Boswell v. State

After proof of the corpus delicti, the testimony of an accomplice is sufficiently corroborated to authorize a conviction for burglary by other evidence showing that two'days after the burglary was committed, the accused was in possession of goods which were in the house when burglarized, the possession not having been satisfactorily explained, and the jury being satisfied from the whole evidence of the guilt of the accused. Pritchett v. The State, this term. Ante, 33.

Indictment for burglary. Before Judge Jenicins. Morgan superior court. March term, 1893. Dave Smith and Jerry Boswell were indicted for burglary.' Smith pleaded guilty. Boswell was tried and found guilty, and his motion on the general grounds for new trial was overruled. Besides' the testimony of Smith, the evidence for the State showed the following : The store of Cochran was broken open Tuesday night. Cochran and Smith rode from Madison together as far as Smith’s house, which was about half a mile from the store. Cochran then went on by the store to his home, leaving some things at the store, and coming back to the store, found it had been broken open and seven sacks of flour and fifteen or twenty pounds of tobacco taken. He found in the store a yarn glove which belonged to Smith. The mate to it was found in Smith’s overcoat pocket. He had worn the overcoat and gloves while riding with Cochran. Thursday night the flour and tobacco were found in Jerry Boswell’s stable. A searching party went with Smith to Jerry’s. Just before they got to Jerry’s lot, Jerry went for a light and came back with a basket of cobs on his shoulder, which he said were for his mule. The basket swung down so heavily, one of the party thought it was too heavy for cobs. Jerry set it down in the stable, and was watched. He scratched around there awhile, and handed out five dirty sacks of flour and a little coffee, and then handed two sacks of flour out of the basket. The witness who so testified could not tell where Jerry got the flour from out of the stable; he did not look. Jerry told him they were up in the loft, and told him Smith said they were left in his fodder-loft. They wei’e not in the foddei’-loft. When Smith was arrested, a little flour was found on his overcoat, which looked as though he might have tried to get it off with a wet rag. A ham was found at Smith’s house before the party went to Jerry’s, and Smith said he borrowed it. Jerry said Smith gave him the flour for that ham. Jerry told Smith, if he knew where these articles were, to show them, and Smith told Jerry they were in his fodder-loft. Jerry asked why Smith brought those things to Jerry’s house, and Smith said, “Uncle Jerry, you know.” After the search, when the party got back to the store, Jerry said he got the two sacks of flour in exchange for the ham. He said nothing about the tobacco. Smith lived about a mile from Jerry’s. Another witness, one of the searching party, told Jerry to go in the house and get a light, and Jerry went in and stayed so long that witness called him. Jerry said he would be there directly, and when he came he had on his back the basket in which he said he had cobs for his mule. Witness went to the house and Jerry’s wife came out with a lamp, and by the time witness got back to the stable the things had been moved out to the door. The hole in the stable, from which the five sacks of flour were apparently taken, was from two and a half to three feet deep, and there was the print of where the trough had set over the hole. Smith testified: Tuesday night I went down to Jerry’s, and Jerry told me if I would go with him and help him get the goods to his house he would take care of them and pay me for my trouble. He went to the store and carried the things out, and I carried them to his crib. I did not know how he got in the store, as I was standing up the road. That night I told him I was out of meat, and he let me have a ham. It was about eight o’clock Tuesday night when I and Cochran reached my house, and as soon as I ate supper I went over to Jerry’s house. We talked about fifteen minutes. I gave Jerry nothing and loaned him nothing. Jerry carried my glove in the store and had on my overcoat, which I let him put on. Question: “ Do you know where the flour was found?” Answer: “ He brought two sacks out of his house and the balance he went to the stable after.” Q. “Did you go in the stable after that flour at all?” A. “No sir. Uncle Jerry.” There was testimony by several -witnesses tending to show a good character for Jerry Boswell; and by Elias Boswell, tending to show an alibi, and to corroborate Jerry’s statement that Smith came that night about ten o’clock and called Jerry out of his house, and Jerry went out and, at Smith’s solicitation, exchanged him a ham for two sacks of flour. Jerry also stated that he was innocent of breaking open the house and knew nothing about it, and did not know who put that flour m the stable.