an unsavory reputation. She became acquainted with the defendant Christy before she left Forsyth, and it seems that the two went to Lynchburg, where for a time they lived together, and subsequently they went to Grand Saline, Texas, and, without being married, continued to live together. Christy was a fireman on the Texas Short Line Railroad and Warren boarded with him and his supposed wife.
In 1912 the defendant Warren left Christy, and in company with the deceased, G. J. Warren, came to Winston-Salem, and the two were married immediately after their arrival in that city. Upon coming home from one of his runs, Christy found that the woman and Warren had gone away and had taken all the money he had saved up. He immediately followed them to North Carolina for the purpose, he says, of getting a portion of his money back. He spent only one night in Forsyth County, and then returned to Texas. He did not see Mrs. Warren or the deceased, Warren, on this trip.
In January, 1914, Christy came to Winston-Salem again, saw Mrs. Warren, and after a few days went back to Texas.
In July, 1914, Christy came to Winston-Salem again, arriving there about 11:30 at night. He called up Mrs. Warren on the phone and at once went to the Piedmont boarding-house, which was then being run by Mrs. Warren, and spent the night. Mr. Warren did not know that Christy spent the night in the hotel. Christy got up early the next morning in order to avoid Warren, and went to the home of Mrs. Stonestreet, an illegitimate daughter of Mrs. Warren, and arranged to board there. At Mrs. Stonestreet‘s the defendants Christy and Warren saw each other every day or two.
On 18 July G. J. Warren disappeared, and has never since been seen alive. On 25 August, 1914, the body of a man was found in Muddy Creek. Two iron weights, one weighing 17 3/4 and the other 68 pounds, had been tied to the body. A rope was tied around the knees of the body and another piece of rope was wrapped tight around the neck several times. The face was badly mutilated on the left side and the teeth in the left lower jaw were broken out and the jaw-bone was broken. There was also a crack in the skull. An inquest was held and the body carried to Vogler‘s morgue. Subsequently the body was buried in the county cemetery. At this time the body was not identified, no one was
About 1 March, 1915, the chief of police of the city of Winston, having received inquiries about G. J. Warren, called on Mrs. Warren at the Piedmont boarding-house and asked if her husband was in, stating at the same time that he, the officer, had a letter in his possession making inquiries in regard to the said G. J. Warren. Mrs. Warren stated that her husband had received a telegram from his mother in (774) August saying she was sick, and that he had left home in August to be at his mother‘s bedside. She further stated that she had gotten a letter from her husband on 22 October. She told the officer that she had sent out a number of letters in her endeavor to locate her husband. The officer spoke to her about the body which had been at Vogler‘s morgue, and she said that she had been told that the body was so mutilated and decomposed that she did not think anybody would recognize it; that she did not think about it being Mr. Warren and did not go to see it.
Thereafter, about 1 April, the body which had been found in Muddy Creek, and which had been kept at Vogler‘s morgue and then buried in the county cemetery, was exhumed and was identified as the body of G. J. Warren. Mrs. Warren was arrested, and after her arrest, without any threat or inducement of any sort on the part of the officers or any one else, she made a statement, the court cautioning the jury at the time that what she said could be considered only against her, and was no evidence against and could not be considered against the defendants Christy and Stonestreet. This statement is as follows:
STATEMENT OF IDA BALL WARREN.
“She stated that on the morning of 18 August she got up about 4 o‘clock in the morning and went into the dining-room to begin to prepare for her breakfast; that she had been in the dining-room a few minutes when Christy came in; she said she had left Mr. Warren in the bed asleep. She said Christy came into the dining-room and told her that he had choked Mr. Warren to death, and then Christy went back in the room. She said that he, Christy, then went in her bedroom and put the body in a trunk. I asked her whose trunk, and she said `Ours.’ Took the trunk and carried it and placed in room No. 14, and it remained there until about 10 o‘clock that day. That Christy drove up in front of the Piedmont House with a two-horse hack, and a negro that was unknown to her came up the steps with him, and they took the trunk and carried it down from room No. 14 to the street, where the hack was standing; that he went to the barber shop, called another negro to help him left the trunk into the hack. Sheriff asked her if they carried the trunk clear as they went down the steps; she said no, they kind
STATEMENT OF CLIFFORD STONESTREET.
After the foregoing statement of Ida Ball Warren the chief of police went to see Clifford Stonestreet and asked him to walk around to (775) the office of the chief. Stonestreet said he knew nothing about Warren‘s watch, whereupon the officer said, “Suppose I told you that your mother-in-law told me she gave you the watch?” Stonestreet replied, “I would say that it was not true.” Officer: “Suppose she were to face you with that?” Stonestreet: “I would tell her she was a damned lie.” Officer: “We will go to the jail and see whether you will or not.”
