Harris v. United States
Harris v. United States
Opinion of the Court
This case presents no question not disposed of by our opinion in the accompanying case of Bennett v. United States, 194 Fed. 630, save this: Was respondent Plarris entitled to an instructed acquittal because of the failure of sufficient evidence to support a verdict of guilty ?
In this case, two women came from Charleston, W. Va., and entered and remained for a time in the house of prostitution kept by Harris, in Cincinnati. There is no direct evidence that she had anything to do with inducing or aiding them to come, and support for this conclusion is to be found only in the circumstances. The evidence tended to show that respondent Green, an inmate of the same house, went from Cincinnati to Covington, and then, after a couple of days, to Charleston, arriving there in the morning; that on the same afternoon she started back for Cincinnati; that she furnished money to pay transportation for the two Charleston women who came with her; that they all went together to the Harris house the next morning; that a day or two later, the trunks of the Charleston women followed them to the Harris house with C. O. D. charges, including bills due from them to the keeper of the Charleston house of the same kind where they had been living; that Harris paid these C. O. D. charges and charged the same on her book against the Charleston women; and that such book, when later exhibited to them, also contained the charge for their railroad tickets from Charleston. Inasmuch as there was nothing unlawful, under this statute, in receiving these women or advancing the charges on their baggage, conviction must rest upon the theory that respondent Green went to Charleston and advanced the railroad fare while acting as the agent for the respondent Harris. This is explicitly denied by respondent Green, as a witness. The cir
It follows that the conviction and sentence will be affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- HARRIS v. UNITED STATES
- Status
- Published