Case Name: W. H. Lipscomb v. State of Mississippi
Court: Mississippi Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Mississippi
Decision Date: 1897-12
Citations: 75 Miss. 559
Docket Number: 
Parties: W. H. Lipscomb v. State of Mississippi.
Judges: L. W. Magruder and R. H. Thompson, special judges on the trial of the case and the hearing of the motion, presided in places of Judges Woods and Terral, disqualified.
Reporter: Mississippi Reports
Volume: 75
Pages: 559–624

Head Matter:
W. H. Lipscomb v. State of Mississippi.
1. Dying Declabations. Buies governing.
The following’ rules governing the admission of evidence of dying declarations are recognized:
(a) They must have been made under the realization and solemn sense of impending death;
(b) They must have been the utterances of a sane mind;
(c) They must be restricted to the homicide and the circumstances immediately attending it, and forming a part.of the res gestee;
(d) A declaration, or part of it, is not admissible unless it would be competent and relevant if it were the testimony of a living witness; and,
(e) Great caution should be observed in the admission of dying declarations, and the rules which restrict their admission should be carefully guarded.
2. Same. Admissibility determined by court. Degree of proof.
As a preliminary question, the admissibility of a dying declaration is determined by the court, and the degree of proof required to establish that the declarant realized he was in extermis is such as to exclude all reasonable doubt.
3. Same. Whether declaration one of fact or opinion. Its form not conclM-sive. Degree of proof. ••
The competency of a dying declaration, whether one of fact or opinion, is a question of fact to be determined by a judicial interpretation of the meaning of the declaration, as indicated by its terms, viewed in the light of surrounding circumstances; the form of the declaration — the literal sense of the words used. — is not necessarily controlling. If it be a reasonable construction that a declaration is one of fact, it ought to be so adjudged.
4. Samis. Objections to.
A general objection to evidence of a dying declaration should be overruled if any part of the declaration be admissible. Merrill v. State, .58 Miss., 66; Meld v. State, 57 Miss., 474, distinguished and explained.
5. Same. Evidence; source of; weight of.
An instruction which points out, by way of precaution, the inherent qualities which, by law, pertain to dying declarations, and which refers to the source, rather than the matter, of the evidence, is not objectionable as being upon the weight of evidence. There is a distinction between the source of evidence and its weig-ht.
6. Same. Case at bar.
The dying declaration in this case was in these words: “He [meaning the declarant] said he had been dead, and that he was going to die, and the good Lord had sent him back to tell me [the witness] that Dr. Lipscomb had poisoned him with a capsule he gave him that night, and Guy Jack had his life insured, and had hired Dr. Lipscomb to kill him. ” The objection to the evidence was a general one.
Judges Whitfield' and Thompson held, even had specific objection been made, that the part of the declaration in these words, “He said . . . that Dr. Lipscomb had poisoned him with a capsule he gave him that night,” was admissible, and was the statement of a fact. Judge Magbtjdeb thought the whole inadmissible, and that the part last quoted was the expression of an opinion.
7. Pbactice. Jury's right to home papers. Code 1892, § 730.
By the terms of the statute, code 1892, § 730, all papers read in evidence on the trial of any cause may be carried from the bar by the jury, and the court should not cause such papers to be withheld from them.
8. Cbiminal Law. Reasonable doubt. Instruction.
An instruction in a criminal case which authorizes conviction upon evidence which engenders “full conviction” of guilt, does not require proof beyond all reasonable doubt, and is erroneous.
Judges Magbudeb and Thompson held that the instruction in this case to that effect was reversible error. Judge Whitfield thoug'ht the instruction was erroneous, but that it did not constitute reversible error under the facts of the case.
9. Appellate Practice. When error reversible.
Upon appeal in a criminal case, if it be found that the trial court committed error ag'ainst appellant, and that the error was calculated to and probably did produce the result evidenced by the judgment appealed from, the case should be reversed.
Judges Magruder and Thompson thought this rule should be applied and a new trial granted, while Judge Whiteibld was of opinion that the verdict in the case was not caused, or contributed to, by the error of the court below, but was clearly proper under the law applicable to the case and the competent testimony therein, and hence that the rule had no application.
10. Same. Motion to vacate judgment. Suggestion of error.
Upon a motion to vacate a judgment of reversal and substitute therefor one of affirmance, on the ground that no two members of the court agree on a common ground of reversal, the question whether the original holdings of the judges were right or wrong cannot be considered; such question is proper to be raised by suggestion of error.
!FROM the circuit court of Kemper county.
Hon. Gr. B. Huddleston, Judge.
The facts are stated in the opinions.
J. H. Currie, for appellant.
The objection to this remarkable dying declaration could not have been more specific than it was. The declaration consists of one thing. It relates to the same subject, was made at the same time, and therefore it could not be separated. It was impossible to cut off a part of tho poisoned meat and let another part go to the jury. The whole of what the man stated was proper to be considered or none. It will not do in a case like this to pick out a word or sentence which purports to state an isolated fact and leave out the rest. It is absurd and improper to consider even the testimony of the holy scriptures by such a rule, much less human testimony. It is a fixed rule that the whole of a confession must be introduced, if any part is offered, and it is an injustice to the defendant to allow a part to be offered and to exclude the other, which would shed light on the whole.