The sheriff of the county and the chief of police then went with Stonestreet to the jail and into the room where Mrs. Warren was confined. The sheriff then called her to the door and said, “Mrs. Warren, was it the next morning or the next afternoon that you gave Clifford that watch?” Mrs. Warren said she did not remember, but that it was two or three days after Warren was killed, and that she told him he could have the watch; that it was lying on the dresser. Thereupon Stonestreet turned around to the sheriff and the chief and said: “Come on; let‘s go and get it. She has told all she knows.” They then went back to the Piedmont boarding-house, and Stonestreet walked back toward the kitchen and handed the chief the watch. Thereafter Stonestreet was arrested and placed in jail. At this time Christy was under arrest in Texas, but had not been brought back to North Carolina. After his arrest and while he was in jail, without any threats or promises on the part of the officers, Stonestreet told the officers that the night after the body had been placed in Muddy Creek, Christy and Mrs. Stonestreet were sitting in their bedroom at their home on West Sixth Street. He said that on the night of the 19th there was a trunk put in his basement; that he saw the trunk in the basement. He said that he did not take any part in the killing, but that he had knowledge of the killing after Warren‘s body had been put in the creek. After Christy had been brought back to North Carolina he was taken to the cell where Stonestreet was confined, and said to Stonestreet: “This is a pretty predicament you have all gotten me into.” Stonestreet replied: “I got you into nothing.” Christy said: “You went ahead and told all you knew about the part I took in the murder. Why did you not tell the part you taken?” Stonestreet said: “I have not played any part.” Christy said: “You did not want to tell what you did, but I am going to tell it just like it was.
The sheriff of Forsyth and the chief of police of the city of Winston went to Texas after Christy, and on the way back, without any sort of inducement or threats, he, after being told that anything he said would be used against him if it bore upon the case, Christy made a statement to the officers, the court warning the jury repeatedly when this statement was admitted in evidence that it could not be considered against Warren or Stonestreet.
STATEMENT OF SAMUEL PRESTON CHRISTY.
He said he was living in Grand Saline, Texas, with Mrs. Warren. That he had a position on the Texas Short Line as fireman. That G. J. Warren was boarding at his house; that he made two runs a day; he left early in the morning and got back to Grand Saline, and did not have time to go home for his meals, and did not go home from the time he left early in the morning until some time in the forepart of the night. On arriving home the night Mrs. Warren left him, don‘t remember the date, he found Warren and Mrs. Warren were gone, and all the money he had saved up had been taken, except a check for $15 he had in his pocket. He found she had made several bills there, buying ladies’ furnishings, bracelets, and some other stuff; that he took the $15 check and went down the road in the direction of Louisiana, thinking they had gone to Warren‘s home; that he got information that they had come to North Carolina; he went back and borrowed $50 and came to North Carolina in hope of getting some of his money back. He came here and went out to Will Henning‘s; had information they were there. He found Pearl there, Mrs. Stonestreet, daughter of Mrs. Warren. Mrs. Warren and Mr. Warren were not there. Mr. and Mrs. Henning got excited when he came in, thinking there would be trouble, but he told them all that he wanted was his money, or part of it, and he told them there would be no trouble. He stayed all night and did not get to see Mrs. Warren.
