Case Name: Commonwealth vs. Annie Welch
Court: Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Jurisdiction: Massachusetts
Decision Date: 1886-01-04
Citations: 140 Mass. 372
Docket Number: 
Parties: Commonwealth vs. Annie Welch.
Judges: 
Reporter: Massachusetts Reports
Volume: 140
Pages: 372–373

Head Matter:
Commonwealth vs. Annie Welch.
Middlesex.
January 4, 1886.
C. Allen & Gardner, JJ., absent.
A complaint for unlawfully exposing and keeping for sale intoxicating liquors, with intent unlawfully to sell the same in this Commonwealth, is supported by proof,that the defendant kept such liquors with the intent alleged, although he did not expose them for sale.
Complaint to the Police Court of Newton, alleging that the defendant, on April 18, 1885, at Newton, unlawfully exposed and kept for sale intoxicating liquors, with intent unlawfully to sell the same in this Commonwealth. Trial in the Superior Court, before Q-ardner, J., who allowed a bill of exceptions, in substance as follows:
There was no evidence that the defendant exposed said liquors, but there was evidence tending to show that she kept them with intent to sell them.
The defendant requested the judge to instruct the jury, that, ■ as there was no evidence that the defendant exposed intoxicating liquors for sale, the defendant was entitled to an acquittal; and that, if the jury found that the defendant exposed and did not sell the same, the defendant was entitled to an acquittal.
The judge refused so to rule, and instructed the jury that, if they were satisfied, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the defendant kept intoxicating liquors with intent to sell them as stated in the complaint, then they would be justified in finding the defendant guilty, although there was no evidence that she exposed them for sale.
The jury returned a verdict of guilty; and the defendant alleged exceptions.
H. N. Allin, for the defendant.
E. J. Sherman, Attorney General, for the Commonwealth.

Opinion:
By the Court.
The instructions given at the trial were correct. The judgment in Commonwealth v. Atkins, 136 Mass. 160, is decisive of this case.
Exceptions overruled.