Commonwealth v. Johnson

Citations

• 162 Pa. 63
• 29 A. 280
• 1894 Pa. LEXIS 942

Syllabus

<p>Criminal law — Murder—Evidence.</p> <p>On the trial of an indictment for murder the uncontradicted evidence was to the effect that the prisoner was an idle, shiftless man, working only at irregular intervals, and with no other home than a stable where he slept, getting his meals where he could. He had separated from his wife, and refused to contribute to her support and that of his child, a little girl four years old. The wife being unable to support the child left it with the prisoner at the livery stable, but against his consent. The prisoner’s mother took charge of the child for a while, but subsequently sent it back to the prisoner with a small basket of child’s clothes. During the day on which the child was returned to him, the prisoner made several ineffectual attempts to have some one take charge of it. In the evening he borrowed a horse and buggy for the purpose, as he said, of taking the child home.</p> <p>He took the child with him and drove away, leaving at the stable the basket of clothes. In less than an hour he returned in the buggy alone. The next morning the child’s hat was found on the bank of the river, about a mile from the town, and about one and a half miles from the stable. The point where it was picked up was in a path which led down to the river where there was no underbrush. Here the water formed an eddy or pool, and was about ten feet in depth. The distance from the hat to the water was about twenty-two feet, and a public road led from this point to the town. Six days afterwards the body of the child was found in the water six hundred and seventeen feet from where the hat was picked up. There was no mark of violence upon the body, and death had apparently resulted from drowning. On the morning after the child had been taken from the stable, the prisoner made several inconsistent and improbable statements as to what he had done with the child. Held, that the evidence was sufficient to sustain a conviction of murder in the first degree.</p