223 Mo. 156 | Mo. | 1909
The defendant in this cause has brought this case to this court by appeal from a judgment of the circuit court of Texas county, Missouri, convicting him of obtaining fraudulently by means of a trick and deception, false and fraudulent representations the sum of $25 from one John H. Bauch. The amended information, which was duly verified, upon which the defendant was tried, was predicated upon the provisions of section 2213, Revised Statutes 1899. The sufficiency of the information was challenged in the trial court by a motion to quash, as well as in the motion in arrest of judgment, hence it is well to reproduce the information upon which the judgment in this cause is based. Omitting formal parts, it is as follows:
“John H. Sanks, prosecuting attorney, within and for the county of Texas and State of Missouri, upon his information and belief informs the court that D. E. "Wilson on the 10th day of January, 1908-, in the county of Texas and State of Missouri, then and there with intent unlawfully and feloniously to cheat and defraud one John H. Bauch, then and there unlawfully, knowingly and feloniously by use of a trick and deception and false and fraudulent representation, statement and pretense, did falsely and fraudulently represent and pretend to the said John H. Bauch that he, the said D. E. Wilson, was then and there the representative and authorized agent of the Pratt Food Co. of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a corporation duly incorporated and existing under the laws of the State of Pennsylvania, and that he, the said D. E. Wilson, had full right and authority from the said corporation, then and there to transact business for said corporation ; to sell and contract for the sale of the goods and products of said corporation. And to furnish advertising matter to the dealers in said goods and products.*160 That he, the said D. E. Wilson, was in the employ of said corporation and sent by the said corporation for the purpose of selling the goods and products of said corporation and furnishing and distributing the advertising matter of said corporation to dealers.
“And the said D. E. Wilson in pursuance of his purpose and intent to cheat and defraud the said John H. Bauch as aforesaid, did then and there as the agent and representative of said corporation, pretend to and did sell to the said John H. Bauch a bill of goods and products of the said corporation, and then and there take an order from the said John H. Bauch for advertising matter of the said corporation, advertising the goods and products of the same.
“Which order for said goods and advertising matter is in the words and figures as follows:
“ ‘Order No......... Date........
“ ‘M....................
Ship to John M. Bauch At Cabool, Mo.
How ship, Freight.
When, At once.
Terms, March 1st 66 days.
“ ‘1000 Letter heads
1000 Bill heads
1000 Statements
1000 Envelopes
500 Hand Books
Plenty of signs to tack upon counter
Plenty of large Litho signs.
1-2 bale 12-lb. sacks Stock Food
“ ‘Printed like sample attached.
“ ‘Ship at once.’
“And he, the said D. E. Wilson then and there represented to the said John H. Bauch, that he had expected to receive a draft or check from the said corporation to defray his traveling expenses as represen*161 tative of the said corporation, but that said draft or check had not been received, that he, the said D. E. Wilson, was in need of money to defray said traveling expenses, and requested the said John H. Bauch to cash a draft of the said corporation for the sum of twenty-five dollars for the purpose of defraying said traveling expenses, which said draft he, the said D. E. Wilson then and there drew on said corporation, said draft being in the words and figures as follows:
$25.00 “ ‘Cabool, Mo. 1-10-1908.
“ ‘At sight pay to the order of John H. Bauch, Twenty-five dollars, value received, and charge the same to the account of D. E. Wilson.
“ ‘To Pratt Pood Co.
“ ‘No. Phila. Pad
“Which said draft the Pratt Pood Co. refused to honor and pay, but returned the same to the said John H. Bauch; and the said John H. Bauch believing the said false and fraudulent representations and statements and pretenses made as aforesaid by the said D. E. Wilson to he true, and being deceived thereby, was induced by reason thereof, and did then and there cash said draft, and in pursuance thereof, paid to the said D. E. Wilson the sum of twenty-five dollars, lawful money of the United States, of the value of twenty-five dollars; and the said D. E.Wilson by means and use of said trick, deception, false and fraudulent representations, statements and pretenses so made as aforesaid, then and there unlawfully, knowingly and feloniously, did obtain from him the said John H. Bauch the sum of twenty-five dollars, the money and property of the said John H. Bauch, with the intent then and there unlawfully and feloniously to cheat and defraud him, the said John H. Bauch, of the same.
