Cobletz v. State

Citations

• 36 Tex. 353

Syllabus

<p>1. Article 3421, Paschal’s Digest, declares, in substance, that if any clerk or other person therein named shall embezzle or misapply, or convert to his own use, without the consent of his principal, any money or other property of such principal or employer, which shall have come into his possession, or shall be under his control, by virtue of such office, agency, or employment, he shall be punished as prescribed for theft; and Article 2385 declares that if the defendant had the lawful possession of the property, yet, if he obtained the same through any false pretext, or with intent to deprive the owner thereof, etc., the offense of theft shall be complete. The accused was a clerk in a store, and was left at night in charge of the store. On the first night after his employment as clerk, he carried off from the store a quantity of money and goods, and the next day was apprehended, while leaving the country, some distance from the place where the act was committed, and the money and goods were found-upon him. Held, that the facts of this case establish every constituent of theft under the above statutory provisions.</p> <p>2. A clerk in a mercantile house has a qualified and limited possession of the-goods as to strangers, but as against his principal or employer he has-neither the possession nor the right of possession.</p>