Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1888-12-22
f self-defense. Reversed and remanded

of self-defense. Reversed and remanded.
White, p. J
George c Glare vsY the State; appeal
| from Hopkins. Conviction for murder.
i'll the second degree. l. There bein8Rss
evidence to show adequate cause for The
| homicide, the court did not err in refus-
ing to charge upon manslaughter. =.
We think it clear that the Legislative in
tentiOn was, first, that mere intoXilatiop
from the recent use of ardent spirits shoultk
not OF itself, in any case excuse crime;
second, that mere intOXicatiOn should
not mitigate the degree or penalty of
crime; third, temporary insanity pro-
duced by such use of ardent spirits is evil
dence which may be used i'll all eases ~
the mitigation of the penalty, and also
in murder, for the further purpose of de-
termining the degree. OF itself, intOXi-
cation is neither justification, mitiga-
tiOn, nor excuse of any sort of crime. 1t
must so to the extent of producing tens
porary insanity before it will be allowed
to mitigate the penalty, and in murder
before it can be considered i'll determine
ing the degree. There is 10 reversible
err, :. Affirmed. White, p. j.
Tomas Arispe VS.. the State; appeal
from Webb. Conviction for theft of Il
horse. The court, after charging a cor
rect rule Gas far as it wen) upon explain
alton made by defendant found i'll pos
session of recently stolen property,
charged as follows: eff, however,
when his possession was first challenged
he failed to reasonably and satisfactorily
account for his possession thereof, you
will find him guilty as charged i'll the in
dictment - Held: Error. The accused
may fail to explain his possession, but
certainly he would have the right to prove
it innocent, though he made no eXplana-
ton when first called on for one, or
whether he ever attempted to make one.
Besides, this charge was upon the weight
of evidence. Reversed and remanded.
Hurt, J.
City of Tyler VS.. A . P. Moore; appeas
from Smith. Suit by appellee for dam
ages caused by the death of his horse, il
being alleged that said death was cHused
by a defect in the streets of the city 1t is,
shown that the alleged defect consisted of
a hole m the street filled with mud and
water, and was about three feet squareF9
Parties passing along could not tell of the
defect. The only way III which this could
be found out was by inserting some
thing in the hole. 1t appears
that the street inspector walked
along the street where the alleged defect
was almost daily. No actual notice to.s
the city was shown. Held: The evil
dence does not support the verdict. The
defect was almost latent, and could
scarcely be observed unless by actual
examination. 1t is not shown that the
city authorities knew it was there, nor
that same had existed sufficient length
of time for the city to be presumed toH
have notice of same. Reversed and re-
manded. Hurt, J.
John Laws VS.. the State; appeal from
Franklin. Conviction for murder in the
second degree. The defense i'll the case
was that the homicide occurred in the /
night time, and was committed for the
purpose of preventing the consequences of
the theft. As to the time of the homicide
the evidence was conflicting, some OF the
witnesses saying about sun set, Stsers
about thirty minutes or more after saS3-
Get. Held: The court committed a
material error in not charging as
to the legal meaning of
''day time,' and "night time
In this state with reference to the crime
of burglary it is provided, by the term
daytime is meant any time of the
twenty-four hours, from thirty minutes
before sunrise until thirty minutes after
sunset -. "Words which have their
meaning specially defined shall be. Under
stood in that sense, though it be contra
ry to their usual meaning - P. C.
Art. 10. 1t is clear that in view of the
provisions cited above that O. 'ftheft by
night is theft committed any time be-
tween thirty minutes after sunset and
thirty minutes before sunrise, and the
court should have so instructed thessSlry
Reversed and remanded. itlsSEI@
Watches, watches watches, cheap at
W. C Pfasfaa y, sos Main street.