In the case of Bell v. State, 72 Miss., 507, this court used the following language, which applies with peculiar force in this connection: “To give to the words which the observation of mankind teaches are frequently used in a different sense, an inflexible significance, even though it be a natural one, would be to do violence to the plain dictates of common sense, and would often result in serious injustice. Words are but the exponents of thought, and the effort must be to determine whether in the particular instance the thought suggested by their use was that of the speaker. ’ ’ In view of this strong statement, and in the light of common sense, we submit that it is wholly immaterial that this alleged declaration does not purport on its face to be the expression of an opinion that Guy Jack had hired the defendant to poison the deceased. It must be perfectly apparent to an unbiased mind that this unfortunate man in his dying moments never intended to state positively that Dr. Lipscomb had poisoned him or that Jack had hired him to kill him. He did not intend to be so understood, and it is the rankest injustice, not only to the defendant, but to the dying man himself, to attempt to give to his words, by reason of any literal interpretation, a significance which he never intended them to have. Does the court, for one moment, suppose that this man, who was about to be ushered into the presence of his Maker, intended that his words should be construed to mean that he had personally seen the risen Lord, and that he had been sent back with a message, or that he knew that Dr. Lipscomb had poisoned him because Guy Jack had hired him to do so ? Now, it is an established rule that a dying declaration must be confined to facts, and that they must not be hearsay, must not be based upon opinion or speculation, but must be competent as evidence. They must be such as the declarant would be permitted to testify to if alive. We would ask the court if it could be possible to conceive that this unfortunate man could be brought back to life and placed upon the stand as a witness and sworn, whether he could have been convicted of perjury in making the statements attributed to him. Of course he could not. .Any jury would say, any court would say, that he did not intend to be understood as stating facts positively and as of his own knowledge, but that he was giving merely his opinion; that he had such opinion, and whether it was reasonable or not is wholly immaterial. He merely meant to say, looking backwards at all the facts, that it was perfectly apparent to him that these things were true; that he was morally convinced they "were true. He wishes you to be impressed with that fact, but not as a statement of a positively known fact, because the answer to all this is that he would not have taken the medicine if he had known what counsel now seek to have him state as a positive fact.
Opposing counsel refer to the case of Walker v. State, 39 Ark., 221, but if the court will read Jones v. State, 52 Ark., 345, it will be seen that the case referred to was practically overruled, and the only sensible rule on the subject is announced in the latter case, that ‘ ‘ a mere expression of opinion by the dying man is not admissible as a dying declaration, and it is immaterial whether the fact that the declaration is a mere opinion appears from the statement itself or from other undisputed evidence, showing that it was impossible for the declarant to have known the facts stated. ’ ’
We also refer the court to the case of Berry v. State, 63 Ark., 382, which is directly in point, and where an opinion very much more positive than the one in question was held to be incompetent. There no question was raised as to a message from the Lord, and the like, but the man’s inference from the fact that the whisky he had voluntarily drunk was poisoned, and had killed him, was excluded. We also refer to the splendid opinion of the supreme court of North Carolina, in the case of State v. Williams, 67 N. C., 12, and to Binns v. State, 46 Ind., 31. These cases lay down and discuss fundamental rules which are applicable here, and before which this alleged dying declaration must be dissipated as the mists before the rising sun. No case cited by opposing counsel is like the one at bar. The only case like it in its essential features is that of Berry v. State, 63 Ark., above referred to. Considering the gravity of the question, the solemnity of the occasion, and the tremendous importance of this question, not only to the defendant, whose life is at stake, but to the cause'of human liberty, we wish to enter the most earnest and solemn protest against the admissibility of such testimony as is relied upon here, to take away appellant’s life. The idea of hanging a man on this kind of testimony is to us% perfectly horrible. It is apparent what a tremendous weight it had. Surely, surely it is not proper, even if some words or sentence might have been selected and held as competent (which we deny) to allow the whole case to be made out, the motive to be established, by such testimony, admitted in this way.
We call the attention of the court to the manifest errors in the instructions given for the state. We also call attention to the manifest error in excluding from the jury the written report of the autopsy. A great deal of testimony was taken as to this autopsy, and, after being explained and re-explained, the defendant desired the paper itself to be taken out and considered by the jury, but this was refused, and in positive violation of the plain statute on the subject. Code 1892, § 730.
W. R. Harper, on the same side.
The court below erred in refusing to allow the jury, at defendant’s request, to carry out with them the written report of the physicians who held the autopsy, the same having been admitted in evidence by the court. The court below failed to avail itself of the evidence of the negro who was present at the time the alleged dying declaration was made. This was error. Bell v. State, 72 Miss., 512. The declarant must have been in such a state of mind as to have had a clear understanding of what he was saying. Binfield v. State, 15 Met., 484. The declarations of one deprived of full consciousness are not ad missible. Mitchell v. State, 5 Ga., 125; McHugh, v. State, 31 Ala., 317. A mere expression of opinion is inadmissible as a dying declaration, and it is immaterial whether the fact that the declaration is mere opinion appears from the statement itself or from evidence showing that it was impossible for the declarant to have known the fact stated'. Jones v. State, 52 Ark., 345; Bi/ins v. State, 46Ind., 311; State v. Arnold, 13 Ire. L., 184; State v. Parker, 92 Mo., 312. If the declar-ant’s due appreciation of impending death can be determined from the statement itself, his mental state and capacity to testify may be determined from the same evidence. Thus tested, it seems clear that declarant was in such a mental condition as to render his statement incompetent. It seems clear that'those words of his, ‘ ‘ I have been dead, and the good Lord sent me back to tell you,5 ’ are the expressions of a mind already torn from its moorings; that they are the result of hallucination, of delirium, and unfit for evidence. A healthy, sane, conscious mind would not, in this day and time, undertake to state, as a fact, that it had been dead, and had returned to deliver a message. The declaration does not purport to state facts nor even to express an opinion, but purports to be merely a message sent by the Lord through the agency of declarant. Such a statement made by a witness on the stand would be objectionable as being-mere hearsay.
