{ "id": 8651972, "name": "THE STATE v. CARRIE CHISENHALL", "name_abbreviation": "State v. Chisenhall", "decision_date": "1890-02", "docket_number": "", "first_page": "676", "last_page": "682", "citations": [ { "type": "official", "cite": "106 N.C. 676" } ], "court": { "name_abbreviation": "N.C.", "id": 9292, "name": "Supreme Court of North Carolina" }, "jurisdiction": { "id": 5, "name_long": "North Carolina", "name": "N.C." }, "cites_to": [ { "cite": "17 Conn., 467", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Conn.", "case_ids": [ 6752990 ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/conn/17/0467-01" ] }, { "cite": "91 N. C., 599", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "N.C.", "case_ids": [ 8697748 ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/nc/91/0599-01" ] }, { "cite": "93 N. C., 567", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "N.C.", "case_ids": [ 11274703 ], "weight": 2, "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/nc/93/0567-01" ] } ], "analysis": { "cardinality": 537, "char_count": 12044, "ocr_confidence": 0.533, "pagerank": { "raw": 2.5687790836849236e-07, "percentile": 0.8160423638598235 }, "sha256": "9b918ba438eaa851951e13bc55d3cb5f4a71c5b34c60e2fce36757ed42bc20e6", "simhash": "1:10fac23f3dab0c87", "word_count": 2150 }, "last_updated": "2023-07-14T20:21:20.066111+00:00", "provenance": { "date_added": "2019-08-29", "source": "Harvard", "batch": "2018" }, "casebody": { "judges": [], "parties": [ "THE STATE v. CARRIE CHISENHALL." ], "opinions": [ { "text": "Siikpheed, J.:\nThe statute {The Code, \u00a7973) under which the defendant is indicted is different from the English and some of the American enactments upon the subject, in that fraud and force are not necessarily constituent elements of the offence, and it is silent as to the taking being against the consent of the parent or other custodian of the child. Many of the refinements of construction to be found in the text-books, illustrated by the various decisions, have, therefore, but little application to the case before us. \u201cOur statute\u201d (says Ashe, J., in State v. George, 93 N. C., 567) \u201cis broad and comprehensive in its terms, and embraces all means by which the child may be abducted.\u201d The crime is defined in the statute by the term \u201cabduction,\u201d which is a term of well-known signification, and means, in law, \u201cthe taking and carrying away of a child, a ward, a wife, &c., either by fraud, -persuasion or open violence.\u201d Webster\u2019s Dictionary.\nIt is clear that the consent of the child, obtained by means of persuasion, is no defence, since the result of such persua sion is just as great an evil as if it had been accomplished by other means. Even under the English statutes, where a \u201ctaking\u201d is required, it was said by Wightman, J. (in R. v. Handley, 1. F. & F., 648), that \u201c a taking by force is not necessary; it is sufficient if such moral force was used as to create a willingness, on the girl\u2019s part, to leave her father\u2019s home.\u201d And in R. v. Makleton, (1 Dears C. C. R., 159), Jervis, C. J., enunciated the true spirit of the law when he said that \u201cthe statute was framed for the protection of parents.\u201d Of course, if there is no force or inducement, and the departure of the child is entirely voluntary, there can be no offence. These principles fully sustain his Honor\u2019s charge. But it is insisted that he should have instructed the jury, as requested, that, upon the whole testimony, the defendant was not guilty. This prayer, we suppose, is predicated upon the idea that the declarations of the defendant, as deposed to by W. M. Busbee, were improperly admitted. It appears that the child Eloise and the defendant were found by the mother at the home of Mag Bush, a prostitute, and that the latter had been bound over to Court for the abduction. The mother and the defendant were witnesses for the State, and, during a recess of the Court, were told by Mr. Busbee, a Justice of the Peace, to go to the Solicitor\u2019s room, where they were both examined by the latter, preliminary to the sending a bill of indictment against the said Mag Bush. It does not appear that any proceedings had been taken against the defendant at that time, and her declarations at said interview seem to have been voluntary. She could have declined answering any question which tended to incriminate her. Indeed, she could not have been compelled to have made any statement whatever to the Solicitor, as the examination was purely extra-judicial. State v. Williams, 91 N. C., 599.\nAVe are unable to see any error in the admission of these declarations, and the exceptions based upon it must be overruled.