Aрpellants Winfrey and Bryan, together with one Oliver, were jointly indicted for the offense of transporting and delivering liquor from another State into this State. AM of the three accused persons were tried together before a jury and Oliver was acquitted. Winfrey and Bryan were each convicted and have prosecuted appeals to this court.
Section 1 of the Act of January 24th, 1917 (Acts of 1917, p. 41), under which the indictment was preferred, was construed in the recent case of Rivard v. State,
The indictment was, therefore, sufficient to charge an offense against the provisions of Section 1 of the statute referred to.
Appellants and Oliver lived in the city of Van Burén. Winfrey was constable of the township and Bryan was his deputy. Bryan was also a grocery merchant in the city, but held a commission from Winfrey as deputy constable. Oliver was a member of the police force in the city of Van Burén. The evidence adduced by the State shows that Winfrey went to Monett, Missouri, and returned to Van Burén on a passenger train on November 9th, with two suit-'éases containing a considerable quantity of whiskey in bottles and that he brought the suit-cases along as personal baggage without checking them. When the train came to a stop at the Van Burén station Winfrey descended from the -coach with the suit-cases in his hands and handed over one of the suit-cases to Oliver who was 'standing on the platform, and the two of them started up the street, each carrying a suit-case which was after-wards found to contain whiskey. A deputy sheriff who was standing on the platform observed the conduct of the two men and followed them a short distance along the street. He caught up with them af ter they had gone about :a half block and accosted Winfrey by asking him about the contents of the suit-cases and Winfrey replied that he had, as an officer, seized tbe suit-cases containing whiskey which hаd been carried on the train by two passengers, who had jumped off of the train a short distance before it reached Yan Burén. Bryan came up during the conversation over .the matter, and after .some controversy the deputy prosecuting attorney was sent for, and the liquor was taken into the custody of the deputy sheriff. The testimony of Winfrey was to the effect that he went to Monett on personal business and did not procure the liquor in question, or any other liquor, or bring the same into the State, but that after the train on which he traveled came into Arkansas he felt it his duty to take observation as to persons bringing liquor into the State on the train, and that when the train approached Yan Burén he had taken notice of two men with the suit-cases in question, that when he found that those two persons had gotten off the train he seized the suit-cases as an-оfficer and took them off the train with him when he reached Yan Burén, and that he handed one of the suit-cases to Oliver merely to obtain help in carrying the liquor to some place for it to be kept in the custody of the law. Oliver fully corroborated Winfrey in the latter ’.s statement with referеnce to handling the liquor after he debarked from the train at Yan Burén with the suit-cases in his hands-. He testified that he went to the station that day and bought a ticket to Fort Smith intending to make the trip over the train to look for baggage containing intoxicating liquors, but that Winfrey stepped off the train with the suit-сases in his hands and told witness that it was unnecessary to make the trip-, for the reason that he had just made seizure of liquor on the train and that Winfrey asked him to assist in taking charge of the liquor as an -officer.
The State brought out certain circumstances calculated to weaken the testimony of Oliver, but the jury might, under proper instructions, have .accepted the testimony of Oliver concerning the intention of Winfrey in handing over the liquor to Oliver and the intention of the latter in accepting it. It cannot be said that the testimony is undisputed on this issue, or that the jury, notwithstanding- the erroneous instructions of the court, necessarily found that there was a delivery of the liquor into the State to.another person within the meaning of the statute.
But we are also of the opinion that even if there had been enough proof to show that the liquor was transported by Winfrey into thе State for delivery to Oliver, and was delivered to him for that purpose, siich proof was a variance from the allegations of the indictment,the language of which must necessarily be interpreted to charge a delivery to some person other than the three persons named in the indictment.
We do not think, however, that the statute authorizes the suspension from office upon this kind of a charge, which does not relate to official misconduct. The statute provides that there shall be an order of suspension on indictment of a county or township officer for “inсompetency, corruption, gross immorality, criminal conduct amounting to felony, malfeasance, misfeasance or non'feasance in office.” There is no charge of official misconduct made in this indictment, nor a charge of “criminal conduct amounting to a fеlony.”
The language of the Constitution is broader than the statute and provides that circuit courts ‘ ‘ shall have jurisdiction upon information, presentment or indictment, to remove any county or township officer from office for incompetency, corruption, gross immorality, criminal сonduct, malfeasance or nonfeasance in office.” Art. VII, Sec. 27. Under this provision of the Constitution there may be removals on information filed for grounds not embraced in a charge of official misconduct, but in the present case there was no information filed against аppellants to remove them from office. State v. Whitlock,
The judgment against each of the .appellants is, therefore, reversed and the cause is remanded for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.
