Allen v. State

Citations

• 15 Tex. Ct. App. 320
• 2 Tex. L. R. 588
• 1884 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 3

Syllabus

<p>1. Practice—Case Stated.—In a prosecution for keeping a house of ill-fame the prosecution was permitted, over objection, to prove by general rumor that the defendant was in the habit of sleeping in the house of ill-fame. . The court’s explanation of the bill of exceptions shows how this evidence was elicited: That the State asked the witnesses if they knew where the defendant slept? if he slept at the house? if they had seen him sleeping at the house? Held, that such questions were competent, but the answers to them, if founded upon common rumor and not upon personal knowledge, were inadmissible; and the proper practice would have been to move the court to exclude the answers, instead of objecting to the questions.</p> <p>3. Keeper oe a Disorderly House—Evidence.—While it is true that the character of the house as a house of prostitution, and the character of the inmates and the persons who frequent it, may be proved by general reputation, the fact that a defendant is the keeper of such house cannot be shown by such evidence. See the opinion in extenso on the question • ,</p>