\nThe testimony was, in our opinion, fully sufficient, in connection with the other circumstances, to warrant a conviction. The defendant stated that she knew that Mag Bush kept a house of prostitution; that she promised to get Eloise to go there, and, at the request of Mag, \u201cshe did go to her mother\u2019s and get Eloise and take her to Mag\u2019s,\u201d for the purpose of meeting one Herndon. It was, as we have said, immaterial that the child was willing to go, if her going was \u201cbyr anyr means\u201d induced by the defendant, and this question, wTe think, was properly left to the jury.\nIt is further objected that the prosecutrix should not have been permitted to testify to the fact that her husband told her to go after Eloise as soon as he discovered that she had gone off with the defendant. We do not see how this in any way prejudiced the defendant\u2019s case, as it was evidently-introduced for the purpose of showing that the child ivas taken without the father\u2019s consent. It w-as unnecessary', under our statute, for the State to have shown this (State v. George, supra), and if it constituted a defence, it was the duty of the defendant to have established it. She offered no testimony tending lo show such consent, and the evidence objected to was merely irrelevant, as it only tended to rebut a defence which the defendant did not rely upon. Had it been material, however, we think that the acts of the father, and the accompanying language, upon the discovery of the abduction of his daughter, would have been competent evidence to have shown that her absence w-as without his consent.\nIt is also objected that the Court erred in allowing a witness to testify as to the general reputation of Mag Bush\u2019s house. Such evidence is held to be admissible in Connecticut, even against a defendant charged with the keeping of a house of ill-fame. Cadwell v. State, 17 Conn., 467. Such is not-, however, the law in this State, but we think it competent when the character of the house is only collaterally involved, and is attended with evidence of scienter, on the part of the defendant, and is only used for the purpose of showing the intent with which an act is done, as, in this case, to show that the defendant\u2019s object was to prostitute the child. Moreover, the defendant could not have been prejudiced b}' the evidence, as it was shown by her own declaration that Mag Bush was a common prostitute and kept a house of prostitution. Besides, it was unnecessary for the State to have shown the intent of the defendant. There is nothing in our statute which requires that the abduction should be with a particular intent. It is only necessary to allege and prove that the child was abducted, or by any means induced \u201c to leave\u201d its custodian. We think the exception is without merit.\nUpon a review' of the whole case, we are of opinion that there is\nNo error.", "type": "majority", "author": "Siikpheed, J.:" } ], "attorneys": [ "The Attorney General and Mr. E. 0. Smith, for the State.", "Mr. J. S. Manning, for the defendant." ], "corrections": "", "head_matter": "THE STATE v. CARRIE CHISENHALL.\nA bdudion \u2014 Evidence\u2014 Witness.\n1. Fraud or force are not essential elements of the crime of abduction under the laws of this State.\n2. The offence is sufficiently described by the word \u201cabduct,\u201d and may be committed by violence, fraud or persuasion.\n3. A statement made voluntarily by a person, against whom no charge is pending, to the Solicitor in reference to the commission of an offence by another, may be received in evidence against the author, who is afterwards indicted for the same transaction.\n4. Evidence of the declarations of the father of the abducted child, showing his lack of consent to its carrying away, is competent against one charged with the abduction.\nThis was a CRIMINAL ACTION, tried before Arm field, J., at Spring Term, 1890, of Durham: Superior Court, upon an indictment for abduction.\n' -Martha Chisenhall, a witness for the State, being sworn, testified as follows: \u201c I am the mother of the defendant, and also of Eloise Chisenhall. Eloise lived with me and my husband in the town of Durham. She left my house last Sunday evening abput 2 o\u2019clock with the defendant and Mary Douglas. Carrie, the defendant, did not live with me. I went in about two hours to Carrie\u2019s house, and found the door locked. I then went to Mag Bush\u2019s porch.' The defendant was there. I asked Mag to put Eloise out of her house. She said she was not there. I said: \u2018Yes she is there.\u2019 And I said : \u2018 Mag, if you don\u2019t put my child out, I will bring somebody here to take her out.