The statement or declaration is not separable. It is so linked and connected together that it must stand or fall as a whole. To separate it would be to put into the mouth of declarant a statement that he never made. Such a garbling is not permissible. Statements are only separable when they refer to different subjects. All or none that is said about the same subject must be admitted.
The ninth instruction given for the state is erroneous. It authorized a verdict against appellant on testimony which engenders ‘ ‘ full conviction ’ ’ of guilt, and does not require that appellant's guilt should be established beyond a reasonable doubt. This is in the face of repeated decisions of this court. This error is not cured by other instructions, but when read into the other instructions, tend to vitiate them, in that testimony engendering “ full conviction ” is thus made sufficient to establish guilt throughout.
The fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth instructions refused defendant all bear upon the dying declaration, and ought to have been given. If a judge be permitted to caution the jury about the danger of convicting on circumstantial evidence, there is no reason why they may not be cautioned as to dying declarations. The dying declaration in this case is ño part of the res gestee. It was made hours after the last wrongful act of Lipscomb, and hence comes within the rule laid down in Mayes v. State, 64 Miss., 329; Kingv. State, 65 Miss., 576; Fiddv. State, 57 Miss., 474.
J. A. P. Campbell, John B. Dinsmore, and Wiley N. Mash, attorney-general, for appellee.
Every part of the declaration of the dying victim of poison was of a fact. Whether all these facts are kdmissible as evidence .under settled rules, is the question. There surely can be none as to that fixing guilt upon Lipscomb as the poisoner, any more than if it was that he had shot or stabbed the declarant. Whether the part which states what impelled Lipscomb to poison him is competent as showing the motive for the crime, is not so clear, we admit. We submit that it is competent, as a narrative of all the circumstances of a single transaction, conceived in sin and consummated by iniquity, in the death of the party insured. Murder by poison is sui generis, and unlike that by shooting or stabbing or clubbing. The poisoner is not usually present with his victim. His method is secret, and at a distance usually, and his victim should be allowed to relate all that connects the guilty agent with his secret crime. If Jack and Lipscomb had been present, and the latter had incited the former to kill Stewart, because he had a policy of insurance on his life, and Lipscomb had shot his victim, a dying declaration of all that occurred would have been inseparable and competent. The concoction of the scheme to poison was at a distance, but the part each actor performed is as much part of the res gestae as if Jack and Lipscomb together had announced the facts, and Lipscomb had shot or cut Stewart so as to cause 'death.
Gases supporting admissibility of dying declarations, over the objection that they were not facts but opinions: Payne v. State, 61 Miss., 161, £‘He shot him without any cause,” held not an opinion but statement of a fact. Citing, with approval, Wroe v. State, 20 Ohio St., 460, where the declaration was, “It was done without any provocation on his part,” and this was held admissible. Powers v. State, 74 Miss., 777, cites and approves Payne v. State. Sullivan v. State, 102 Ala., 135, the declaration, “He cut me for nothing; I never did anything to him, ” held to be a collective fact, and admissible, while £ £ I pray Grod to forgive him! ” as inadmissible. The objection was specific in this last case, and was held good. Jordon v. State, 81 Ala., 20, the words were, “Julo shot me, and Handy cut me, and all for nothing, ’ ’ and were held to be competent as facts. Boyle v. State,105 Ind., 469, the question was: “What reason, if any, had the man for shooting you? ” The answer was, “Hot any that I know of; he said he would shoot my damned heart out.” And this was held admissible. This case is reported in 97 Ind., 322, where the holding was the same. Peojyle v. Farrar, 77 Cal., 1, question: “ What did he shoot you for ? ’ ’ Answer, £ ‘ He had no reason whatever: ’ ’ Held, probably not incompetent, and, as specific objection was not made to this part, there was no error. People v. Taylor, 59 Cal., 640, illustrates, in a case of poisoning, the sort of opinion which is not competent. Walker v. State, 39 Ark., 221, the declaration was, “Nick Walker shot me.” It was proved that the declarant was shot through an augur-hole by night. The evidence of the dying declaration was held to be competent, and it was to be dealt with by the jury. State v. Piemens, 51 Iowa, 274, the declaration was, “ Ed Clemens shot me; ain’t I right?” Held competent, the court saying that testimony is to be excluded “only when the declaration shows, upon its face, that it is a mere opinion; ” that it is for the jury to say, on the whole evidence, if deceased intended to state a fact. State v. Saunders, 140 Ore., 300, the declaration was, “He shot me down like a dog,” and it was held competent. Jones v. State, 52 Ark., 345: “If it is possible for the declar-ant to know the truth of what he states, it is competent. ’ ’ State v. Ferrell, 12 Richardson (S. C.), 320, held, declarations of the person poisoned, which pointed out the prisoner as the party who prepared the poison, admissible. The declaration narrated the circumstances, showing how it was brought about. State v. Benton, 24 S. C., 185, cites and approves State v. Ferrell, and holds a declaration by decedent that the accused had