Mr. Henning went with him to the railroad; that he went to some
He said he got the horse and buggy from a livery stable on Main Street, near Salem Creek. He carried the horse and buggy up there, stayed in the back yard all night. Next morning Stonestreet took his wife and sister and went out driving to Mrs. Warren‘s old home place at Muddy Creek. Came back about 11 o‘clock and he took the horse and buggy to the stable. He said the next morning they were out (778) at Stonestreet‘s house and Mrs. Warren said she knew of a plan now that would work. They could get some chloroform and she could chloroform him; then they could choke him to death and carry his body away. She said she had tried it and knew it would work. She had a small bottle that she had used on him once, and next morning he complained of being sleepy, and that if she had enough she knew it would work. She asked him to get a bottle of chloroform and if Stonestreet could get a bottle she would have plenty to do the work. Said he went out to McArthur‘s drug store and got a 25-cent bottle of chloroform, took it back to Stonestreet‘s house and give it to Stonestreet, and Stonestreet gave it to Mrs. Warren, and the next thing he knew about it was the morning of the murder. Said Stonestreet left home before breakfast early in the morning and came back for breakfast about 7 o‘clock and told him he had Warren‘s body in the trunk and that now he would not bother anybody else, or would not give them any trouble. Said the understanding was that Stonestreet was to get a bottle of chloroform and Christy was to get a bottle and turn it over to Mrs. Warren; that she was to chloroform him; Stonestreet was to choke him to death, and that he was to take the trunk and make away with it. The morning of the murder Stonestreet came in and told him that he had the body in the trunk; he said he was to take the body out of the house about sundown. A little later after that Stonestreet told him the body was in the trunk, and told him that Mrs. Warren wanted him to get the trunk out of the house just as quick as he could; that the weather was so warm she was afraid the body would begin to smell, and the trunk begin to leak and the servants would notice it. Stonestreet told him to go to the livery stable and get a hack; said he went to Fisher‘s livery stable and got a hack about 10 o‘clock. Told the liveryman to take out the back seat of the hack; that he was going to haul a trunk and would not need seats in it. Said he
There was evidence as to the findings of the axe, pieces of the trunk, and the clothing that Christy wore on the day of the homicide, in the basement of the Stonestreet house. There was also evidence from the keepers of the livery stables that Christy got the buggy and the hack on the days mentioned by Christy in his statement, and kept them during the time stated by Christy. Of special interest is the fact that it
A woman named Lummy Davis testified that she was in jail with Mrs. Warren and was put in the hall used by Mrs. Warren. That one day she asked Mrs. Warren, “How come you all to kill Warren?” Mrs. Warren answered, “I knew what was best for me, and who was doing for me.” Lummy Davis: “You did not have any business doing that.” Mrs. Warren: “I did not want to leave him behind.” This witness further testified that she overheard a conversation between Mrs. Warren and Christy; that she heard Mrs. Warren say: “You go on the stand and swear first, and we will take particular notice of what you swear and will swear the same thing. You go on the stand and swear you killed him in self-defense. You swear he took his gun out of his pocket and you picked up a rock and hit him in the head and killed him.” This witness further testified that Mrs. Warren (780) told her that Warren‘s body was placed in her trunk, carried out from her house at 10 o‘clock in the morning so that people will not suspicion anything, but would think that it was boarders going from the house, as boarders went out all the time.
The foregoing is a synopsis of the testimony for the State.
The defendant Ida Ball Warren went on the stand and testified in her own behalf as follows:
“I am 36 years old; born out towards Clemmonsville, 9 miles from here; was 25 years old when I left the county. Went first to Lynchburg; lived there two years; then to Texas; came back here after being in Texas; stayed about a week in the settlement of my father‘s estate; lived in Grand Saline, Texas, not quite two years. During the time I lived in Grand Saline, Texas, and Lynchburg, Christy and myself lived together as man and wife. Left Grand Saline, Texas, in December, 1912; arrived here about the 9th of December and was married to Mr. Warren. We first lived on East Fourteenth Street until March a year ago; we then came to the Piedmont House; I was employed to run it by Mr. Call until March, 1915; from that time I ran it in my own name. My daughter Pearl married Clifford Stonestreet when she was 15; she is now 16 years old; they lived a while on West Thirteenth Street, then on East Fourteenth Street; then went to live on West Sixth Street with her husband, and was living there on 18 August, 1914. Her child was born 28 September, 1914. I never saw Christy after I left him at Grand Saline, Texas, in December, 1912, until January, 1914. I lived then on East Fourteenth Street. To my knowledge he remained in Winston-Salem only one night; came one evening, left next day; next time I saw him was July, 1914. I was then employed by
The court permitted the solicitor to ask certain jurors whether or not they belonged to the Society of Friends without challenging them for cause. The object of the inquiry was to ascertain whether or not the jurors had conscientious objections to capital punishment. The prisoners except because this was not treated as a challenge for cause. It has always been very questionable practice whether when the State asked questions for information on which to base the challenge for cause the defendant could “admit the cause.” One of the objections to the refusal to the State of the right to appeal is because this and other practices could not be brought up on exception by the State. Under this practice the solicitor dare not ask a single question to give him information about a juror lest the juror be summarily set aside. This was one of the methods in addition to the great disparity in the number of peremptory challenges (23 to 24) which practically placed the selection of the (783) jury in the hands of the counsel for the prisoner. Now, however, section 6, chapter 31, Laws 1913, has put an end to this practice and warranted the action of the judge.
Another exception is to the admission of a letter purporting to have been written by the deceased to Ida Ball Warren on 22 October, 1914. While the contents of the letter were immaterial to the issue, its admission was competent to show that she had in her possession a letter which she claimed was from her husband when she knew at the time he had been dead for several months. It tended to show that she had sent out letters ostensibly to locate her husband when at the time she wrote them she knew he was dead.
