State v. Spengler

Mississippi Supreme Court
State v. Spengler, 74 Miss. 129 (Miss. 1896)
Woods

State v. Spengler

Opinion of the Court

Woods, J.,

delivered the opinion of the court on the merits.

Regard being paid to the evidence of the plaintiff alone, and giving it, taken all together, such weight as it was fairly entitled to, did it make out, or tend to make out, the case of the plaintiff ? And could and should a court permit a verdict for plaintiff on that evidence to stand? We are clearly of opinion that both of these questions must be answered affirmatively, and so answering, we must declare the action of the court in excluding all the evidence of the plaintiff to be erroneous.

*139The evidence of Hugh Guiney himself — evidently a not willing witness for plaintiff — on his examination in chief, was sufficient to establish the sale of the liquor, as complained of by plaintiff (and this is the only fact over which any serious controversy appears in the transcript), and whether his evidence in chief, or that brought out on cross-examination, was true, should have been submitted to the jury. But there was other evidence supporting the plaintiff’s contention on this point.. The evidence of the witnesses, Black, McGowan, Hanna, and Cox, leaves no reasonable doubt in the candid mind that Mr. Guiney was a frequenter and patron of the saloon of Spengler & Muller. When to this is added the somber light of the harrowing evidence of the unhappy wife, the conviction that the husband did buy liquor as charged in the complaint, is much strengthened. That the husband came from the saloon of defendants in a state of intoxication, and with a bottle of whisky obtained at that saloon the very night before the despairing wife followed him up town, and saw him come out of this saloon, .and was told by young Muller that he had just sold him liquor, is wholly undisputed. These facts, with the perfectly legitimate conclusions to be drawn from them, would, in our opinion, uphold a verdict for plaintiff. It must be remembered that the case was not required to be made out beyond reasonable doubt, but only with reasonable certainty.

For the present, we do not pass upon the competency of young Muller’s statement made to Mrs. Guiney. The learned court below did not exclude this statement, on defendant’s motion, because of its incompetency, and we are not called upon to decide what was not ruled upon below. The court below excluded all the plaintiff’s evidence because of its insufficiency, and this we hold was error.

Reversed and remanded.

Reference

Full Case Name
State, use, etc. v. H. Spengler, Sr.
Cited By
3 cases
Status
Published
Syllabus
1. Bills op Exceptions. General and special. Bills of exceptions are of two kinds; general bills, which are taken to the action of the court on a motion for a new trial, and by which the whole case, or so much thereof as is desired, can be brought into review; and special bills, by which one or more specific rulings of the trial court are presented for review. 2. Same. General bills. Formal exceptions. Code 1892, g 739. The formality of excepting to the action of the trial court in passing upon a motion for a new trial is dispensed with by statute. Code 1892, § 739. 3. Same. Authentication. When signature cmid certificate of fudge unnecessary. Under the act of 1896 (Laws, p. 91), in oases where the evidence and proceedings are noted by an official stenographer, if the stenographer’s notes be written out, and the parties, or their attorneys, agree, in writing, that the same is correct, such notes so written become part of the record without the approval or signature of the judge. 4. Evidence. Exclusion by the court. It is error to exclude all the plaintiff’s evidence, on motion of defendant, if the testimony of any witness makes out, or tends to make out, the case. 5. Same. Motion to exclude reserved. No action by trial court. When the trial court reserves its decision on a motion to exclude a part of the testimony of one of plaintiff’s witnesses, and after-wards excludes all the evidence offered in his behalf, the appellate court will not review the question so reserved. 6. Dramshop Keeper. Suiionbond. Code 1892, g 1582. In a suit upon a dramshop keeper’s bond, under $ 1582, code 1893, it is not necessary for the plaintiff to prove his case beyond a reasonable doubt, but only with reasonable certainty.