passed him on the road before the homicide, admissible as pointing to the prisoner. Richards v. State, 82 Wis., 172, held competent a declaration that declarant ‘ ‘ was stabbed without provocation. ’’ Broth-erton v. Peopile, 73 N.Y., 159:- Deceased at first did not recognize the prisoner,- who was disguised, but said, ‘ ‘ when he [the latter] drew his pistol and ‘ commenced his pranks, ’ he knew it was the prisoner.” Held, not an opinion, and admissible. People v. Green, 1 Denio, 614, case of wife poisoning by husband, and her dying declarations about it were held properly admitted. People V. Green, 1 Parker C. Rep., 11, decedent gave an account of her poisoning by her husband, and it was held to be admissible, and he was convicted and executed. Roberts v. State, 5 Tex. Ct. Ap., 141, the declaration was, “Sam Roberts killed me for nothing.” Held, a statement of fact, and not an opinion, and admissible. State v. Arnold, 13 Ired., 184, declaration was, “A. B. has shot me or killed me.” The court said: “It must be presumed that the declarant intended to state a fact, and not an opinion; that it did not appear that deceased knew, or could know, the facts, seems to go to the credit, and not the competency, of the declarations. As they purport in themselves ■ to declare the facts, the court was bound to submit them to the jury.” Suspicion of defects in party’s means of knowledge was said to be not a ground for exclusion of the declarations. White v. State, 30 Tex. Ct. Ap., 652, held that the fact that dying declarations are inconsistent and partly untrue is not a ground for their exclusion. State v. Qile, 8 Wash., 12, the declaration, they “butchered me,” was held admissible as a statement of fact. Hackett v. People, 54 Barb., 370, illustrates the distinction between what is res gestee and what is not, as applied to dying declarations. “That the boys of the accused had followed and clubbed deceased immediately preceding the attack by the accused, was admissible, while a declaration of previous threats by the accused were excluded as incompetent.” State v. Shelton, 2 Jones (N. 0.), 360, approves the admission of a full narration of the whole fight; considering all the circumstances as constituting but one act, all were properly admitted, otherwise not. Commonwealth v.' Matthews, 89 Ky., 287: A declaration that the shooting was an accident was admitted as a fact. State v. Saunders, 92 Ky., 135, makes the test of admissibility, anything the declarant could testify to if alive and on the stand, as to the circumstances of the homicide. Wilherson v. State, 91 Ga., 729, holds competent “ all relevant facts embraced in the re's gestee of the homicide, whatever the witness, if on the stand, would be permitted to relate. ”
But it is not necessary to hold that the declaration as to the insurance policy and Guy Jack hiring Lipscomb to do the deed is competent, for the objection of the defendant was not to this particular part, but it was leveled against the entire dying-declaration. ' There was no separation, and no specific objection to the part relating to the insurance and hiring, and, like a demurrer to a pleading which' is good in part, it properly failed. Our own cases require objections to evidence to be specific, whenever it is possible to obvitate the objection, if particular attention is called to it. It was an easy matter to separate here, and exclude all the dying declaration except the substantive and fatal fact that Dr. Lipscomb poisoned or killed the de-clarant, but it was preferred to make a general objection to the whole declaration in the hope that the incompetent part, if any, would cause all to be excluded instead of the competent part making all admissible. Astute counsel saw that to exclude the part relating to Jack and the hiring, would leave in the damning fact that Lipscomb killed Stewart by a capsule, and that would likely insure a conviction, and it was resolved to object to the whole declaration, in the hope that the admission of part would be held to be error.
Necessity for specific objection to illegal part: We cite, first, Reynolds v. State, 68 Ala., 502, which holds a general objection not good to a dying declaration some part of which was incompetent. Archibald v. State, 122 Ind., 122, is to the same effect. Brotan v. State, 52 Ala., 345, decides that an objection to the whole evidence, some of which is good, may be properly overruled. In State v. Norton, 121 Mo., 537, the dying declaration was in writing, and parts of it were not admissible, and it was held a general objection to the whole by counsel was properly overruled. State v. Blade, 42 La. Ann., 861, holds a dying declaration must go to the jury as an entirety, citing 32 La. Ann., 1086, where it is so held, and approved the admission of the declaration, £ £ I have been shot by a man who I had no reason to suspect a shot from; for that he ought not to have shot me; he had no reason to shoot me.” In the case cited in 32 La. Ann., 1086, objection was made to the part that was illegal, and it was overruled and all allowed to go to the jury, and this was approved. Johnson v. State, 17 Ala., 618: Affidavit of deceased containing facts and belief was admitted, and the jury instructed to disregard the statement of belief, and this was held proper, but the judgment was reversed because the trial judge did not, by instruction, exclude enough. People v. Farmers, 77 Cal., 1, held that specific objections should be made to the parts which are incompetent. 96 Tenn., 209, App. 213, 214. Brotan v. State, 72 Miss., 95; Mills v. Smith, 69 Miss., 299; Decdl v. Lewenthall, 57 Miss., 331, are some cases in our state on the subject of specific objection to evidence.