“Whereas, in truth and in fact, the said D. E. Wilson did not have any right or authority then and*162 there to transact business for said corporation,' ¿nd was not then their representative or authorized agent of said corporation to sell and contract for the sale of the goods and products of the said corporation, or the furnishing of advertising matter to dealers for said corporation. That he was not employed in any manner by said corporation; and he, the said D. E. Wilson, well knew that he, the said D. E. Wilson, did not have any right or authority then and there to transact business for said corporation or to sell the goods and products of the same, or furnish dealers with advertising matter, advertising the business of said corporation, or to receive any draft or cheeks or money from the said corporation in any manner, to defray his traveling expenses; and he, the said D. E. Wilson, was not then and there or at any time sent by the said corporation to represent said corporation in any manner whatever, against the peace and dignity of the State.”
Upon the overruling of the motion to quash this information the defendant was duly arraigned, entered a plea of not guilty and the trial proceeded. The testimony developed upon the trial of this cause tended substantially to establish the following state of facts:
That John H. Bauch, about January 10, 1908, and prior thereto, was engaged in the milling and mercantile business in the town of Cabool, in Texas county, Missouri, and handled, among other things, Pratt’s Foods; that on the morning of January 10,1908, defendant went to Bauch’s store and stated that his name was Wilson, and that he was the traveling salesman and representative of the Pratt Food Company. After inquiring of Bauch concerning his supply of such foods, defendant stated that his company, owing to the fierce competition it was then encountering, was preparing and furnishing free to its customers some special advertising matter. On being advised by Bauch that his supply of such advertising matter, including letter and bill stationery, was about exhausted, defendant re
Again, on January 13,1908, at the town of Rogers-ville, located about sixty miles from Cabool and on the same line of railroad, and in the same direction from Cabool as Fordland, defendant called on N. T. Bowles, a druggist, and dealer in Pratt’s Foods, and introduced himself as Pratt’s agent, and, after taking an order from Bowles for some food and stationery and advertising matter, he said that he was in a hurry, and that some of the business men would have to help him out, as he was in need of money. He asked Bowles to accompany him to the bank and identify him in order to enable him to cash a draft. This Bowles did, and on his endorsement, defendant’s draft on the Pratt Food Company for $25 was paid. Payment on this draft was also refused by the Pratt Food Company, and Bowles was required to take up the draft and refund to the bank the $25.
Defendant actually mailed to the Pratt Food Company the various orders he had thus taken, but attached no signature, and these orders and papers were received by the company, but not recognized, because defendant was not their agent.
OPINION.
The first legal proposition with which we are confronted, as disclosed by the record, is the challenge by the defendant to the sufficiency of the information. The statute upon which this information is predicated is section 2213, which, so far as it relates to the information in this cause, provides that ‘ ‘ every person who, with intent to cheat and defraud, shall obtain or attempt to obtain from any other person or persons, any money, property or valuable thing whatever, by means or by use of any trick or deception or false and fraudulent representation or statement or pretense, or by any other means or instrument or device, commonly called ‘the confidence game,’ or by means or
It may here be noted that in addition to the provisions of the statute, as herein indicated, it also makes provision as to the form of an indictment, but it will be observed that the information in the case at bar does not undertake to adopt the form of the charge as is embraced within that section; hence it follows that the cases of State v. Terry, 109 Mo. 601; State v. Cameron, 117 Mo. 371, and State v. Kain, 118 Mo. 5, wherein it was held that that statute in undertaking to prescribe the form of the indictment, was unconstitutional, has no application to the information in the case at bar. Manifestly the provisions of section 2213 were directed against the obtaining of money or property from a person whose confidence has first been secured by and through means of false and fraudulent representations in connection with acts done, with the intent to cheat and defraud. As was said in the case of State v. Pickett, 174 Mo. 663, the purpose of this statute was to provide for a class of false representations not included in some other section dealing with the subject of the ordinary false representations. It was intended to reach a class of offenders known as “confidence men,” who obtain the money of their victims by means of or by the use of some trick or representation designed to deceive. The very essence of the crime denounced by section 2213 is that the injured party must have relied upon some false or deceitful pretense or device and parted with his property.
