50 Tenn. 262 | Tenn. | 1871
delivered the opinion of the Court.
The indictment in this case was quashed by the court below, and an appeal to this court. It charged thatWm.
The section of the Code under which this indictment is drawn, is 4633: “If any person, either verbally or by written or printed communication, maliciously threaten to .accuse another of a crime or offense, or to do any injury to the person or property of another, with intent thereby to extort any money, property or pecuniary advantage whatever, or to compel the person so threatened to do any act against his will, he shall, on conviction, be punished by imprisonment in the penitentiary, not less than two, nor more than five years.”
We hold, this indictment charges an indictable offense under this statute. It charges the party with maliciously threatening Broyles, that he should suffer the consequences, and then by way of explanation of the meaning of these words, charges, that he meant thereby to kill him, or do him some great bodily harm, then and there pursuing him with a pistol. These last words may be rejected as surplusage, as the other explanatory words serve to show the meaning of the threat; and this fact of pursuing him with a pistol serves only to show that
The statute is a highly penal one, and we deem it proper to say, was not intended to apply to every idle threat, but such as are evidence of serious purpose to 'do the injury threatened, and that, some serious injury, such as is alleged in this indictment. Nor would it apply to a threat to compel a man to do any minor act,
The case will be reversed and remanded."
The words of the statute are, “to compel the person threatened to do any act,,”