The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-09-07
A CR|ME2
Novel Case On Appeal
From Pitt. The Dewey
Case.

A novel case comes to the Supreme
Court for hearing next week from
Pitt county, on appeal of the State.
The crime charged is the old common
law offense of housekeeping and the
circumstances are set out in the indict-
ment i'm the court below which was as
follows:
THE jurors for the State upon their
oaths present. that Jordan Davis. late
of the county of Pitt and State of
North Carolina, on the 18th day OF
April, 1905, at and in said county and
State, being a person of evil mind ana
disposition wiltully and unlaWfully did
approach the dwelling house of one l..
| II. Smith then and there in the actual
possession of one Eva Smith his wife
in the night time, peeping in the WIN
dows, turning the blinds and caves
dropping the conversation and looking
| into the rooms, to the great terror ana
disturbance of the family, to the an
noyance and Inconvenience OF the m
habitants of said house, to the evil eX-
ample of all others in like cases OF
Tending contrary to the form OF the
statute in such case made and proVid-
ed and against the peace and dignity
of the State
Whereupon the defendants coun-
sci came into Court and made motion
to quash the BILL which was allowed.
Solicitor L. l. Moore appealing from
the action of the court and the de-
PENDANT was bound over in bail of 81 90
for his appearance at the september
term.
AS will be gathered from the bill
of indictment set forth above, the re
cord at this time discloSes nothing OF
the actual circumstances attending
the activities of this peeping Tom,
What was revealed to him, what heart
to heart divulgments fell upon his pro-
fame ears is. but matter of conjecture
At any rate the average reader VIII
have a feeling that it had been better
had the punishment sought to be IN
ficted not been so COMPOUNDED with
the legal phrases of the law. A double
load OF bird shot properly distributed
might have caused another oHense
against the peace and dignity OF the
State. but there would have been lit
tie public resentment at the act.
AS it is it is stated that there seems
to be no law to cover the off%Gse con-
sidered as eaves-dropping an, letting
alone the element of trespass inVolV-
ed, there is no statute in the Code on
the subject and the common law Of
Tense which is rarely heard of is SAID
to include only such eaVes-dropplng as
is first heard and then gossiped in the
community. In other words the legal
offense is the telling about and not
the listening to involuptary commuh :
ications made into ASS ears. The III
dictment does not allege that Davis
repeated whatever it was that he
heard or saw 10 the edifcation or
scandal of the community, as far as
might be gathered from that lnStru-
ment it appearing that, having seen
and heard, he locked the secrets in his
breast.
1t is therefore considered that the
Judge below will in all likelihood be
sustained and the privacy of the
Smiths go unavenged.
Exceptions in DeWey'S Case.
The Dewey appeal from conviction
| for embezzlement will be the most
| important case heard from the third
district The case has been docketed
and will be argued almost certainly
| next week. The grounds of appeal
set forth in the exceptions are almost
entirely technical.
When the case was first called for
trial, the defendant demanded bill
| of particulars which the judge refused
| to allow and defendant at once APP
pealed. When the case came up at
| the next term the State had furnished
the bill and the court directed that the
! trial proceed. To this action the de-
| PENDANT took an exception on the
ground that the case was on appeal to
| the Supreme Court, contending that
the fact that the particulars asked for
in the first instance had then been ten
dered did not so cure any possible er-
ror as to justify the hearing of the
case until it had been sent back from
the Supreme Court. Another one of
the exceptions of the defendant has TO
do with the charge of the judge which
defendant asked be put in writing
The court wrote out the charge, but
| in beginning to charge the jury spok
to them orally giving the usual eau
ton about not communicating with
any person about the case and that it