State v. Boatright
State v. Boatright
Opinion of the Court
—The defendant was arrested under the following indictment:
*470 “State of Missouri, “County of Jasper.
“In the Jasper county circuit court, September term, 1893.
“The grand jurors for the state of Missouri, impaneled, sworn and charged to inquire within and for the body of the county of Jasper, and state aforesaid, upon their oath present and charge that Robert Boatright, on the twentieth day of September, 1893, at and within the county of Jasper and state of Missouri, was found unlawfully loitering around houses of ill fame, gambling houses and places where liquors are sold and were sold and drank, without any visible' means of support, and was then and there engaged in an unlawful calling, to wit: the calling and business of gambling; against the peace and dignity of the state.
“John T. James,
“Prosecuting Attorney.”
A change of venue was taken to Newton county, where defendant moved the court to quash the indictment, supra, first, for duplicity, second, for failure to charge any offense, and, third, for failure to inform defendant of the offense charged. This motion was sustained and defendant discharged, from which ruling, after an unsuccessful effort to have it set aside,, the state appealed.
The indictment in this case seems to have been drawn under the statute defining the offense of vagrancy. Revised Statutes, 1889, section 3841. This statute specifies a number of acts which shall constitute vagrancy. It also provides that every person, who “shall be engaged in any unlawful calling whatever, shall be deemed a vagrant.” In the foregoing
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.