The following are a few of the cases, civil and criminal, which hold that where the objection is to the whole evidence, some of which is competent and some not, it may be properly overruled: 1 Peters, 328, 338; 111 Ala., 34; 87 Ala., 99; 88 Ala., 8; 85 Ala., 198; 84 Ala., 279; 85 Ala., 192; 82 Ala., 25; 72 Ala., 92; 66 Ala., 129; Id., 422; 63 Ala., 307; 56 Ala., 379; 93 Ya., 279; 90 Tenn., 548; 77 Ga., 322; 74 Iowa, 324; 62 Mich., 205; 103 N. Car., 337; 51 N. J. R., 37; 13 Wash., 78; 57 Kan., 474; 54 Kan., 421; 121 Ind., 1; 122 Ind., 122; 36 Kan., 488; 8 Kan., 608; 21 Col, 435; 18 Col., 153; 38 U. S. Ct. App., 394, s.c. 72 Fed. Rep., 885; 62 Minn., 241; 42 Minn., 245; 35 Minn., 170; 100 N. Car., 161.
Cochran & Bozeman, on same side.
The admission of the dying declaration of Stewart as evidence is assigned as error, and, as we appreciate it, this assignment is the real battle ground of this appeal. If this evidence was competent, we assume that the judgment of the court below must be affirmed. We shall not discuss the elementary principles of law governing the admissibility of dying declarations, because we do not consider it necessary. According to Mr. Starkie, ‘£ the principle which this exception stands upon is clear and obvious. It is presumed that a person who knows that his dissolution is fast approaching, that he stands on the verge of eternity, and that he is to be called to an immediate account for all that he has done amiss, before-a judge from whom no secrets are hid, will feel as strong a motive to declare the truth and to abstain from deception, as any person who acts under the obligation of an oath. ” 1 Starkie Ev., 32. And Shakespeare seems to have entertained the same view when he put the sentiment into the mouth of the wounded Melun, who, finding himself disbelieved while announcing the intended treachery of King Louis, exclaims:
Have I not hideous death within my view,
Retaining- but a quantity of life,
Which bleeds away, even as a form of wax
Resolveth from his figure ’gainst the fire?
What in the world should make me now deceive,
Since I must lose the use of all deceit?
Why should I then be false, since it is true
That I must die here, and live hence by truth?
—King John, Act V., Scene 4.
We insist that Stewart’s dying declaration is a clear-cut statement of facts on its face. His statement that he had been dead is wholly immaterial. He had just recovered from a state of unconsciousness, immediately following the second convulsion, and he had certainly been very near death’s door. The declaration that the Lord had sent him back, is also immaterial, because the courts do not undertake to fathom the mysterious purposes of an allwise Providence. Any man who recognizes the providences of God may well hesitate before he rashly contends that Stewart was not moved by him who loves justice more than man, to make the dying declaration, in order that his murderers might be surely punished. Stewart said ‘ ‘ that Dr. Lipscomb had killed him; had poisoned him with a capsule that he gave him that night. ’ ’ Clearly, on its face it is the statement of a fact, and Stewart knew that appellant had poisoned him; he knew that appellant gave him the capsule, and he knew that he was dying from the effects of the poison that he had taken. It is illogical to argue that Stewart did not know that the poison was killing him, merely because he could not see its effects upon his vital organs, and because he had never been poisoned before. Suppose Stewart had seen appellant draw a revolver, level it at him, and heard the.click pf the trigger, and saw the smoke from the barrel of the pistol, and had immediately felt great bodily pain, surely no one could argue that he would not know that appellant had shot him. He did not see the bullet when it left the barrel of the pistol, nor when it entered his body, still he felt its death-dealing force and effect, and knew, just as certainly as man can know any thing, that appellant had shot him. Again, suppose that Stewart had not felt the effects of fire, and placed his hand upon a hot stove in which he saw no fire, and that he immediately exclaimed that his hand was burned, would any man for a moment contend that he would not know that his hand was burned by fire'{ Why could Stewart know any more certainly that he was dying from the effects of a pistol bullet, which he did not see enter his body, than he could have known that he was dying from the effects of a strychnine bullet, which he received from the hand of appellant, and which he had, with his own hand, place in his body ? His general knowledge of the effect of strychnine was just as full and accurate as his knowledge of the effect of a pistol ball on the human body. It is worse than idle to argue that his statement that appellant had poisoned him was only his opinion, when the record proves that it was a fact that he was poisoned, and that the chemists found in his body enough strychnine to kill three or four men.
