8 Blackf. 526 | Ind. | 1847
This is an indictment under the statute of 1838 against forgery. There are two counts. The second count was quashed on the defendant’s motion. Not guilty was pleaded to the first count. The cause was submitted to the Court, and judgment rendered for the defendant.
The only question before us is as to the validity of the second count. The first count charges that the defendant, on, áre., at, &c., did feloniously and falsely destroy and burn a certain promissory note, &c. The second count charges that the defendant, on, &c., at, &c., with force and arms in said county of Johnson, did then and there unlawfully and feloniously destroy a certain other instrument in writing, by then and there, viz., on, &c., at, &c., aforesaid, unlawfully and feloniously burning said last-mentioned instrument in writing, and that the instrument last aforesaid was by the defendant executed and made payable to one Thomas Stout, by which the defendant promised to pay said Stout or order three hundred dollars on the first of January in the year eighteen hundred and forty-two, and the further sum of one hundred dollars on the first of May in the same year, with intent, then and there, feloniously to defraud said Stout, contrary to the form of the statute, &c.
The only ground for quashing the second count, of which we have-been informed, is, that the offence is not alleged to have been falsely committed.
The statute enacts, “ That every person who shall falsely. make, deface, destroy, alter, &c., any record, deed, &c., or any other instrument in writing whatever, with intent to defraud any person, &c., shall be deemed guilty of forgery.” R. S. 1838, p. 208. The second count charges, that the defendant did then and there unlawfully and feloniously destroy, &c.,
This writ of error lies only to the judgment in favour of the defendant quashing the second count of the indictment. The judgment for the defendant on the issue on the first count, can in nowise be affected by this decision.
The judgment quashing the second count is reversed. Cause remanded, &c.