Appeal from
District Court, Muskogee County; Chas. G. Watts, Judge.
Paul V. Hadley
was convicted of murder, and he appeals. Affirmed.
P. A. Gavin, for
plaintiff in error.
R. McMillan,
Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.
DOYLE, P. J. The
plaintiff in error, Paul V. Hadley, and Ida Hadley were jointly
charged with the murder of W. J. (Jacob) Giles, alleged to have been
committed in Muskogee county on or about the 24th day of March, 1916,
by shooting him with a pistol. Upon their trial the jury rendered
verdicts finding "the defendant Ida Hadley not guilty on account of
insanity," and finding "the defendant Paul V. Hadley guilty of the
crime of murder as charged in the information, and fix his punishment
at imprisonment in the state penitentiary at hard labor for life."
From the judgment rendered in pursuance of the verdict, the defendant
Paul V. Hadley appeals.
The evidence
shows:
That Paul V.
Hadley and Ida Hadley resided in Beaumont, Jefferson county, Tex. That
Paul V. Hadley was indicted for assault with intent to kill in
Jefferson county, Tex., and as a fugitive from justice was arrested
March 20, 1916, in Kansas City, Mo., where he was going under the name
of J. O. Kendrick. That W. J. (Jacob) Giles, sheriff of Jefferson
county, Tex., was notified of his arrest, and in the meantime Hadley
was incarcerated in what is known as the matron's department at the
police station. That while held there his wife, the defendant Ida
Hadley, visited him several times, and had several conversations with
him before Sheriff Giles arrived in Kansas City. That on the 23d day
of March, Sheriff Giles arrived in Kansas City with a requisition from
the Governor of Texas for Paul V. Hadley. That the defendant Ida
Hadley met Sheriff Giles at the police station and requested the
sheriff to allow her to return to Texas with her husband. That in
response to that request Sheriff Giles replied that she could come if
she wanted to, but she would have to pay her own railroad fare. That
she then gave the money to Mr. Sanderson, who was present, to purchase
a ticket for her, which he did. That Sheriff Giles, with both the
defendants, left Kansas City on a train called the "Katy Limited" at
5:30 p. m. on the 23d day of March, 1916, which train arrived in
Muskogee just after midnight the next morning. That before leaving
Kansas City, Ida Hadley requested Sheriff Giles to remove the
handcuffs from Paul V. Hadley, who had agreed to return to Texas with
Sheriff Giles by signing a written waiver of formal requisition. That
the sheriff did not grant her request. That when the train left
Parsons, Ida Hadley was sitting in the rear seat on the right side of
the chair car, and shortly after the sheriff, with Paul V. Hadley in
custody, came out of the smoking car into the chair car, where Hadley
sat down by his wife, and the sheriff sat down in the seat across the
aisle; that the defendants engaged in a whispered conversation, and
Ida Hadley went to the ladies' toilet in the front end of the car
several times, and each time returned to her seat by her husband. That
at that time the handcuffs had been removed from Hadley, and he was
riding just as any other passenger in company with his wife. That
Sheriff Giles at that time was sitting across the aisle in the third
seat from the rear, the back of which had been reversed, and he was
facing the defendants. That when the train left Muskogee, Ida Hadley
said to Sheriff Giles, "You might just as well go to sleep; Paul and I
are going to sleep in a minute"; that within ten minutes after leaving
Muskogee, Ida Hadley got up from her seat and walked to the ladies'
toilet in the forward end of the car; that after staying there a few
minutes she returned, carrying a satchel or package; that reaching the
sheriff, she drew a pistol from somewhere about her person, and shot
Sheriff Giles in the back of the head; that the bullet passed through
his head and fell on the floor; that the train at that time was
passing through the town of Oktaha, Muskogee county; that instantly
Paul V. Hadley jumped across the aisle and grabbed Sheriff Giles'
pistol and said to his wife, "Hold the gun on all of them; if they
move blow their heads off"; that Ida Hadley said to the other
passengers in the car, "Don't a man or woman of you get up"; that Paul
V. Hadley, after taking the sheriff's pistol, proceeded to go through
the pockets of the sheriff, taking papers out of his pockets and
sticking them into his own pockets; that about this time the train
auditor came into the car, and Paul V. Hadley, holding his pistol on
him, said, "Stop this train, God damn you, or I will blow your brains
out"; that the auditor pulled the bell cord, but the train did not
stop; that the Hadleys then went out on the front vestibule of the
car, and there kept their guns on the auditor, demanding that he stop
the train; that the train stopped at Checotah, and the two defendants
stepped off; that they walked about five miles south from Checotah and
stopped at the home of Mr. Ennis, and asked permission to stop there
until morning; that they also arranged to have Mr. Ennis' son drive
them to Briartown in the morning; that young Ennis started to drive
the defendants to Briartown or Porum; that after going about ten miles
he left them at Mr. Stevens' place on Hi Early Mountain; that, Sheriff
McCune, of McIntosh county, with a posse, arrested the defendants
there that forenoon; that Ida Hadley asked Sheriff McCune if Giles was
dead, and he told her he was, and she asked, "What are you going to do
with us?" and the sheriff said, "We are going to take you to Eufaula,
the county seat of the county where you killed this man"; the
defendant Paul V. Hadley then said, "I am in it just as much as she
is; just as much to blame as she." It appears that Sheriff Giles never
spoke after he was shot, and died two or three minutes after he was
taken from the train at Checotah. The defendant Paul V. Hadley did not
testify as a witness. The defendant Ida Hadley testified as a witness
in her own behalf and in behalf of her codefendant.