He further stated that Guy Jack had his life insured. It was the statement of a woeful and momentous fact. Guy Jack held insurance on his life to the tune of twenty thousand dollars, and this awful and wicked fact was the proximate cause of Stewart’s horrible death. Stewart further stated that “Guy Jack had hired Lipscomb to kill him.” The argument of appellant was, and is, against the competency of this statement, that, if Stewart had known that Guy* Jack had hired the appellant to kill him, he would not have taken the capsule. The argument is not sound, and is illogical. Of course, if Stewart had known that Lipscomb intended to poison him, he would not have taken the capsule, but he did not know it until after he had taken it, and the real meaning and significance of appellant’s conduct, and his conferences with Stewart and Guy Jack in Jack’s store, only a few hours before he died, were not known to him until he was in the-throes of death. If, upon .any view of the evidence^ it is possible for the declarant to know the truth of what he stated, his declaration being otherwise competent, should be received and considered by the jury in the light of all the evidence. Payne v. State, 61 Miss., 167; State v. Blach, 42 La. Ann., 861; People v. Beverly, 66 N. W. Róp. (Mich.), 379; Curtis v. State, 14 Lea, 501; Battle v. State, 74 Ga., 101; Sullivan v. State, 102 Ala., 135; 15 So. R,ep., 264; State v. die, 8 Wash., 12; Powers v. State, 74 Miss., 777; State v. Poll, 1 Hawks (N. C.), 442; 9 Am. .Dec., 655; Jordan v. State, 81 Ala., 20; Wroev. State, 20 Ohio St., 460; Boyle v. State, 105 Ind., 469.
Argued orally bj J. II. Currie and W. R. Harper, for appellants, and by J. B. Cochran, J. A. P. Campbell, John R. Dinsmore, and W. N. Nash, attorney-general, for the state.

Opinion:
Magruder, Special J.,
delivered the following opinion, favoring a reversal of the judgment appealed from:
At the March term, 1897, of the circuit court of Kemper county, the appellant, Dr. W. H. Lipscomb, was tried, convicted, and sentenced to be hanged for the murder of Charles P. Stewart, from which judgment and sentence he prosecutes this appeal. Stewart died on the night of January 21, 1897. Just before going to bed for the night, he bathed his feet and took a capsule of medicine and laid down upon his bed. In a few minutes thereafter he became ill, and in twenty or thirty minutes died in convulsions, manifesting the symptoms usual in cases of strychnine poisoning. His wife, who was in the room, a Mr. Duran, and also a negro man, who came in, made endeavors at ministration for his relief. Duran went out to send to Scooba, a village about three miles away, for a physician. Stewart called upon the old negro to pray for him. In the interval between the third and last convulsions, and just before he died, he said to his wife: "lam going to die. I have been dead. The good Lord has sent me back to tell you that Dr. Lipscomb has killed me, has poisoned me with a capsule he gave me to-night; that Guy Jack had insured his life, and had hired Dr. Lipscomb to kill him." Only Mrs. Stewart and the negro were present. The statement was voluntarily made by the deceased, and without suggestion of any kind. He was a young man, who appeared to be strong and vigorous. On the day of his death he went to the village of Scooba on some business, and returned to his home about dark, fed his horse, and ate heartily at supper, apparently in good health and cheerful spirits. But it seems that he was being treated by Dr. Lipscomb for some disorder, and while in Scooba on that day Dr. Lipscomb prescribed for him. The prescription called for three capsules, to be compounded of quinine, antikamia, and strychnine, each capsule to contain one sixtieth of a grain of strychnine. After the prescription was written by Dr. Lipscomb at his office, which was at the drug store of Dr. Mohler, who was a professional partner of Lipscomb, it was taken in person by Lipscomb to the dl'ug store of Dr. Morney, about a square away, for the alleged reason that Dr. Mohler had no antikamia, Lipscomb telling Stewart he would get it for him. When the capsules had been prepared, manufactured tablets of strychnine of one-fiftieth of a grain each being used, they were placed in a box marked with directions, "Take one at night," handed by the druggist to Dr. Lipscomb, who took the box and went out upon the street, found Stewart, and gave him the box, and instructed him to bathe his feet and to take one at bedtime. Stewart's father was present when the box was handed to his son by Lipscomb, and, in a little while after parting from Dr. Lipscomb, Stewart, who had kept the box in his hand, opened it, and making some comment as to the size of the capsule, showed it to his father, who testified that there was but one capsule in the box. An analysis of the stomach of Stewart revealed the presence of one and one-half grains of pure strychnine, which had not been absorbed.
The foregoing is a brief statement of such of the facts as are deemed necessary to our understanding of the questions of law presented by this appeal. On the trial of the case, the wife of the deceased testified to the declaration above mentioned, made by her husband before his death. This testimony was admitted as the dying declaration of the deceased, over the objection of the defendant, Which ruling is assigned for error.
An autopsy was held by several physicians, including the appellant. The result of the autopsy was reduced to writing. It described the appearance and condition of the body and the various organs. It was written out by one of the physicians, and read over, section by section, in the presence of all, and, as he testified, it was his understanding and recollection that all, including Dr. Lipscomb, assented to it, and he thereupon signed his own and the names of the other physicians. This paper was admitted in evidence, and read to the jury, over defendant's objection. When the jury retired to consider their verdict, the defendant requested that the paper be delivered to the jury, which the court refused. Exceptions were also talqen to the action of the court in granting or refusing certain instructions. These rulings of the court, among others, are now, on this appeal, assigned for error. We will first consider the instructions.