\u2019 She dared me to bring a policeman to her house. Carrie was sitting in the room. I did not go in the house. I made no effort to go in, and nothing was said to prevent me from going in. Defendant told me Eloise was there in the house. Eloise staid there all night. I went back the same afternoon before sundown. Eloise was thirteen years old.\u201d\nThe State asked witness if her husband knew that she was going for Eloise ? Defendant objected. Objection overruled. Defendant excepted, and witness testified:\n\u201c My husband knew I was going for Eloise, and concurred in it. When Eloise left my house, my husband was not in the house, but he was on the lot. The defendant, Eloise and Mary Douglas went out of the back door of the house. I made no objection. - I knew Mary Douglas. My husband told me to go for Eloise as soon as he found out she was gone.\u201d \u2022\nDefendant objected to this evidence, as' she was not present. Objection overruled. Exception by defendant.\nThe State proposed to prove the general reputation of the house of Mag Bush by this witness.\nDefendant objected. Objection overruled. Excepted by defendant.\nWitness testified -it was bad for men running after women there, and continued: \u201c When defendant and Mary Douglas came on Sunday evening, they staid about half an hour, talking with me. I had no particular talk with them. Eloise had been to defendant\u2019s house before this, and she staid away from home all night before. ' She has left home with defendant before. Eloise did not come home until Tuesday morning.\u201d\nEloise Chisenhall, a witness for the State, testified: \u201cI was at Mag Bush\u2019s last Sunday evening. I went with Carrie, the defendant, and Mary Douglas. She told me I could go with them, when we left home, or not, as I pleased. I wanted to go. Defendant did not tell me what they wanted with me. I saw Rhodes Herndon at Mag Bush\u2019s that night. He did not stay long. I heard my mother when she came to Mag Bush\u2019s that afternoon and told her to put me out. I did not want to go home. Herndon came about 8 o\u2019clock.\u201d\nW. M. Busbee, a witness for the State, testified : \u201c On Tuesday last, at the recess of the Court, I was in the office of the Solicitor. I am a Justice of the Peace. I had tried the warrant against Mag Bush for abduction. Martha Chisen-hall and the defendant were witnesses for the State against Mag Bush. I told these two witnesses to go to the Solicitor\u2019s room. I got there before the witnesses. The defendant was examined as a witness by the Solicitor in my presence. The bill of indictment had not then been sent against Mag Bush, but the Solicitor wished to examine the witness. I remember the substance of the statement made by the defendant.\u201d The Solicitor then asked witness to give the statement she made.\nDefendant objected. Objection overruled. Defendant excepted, and witness continued: \u201cDefendant said she was at the house of Mag Bush on Saturday night, and was asked by Mag Bush and Herndon if she could get Eloise to come to come to Mag\u2019s house to see Herndon. She told them that she could not get her that night, but would try to get her to come next day; that on Sunday she did go to her mother\u2019s and get Eloise and take her to Mag\u2019s house; that her mother came to Mag\u2019s and asked Mag to put her out of the house; that Mag said she was not there. Eloise got behind the door when her mother came to Mag\u2019s. She left the house, leaving Eloise there; that she did not see Eloise until next morning; that Eloise staid at Mag\u2019s house that night; that she came to her house on Monday and staid with her on Monday and Monday night. She said she knew the character of Mag\u2019s house, and it was a 'whore-house.\u2019\u201d\nDefendant objected to this evidence. Objection overruled, and exception by defendant.\nThe defendant introduced no evidence, and requested his Honor, in writing, to charge the jury that, upon the evidence, the defendant was not guilty. His Honor declined to charge as requested, and defendant excepted.\nHis Honor charged the jury that if they believe, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the defendant went to her father\u2019s house, where Eloise Chisenhall lived, and induced her to leave her father\u2019s house, and took her to the house of Mag Bush, under a previous arrangement with Herndon and Mag Bush, for an immoral purpose, and the father did not consent, then the defendant would be guilty.\nTo this charge the defendant excepted. The jury returned a verdict of \u201cguilty,\u201d and from the judgment pronounced thereon the defendant appealed.\nThe Attorney General and Mr. E. 0. Smith, for the State.\nMr. J. S. Manning, for the defendant." }, "file_name": "0676-01", "first_page_order": 702, "last_page_order": 708 }