In rebuttal R. H.
Gaines, for the state, testified that he was in the hotel business at
Checotah, and was present with others there when Ida Hadley stated in
the presence of her husband, Paul V. Hadley:
"That her husband
had shot a man down in Texas; that she expected that some time he
would be arrested, and it was her intention to take him away from the
officers when they started back to Texas with him; that she had put
her gun in her grip, and had kept it there all the time since the
trouble in Texas; that when her husband was arrested in Kansas City
she asked Sheriff Giles' permission to accompany him back to Texas;
that her husband knew the gun was in the grip, and they had talked
this matter over several times--that is, the possibility of her taking
him away from the officer--and when they got to a little city above
here that had electric lights, a city of 15,000, 20,000, or possibly
30,000 people, she whispered to Mr. Hadley, 'When we leave this town I
am going to take Jake's gun off of him, and you get ready to make your
getaway.'"
And that she
further stated:
"I asked Giles to
lend me his drinking cup; he let me have the cup, and I started back
to the wash room; there I took the gun out and put it in my dress, and
I came out and down the aisle toward Mr. Hadley and Jake, and when I
got near Mr. Hadley I gave him a nod to get ready to get up; that she
and Mr. Hadley had frequently talked over the subject that she would
use the gun in taking him away from the officer-- that they had talked
it over after they left Kansas City while sitting in the car."
Other witnesses
testified that they were present when Ida Hadley made these statements
in the hotel at Checotah, and that at the time she and her husband
were handcuffed together.
The record is
voluminous, but the foregoing statement of facts is sufficient for the
purpose of this opinion.
It appears that
upon a sufficient showing that the defendant Paul V. Hadley was a poor
person, and by reason of his poverty unable to pay for the same, the
court ordered that he be furnished with a transcript of the testimony
and the proceedings had on the trial for the purpose of perfecting
this appeal, and for the same reason the petition with case-made was
filed in this court without cost. No brief has been filed, but the
defendant's counsel appeared and made an elaborate oral argument in
support of the only question presented by the record; that is, the
sufficiency of the evidence to support the verdict.
Upon a careful
reading of the testimony in the case, there can be no doubt that the
verdict of the jury is abundantly supported if they believed the
evidence given on the part of the state; that the jury did believe the
evidence on the part of the state is clearly established by the fact
that they found this defendant guilty.
The evidence for
the state showed or tended to show that the homicide was committed in
pursuance of an agreement or understanding between the Hadleys, and
that they conspired together to have the defendant, Paul V. Hadley,
make his escape from the officer having him in custody.
It is a rule of
law that when a conspiracy is entered into to commit a crime, all
persons who engage therein are responsible for all that is done in
pursuance thereof by any of their conspirators until the object for
which the conspiracy was entered into is fully accomplished. Grayson
v. State, 12 Okla. Crim. 226, 154 P. 334; Irvin v. State, 11 Okla.
Crim. 301, 146 P. 453.
Says Mr. Bishop:
"Since a combined
act and evil intent constitute crime, and since a thing which one does
through the agency of another is the same in law as though performed
by his personal volition, one who contributes his will to a crime, by
whomsoever the physical act of wrong is done, is guilty of the crime.
Hence, when two or more persons unite to accomplish a criminal object,
whether through the physical volition of one, or of all, proceeding
severally or collectively, each individual whose will contributes to
the wrongdoing is in law responsible for the whole, the same as though
performed by himself alone." (1 Bishop, New Crim. Law, sec. 629.)
We are satisfied,
from a careful examination of the record and of the proceedings had
upon the trial, with respect to fairness, that the defendant had a
fair and impartial trial. The charge of the court, to which no
objection was made or exception taken, was an elaborate exposition of
the law of the case. While the jury by their verdict acquitted the
defendant Ida Hadley, that was their peculiar province. No one can
tell what considerations enter into a verdict returned by a jury where
a woman is on trial. Nevertheless, if the jury made a mistake as to
her, that is no reason why this defendant should not suffer the just
penalty of the law. Upon the whole case we are satisfied that the
verdict was neither against the weight of the evidence nor against the
law.
Finding no error
in the record, the judgment appealed from is affirmed.
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