The prisoners except that the court did not warn the jury that any statement made by one of the prisoners not in the presence of the others could not be considered except against the one making it, and was no evidence against the others. It is not necessary in this case to recall the rule of practice set out by this Court, 164 N.C. 548: “It will not be ground of exception that evidence competent for some purposes, but not for all, is admitted generally, unless the appellant asks at the time of the admission that its purpose shall be restricted,” for the record shows that the judge, on the admission of the evidence, and again in the charge, called the attention of the jury to the fact that the admission or statements of one of the prisoners was competent only against the party making it and should not be considered as against the others.
The counsel for the defense strenuously insist that declarations made by the prisoners while in custody or in jail are incompetent, though the court found upon evidence that they were made voluntarily and without
It is also well settled that whether a statement is voluntary is a preliminary question of fact, and that the finding of the judge cannot be reviewed if there is any evidence to sustain it. S. v. Page, 127 N.C. 512. A confession is deemed to be voluntary unless the party against whom it is offered shows facts to the contrary. S. v. Sanders, 84 N.C. 728. This rule is also followed in Massachusetts, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, South Carolina, and Texas, and some other States, though in some States the presumption is that confessions are involuntary and the State must offer evidence to the contrary. But in all the States when the court finds the fact that the confessions were voluntary this is conclusive if there is evidence to sustain it.
The prisoner Christy objected to a statement made by him, but the evidence as set out warrants the finding of the court, if we could review it, that the statement was voluntary. It was made on the train while Christy was being brought back from Texas under extradition papers. The officer had showed Christy the Winston papers giving (784) information in regard to the case and, among other things, a confession by Ida Ball Warren, and told Christy that he believed he had followed her and her husband from Texas; that he did not believe that one man could have committed the crime. Christy afterwards asked if anything he said would be taken against him, and the officer replied that it would if it had any bearing on the case. He then said: “I know all about it and they know all about it. I am going to tell the whole thing.” He said, “We are all in it.” The officer testified that he did not carry him these papers in order to get Christy to tell, but in order for him to see what was being said in Winston without himself having to tell Christy.
We see in this no hope or threat held out by the officer, but, on the contrary, he warned Christy that anything he said bearing on the case would be used against him. Doubtless Christy told what he knew to rebut the statement made by Ida Ball Warren in the paper, because he deemed it unfair to himself, and did not wish to let it stand uncontradicted. There was no impropriety in letting the prisoner see the papers; indeed, this would have been a positive benefit to him in preparing his defense to meet the charges therein made, if untrue.
The prisoners also earnestly press the exception that there was not sufficient evidence to go to the jury that the prisoners had entered into a conspiracy to kill the deceased. The statement by Christy, if believed by the jury, is sufficient to sustain the verdict against him. He states that for years he had lived in illicit relations with his codefendant;
As to the prisoner Ida Ball Warren, there was also evidence to sustain the charge that she was a party to the conspiracy to put her husband to death. For years she had lived with Christy as his paramour, till she deserted him, and, coming to North Carolina with Warren, (785) married him. A year thereafter Christy came to Winston without the knowledge of Warren. He was brought to her room and was sent away by her before day before her husband awaked. Christy was sent by her to the home of her illegitimate daughter, where the prisoner Warren often met him. On the night of the homicide Christy went to her home, stayed there all night, and the next morning between 5 and 6 Warren was killed. She made no outcry, though testified that she knew the deed was being done. She furnished her trunk in which to put the body, and coolly saw it “dumped down” the steps with the body of her husband doubled up in it. When the officer came to inquire about her husband, months afterwards, she told him he had gone to the bedside of his sick mother, and showed him a letter purporting to have been written by her husband months after he was dead. When arrested she stated that Christy came in and told her he had choked her husband to death, and in jail she told Christy, according to the evidence, to swear that he had killed Warren in self-defense, and when Christy refused to go on the stand, she did so herself and swore it. Upon the evidence she seems to have been the moving spirit in the murder, the veritable Lady Macbeth of the tragedy. Her sister, Mrs. Henning, testified that Mrs. Warren said to her, “I planned that murder.”
Upon the record the husband of the prisoner, Warren, was put to death by his wife and her paramour by a preconcerted, predetermined
We find no error in the conduct of the case by the learned judge, and the twelve jurors have found their verdict upon competent evidence which justified their conclusion.
No error.
Cited: S. v. Rodman, 188 N.C. 724 (4f); S. v. Grier, 203 N.C. 589 (4g); S. v. Moore, 210 N.C. 692 (4f); S. v. Caldwell, 212 N.C. 489 (4g);S. v. Richardson, 216 N.C. 305 (4g); S. v. Smith, 221 N.C. 407 (4f); S.v. Biggs, 224 N.C. 26 (4l).