After a careful analysis of the charge as embraced in the information in the case at bar we are of the opinion that the acts and representations a,s made by the defendant, which are set out in detail
We are unable to conceive a series of representations and acts, all of which are averred in the information, which present more strongly and clearly a case contemplated by the provisions of section 2213. The false .and fraudulent representations, pretenses, statements and acts done by the defendant, which clearly point to a trick and deception, are all set out with remarkable particularity and precision in the information. ■ In our opinion every essential element necessary to constitute an offense under that section is embraced in the information.
We repeat, that this information sufficiently charges an offense under the provisions of section 2213, and is not out of harmony with the cases of State v. Woodward, 156 Mo. 143; State v. Jackson, 112 Mo. 585 ; State v. Pickett, 174 Mo. l. c. 667-668; State v. Vandenburg, 159 Mo. 230.
II.
The record before us discloses numerous complaints at the action of the trial court in the admission and rejection of testimony. The defendant is not represented in this court, hence under the provisions of the statute we have examined in detail the record disclosing the objections and exceptions to the action of the trial court in the disposition of this cause. There was during the progress of the trial evidence introduced upon the part of the State tending to show that the defendant had perpetrated or undertook to perpetrate frauds upon other persons, thereby obtaining money from them under the same and similar circumstances at or near the time it is charged the acts were committed in the case at bar. Learned counsel for defendant in the trial court interposed objections to this character of testimony and properly preserved their exceptions. This proposition is not one of first impression, but has in many instances been in judgment before this court. In State v. Myers, 82 Mo.
This court in State v. Turley, 142 Mo. 403, was confronted with the same proposition in a case of a similar character, and it was there said by Judge Burgess, speaking for this court, that “evidence of other efforts upon the part of defendant made about the same time to obtain goods from other merchants, upon the same character of statements and representations, was admissible for the purpose of showing the intent of the defendant, and to this purpose that kind of evidence was properly restricted by the State’s fifth instruction. So that defendant had no right to complain on that score.” To the same effect is State v. Wilson, 143 Mo. 334. In fact an examination of the authorities in this State makes it manifest that the case of State v. Myers, supra, on this point, has been consistently followed and adhered to by this court in all of its subsequent rulings. [State v, Cooper, 85 Mo. 256; State v. Bayne, 88 Mo. 604; State v. Sarony, 95 Mo. 349; State v. Balch, 136 Mo. 103.]
We find other objections disclosed by the record, but they are mere objections without assigning any reasons for them. In other words, it is simply stated that “we object.” In view of the uniform expressions by this court that objections in that form are insufficient to preserve the rulings of the court upon them for review in this court, we deem it unnecessary to burden this opinion with a citation of the authorities. An objection to testimony during the progress of a trial should at least briefly indicate some reason for such objection, and in order to entitle it to the consideration of this court this should be done.
Upon the trial of this cause defendant offered in evidence the complaint and affidavit made by the prosecuting- witness before the justice of the peace. The court? upon the objection of the State, excluded the complaint and affidavit, and in onr opinion the action of the court was entirely proper. Prior to the offering
III.
This leads us to the consideration of the instructions given by the court. Instruction numbered 1 fully covered the charge in the information, and required the jury to find every essential fact necessary to constitute the offense. There was no error in that instruction. Instruction numbered 2 was a very appropriate instruction, limiting the purpose for which evidence was offered by the State during the progress of the trial, to which reference has heretofore been made,' as to the perpetration of frauds upon other persons at or near the time it is charged this offense was committed, in the same section of the country and under similar circumstances. This instruction was entirely
Instruction numbered 3 fully covered the subject of the presumption of innocence, and informed the jury that the burden of proof rested upon the State, and required them to find the guilt of the defendant beyond a reasonable doubt, and directed them, in the usual manner, that if they entertained a reasonable doubt of the defendant’s guilt, they should give, him the benefit of it and acquit him.
IV.
The defendant not being represented in this court has led us to make a very careful examination of the disclosures of the record with the view of ascertaining whether or not there was any substantial error committed during the progress of the trial of this cause. After such examination we are clearly of the opinion that there was no substantial error committed by the tidal court which would authorize the reversal of this judgment. No one can read in detail the testimony developed upon the trial without being convinced that the defendant is guilty of the perpetration of the fraud charged in the information. The rulings of the court upon the admission and rejection of evidence were entirely in accord with the well-settled principles of law applicable to that subject. The instructions of the court fully and fairly covered every subject to which the testimony was applicable. Entertaining these views, the judgment of the trial court should be affirmed, and it is so ordered.