The second instruction given for the state is an effort to define a " reasonable doubt. " It is as follows: " The court charges the jury that by a reasonable doubt is meant, not a mere speculative doubt or vague conjecture, mere supposition or hypothesis, but such a doubt as reasonably arises out of the testimony in this case — a doubt for which a reason can be given, in view Of the testimony or want of satisfactory testimony." This instruction is not erroneous, for it does not embody an incorrect definition. It is no definition at all. It is mere tautology, stated with awkward circumlocution. The terms of the expression, "reasonable doubt," import the most exact idea of its meaning, and are incapable of simplification, and there is no equivalent in phrase more easily understood. All such endeavor is futile and foredoomed, the usual result being a maze of casuistry, tending to confuse rather than to enlighten, often evolving incorrect propositions, as shown in the recent cases of Powers v. State, 74 Miss., 779; Hammon v. State, 74 Miss., 214; Williams v. State, 73 Miss., 822; Burt v. State, 72 Miss., 408; and Brown v. State, 72 Miss., 95. In all of these cases, besides the specific errors of the particular instruction considered, the practice of attempting such definition at all is criticized and deprecated, if not condemned.
The seventh instruction for the state contains a hypothetical statement of facts, of which the jury are told, "if they believe, " constitute guilt, omitting the word, ' ' beyond a reasonable doubt," and is consequently erroneous; but the error seems to be avoided by the subsequent instruction, which is nearly identical, and by others.
The ninth instruction for the state is in these words: " Circumstantial evidence has been received, in every age of common law as competent evidence, and it may rise so high in the scale of belief as to generate full conviction. When, after due caution, this result is reached, the law authorizes the jury to act on it. " " Full conviction ' ' is not the criterion of the degree of proof necessary to a conviction. It is a loose phrase. It has no distinct legal import, and is without accuracy to the common understanding. It is vague, indefinite, and inexact. It may be the equivalent of sincere or conscientious belief. It may mean that full conviction when the facts proven satisfy the judgment as to the truth of the charge. There is but one rule and one law in this state as to the measure and sufficiency of proof which will warrant conviction. It is that the evidence must engender a certainty of belief beyond a reasonable doubt. This rule has prevailed without abatement, not only in the ages of common law, but it embodies an everlasting human right, coeval with all society. It is not enough that " the jury should be satisfied from the evidence, as fair, reasonable or conscientious men, of the guilt of the accused" (Powers v. State, supra), or ' ' that they conscientiously believe him guilty." Burt v. State, and Brown v. State, supra; Hammond v. State, 74 Miss., 214.
In Williams v. State, 73 Miss., 822, the jury were instructed that ' ' if, after a careful consideration of all the evidence in the case, you can say and feel that you have an abiding conviction of the guilt of the defendant, and are fully satisfied of the truth of the charge, then you are satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt, and your verdict should be guilty;" as to -which the court in that case says: "The second instruction for the state is erroneous in attempting to define ' reasonable doubt. ' . ' . The concluding part of the charge expressly defines reasonable doubt by telling the jury that ' abiding conviction of the guilt of the defendant, or full satisfaction of his guilt, is the equivalent of belief beyond a reasonable doubt. ' This is another of the many vain attempts to compute "that which is not number, and measure that which is not space." It was held one of the errors for which that case was reversed. The hypotheses of that instruction, it will be observed, are, however, stated con-junctively. The statement is, "If you have an ' abiding conviction ' of the guilt. .' . . /c and ' are fully satisfied of the truth of the charge." "Full conviction" cannot certainly mean more than £ £ fully satisfied, ' ' but if, conj unctively, £ £ an abiding conviction of guilt ' ' and £ £ full satisfaction of the truth of the charge" be erroneous, as not equivalent to a belief beyond a reasonable doubt, it must follow that £ £ full conviction ' is in less degree such equivalent. It is error.
The fifteenth instruction asked by the defendant, and refused, is as follows: "The court instructs the jury that the dying declarations of the deceased, made to his wife, are not entitled to the same credit and force as if the deceased was still alive and testifying in the presence of the jury, under oath; that it is a species of hearsay evidence, and is intrinsically weaker than if the declarant was present and subject to cross-examination; and the jury alone is the judge of its weight and force." We all concur that if it be the true purport of the instruction that it is intended to point out, by way of precaution, the inherent qualities, which, by law, pertain to all dying declarations, and be held to refer to the source, rather than the matter, of the testimony, it would, in that view, not be upon the weight of evi dence, within the meaning of the statute. In cases of perjury, seduction, and the like, requiring corroborative evidence as to certain testimony, and in cases involving the testimony of accomplices and evidence of admissions made by a party against his interest, and the like, it is entirely proper to point out to the jury the circumstances affecting the source or character of the evidence, which, according to settled rules, operate to its disparagement, being careful to leave to the jury the untrammeled right to consider the testimony, and give it what weight they may deem it worthy. Abstractly, it is true, as a matter of law, that a dying declaration is a species of hearsay testimony, and, of itself, is not entitled to the same force as if the witness was living and testifying, and subject to a cross-examination. Lambeth v. State, 23 Miss., 322. The question presented by this instruction involves a consideration of the law applicable to the admission of dying declarations, and the reasons upon which they are founded, and which determine the character of such testimony from a legal standpoint. Dying-declarations constitute the only exception to the constitutional right of the accused to be confronted with the witnesses against him, and be afforded the right to cross-examine them. In all trials and on all issues the cross-examination is the most effective means of eliciting and ascertaining the truth. While the solemnity under which they are usually made is deemed, in some sense, an equivalent for the sanctity of an oath, yet their admissibility rests upon the grounds of necessity and public policy, and upon the presumption that, in the absence of other proof, crimes might go unpunished. The rules which govern the admission of such testimony are familiar and rudimental: (1) They must be made under the realization and solemn sense of impending death, when the motive for falsehood may be presumed to be lost in the despair of life; (2) they must be the utterance of a sane mind; (3) they are restricted to the act of killing, and the circumstances immediately attending it and forming a part of the res gestae; (4) no declaration, or any part of it, is admissible, unless competent and relevant, if made by a living witness; (5) that great caution should be observed in the admission of such testimony, and the rules which restrict it be carefully guarded.
The authorities abound with discussion of the reasons and considerations upon which these rules are founded, looking to the conservation of truth and that justice might prevail. The circumstance that the declaration is hearsay, and is without the essential element of cross-examination, stands, facile princeps, the most important of these reasons, and incidentally and necessarily involves other considerations. 1 Greenl. Ev., sec. 162; 1 Phil. Ev., 300; People v. Sanchez, 24 Cal., 17. " The admission of dying declarations as evidence, being in derogation of the general rule which subjects the testimony of witnesses to the two important tests of truth, an oath and a cross-examination, it is obvious that such evidence should be admitted only upon the grounds of necessity and public policy, and should be restricted to the act of killing and res gestee. ' ' Leiber v. Com., 9 Bush, 11; 2 Starkie, Ev., p. 366; Bell v. State, 72 Miss., 513.
There are other considerations which have been dwelt upon by law writers and judges. Statements made under the shadow of approaching death may come with the infirmity of inattention, when the mind is diverted to the thoughts of the future; the vigor of the mind may be impaired; facts may be but partially stated; inferences and opinions may be stated as facts; the passions of anger and revenge may linger, after all hope of life is fled, and affect the truth of the statement. It must come as the memory of those who heard it, subject to all the uncertainties of a-correct understanding of the speech as made, and of a correct reproduction by the memory of what was truly said. Mr. Roscoe says: ' ' Such considerations show the necessity of caution in receiving impressions from accounts given by persons in a dying state, especially when it is considered that they cannot be subjected to the power of cross-examination, a power quite as necessary for securing the truth as the 'religious obligation of an oath can be." Rose. Cr. Ev., p. 35. The foregoing principles are repeated, iterum iterumque, in varying phrase, in numerous authorities and cases, and are the well-settled law of this state. Bell v. State, supra; Lambeth v. State, 23 Miss., 350; Nelms v. State, 13 Smed. &M., 501; Brown v. State, 32 Miss., 433; Merrillv. State, 58 Miss., 66; Montgomery v. State, 80 Ind., 338; Moore v. State, 12 Ala., 764; Binns v. State, 46 Ind., 311. In State v. Vansant, 80 Mo., 78, it is said: " Besides, such declarations are afflicted with the common infirmity which attaches to all oral statements or verbal admissions reduced to writing or repeated by another, and are liable to be colored or deflected by the medium through which they are transmitted to the jury." And in Lambeth's case, supra, Mr. Justice Yerger said that a dying declaration was not entitled to the same weight and force as if delivered by a living witness.
In Brown v. State, 32 Miss., 442, it is said, after commenting upon the nature of dying declarations, that "it is, therefore, the dictates of reason and common sense that declarations of this character, in all cases, and under any circumstances, should be admitted with caution and weighed by the jury with the greatest deliberation." 1 Greenl. on Ev., sec. 162. We all concur that it is clear that as to dying declarations it would not be objectionable if the jury be charged that while they are the sole judges of the weight and effect to be given to a dying declaration, and that it is to be determined like any other evidence, in the light of all the evidence of the case, and to caution them, in determining its effect, that they should weigh it with great deliberation and care, and take into consideration the circumstances of its being hearsay; that it is the statement of one not subject to cross-examination, or such other relevant circumstances in that regard as may exist in any given case; and that it is the duty of the court to lay before the jury, by precautionary instructions, when asked, the inherent elements of weakness which the law recognizes in certain classes of evidence, but in such form as not to invade the province of the jury. The majority of the court hold that this instruction is not upon the weight of evidence; that its true purport is cautionary, and refers rather to the source than to the effect of the testimony. For myself, I do not concur in this view. It embodies argumentative statements of the law abstractly correct, but so stated as to bear upon the weight of evidence, and, in my opinion, was properly refused. In Lewis v. Christie, 99 Ind., 377, an instruction which followed the text of the most authoritative writer in the language on evidence (Greenleaf) was condemned, and it was said that argumentative statements of the law, though correct; may not always be an accurate rule of guidance to a jury. 1 Thomp. on Trials, sec. 640. We find no error in the rulings of the court as to the other instructions.
We come next to consider the ruling of the court upon the admission of the dying declaration, in respect to which several propositions are contended for by the appellant, which may be formulated as follows: (1) The proof did not show that at the time of making the declaration Stewart realized that his days were numbered, and the solemn hour of his death was at hand; (2) that the statement itself, in its peculiar character, bore evidence of mental incapacity, of unbalanced reason, and that it was a mere hallucination of a disordered mind; (3) that the declaration was not the statement of a fact, as of his knowledge, but an opinion, a mere belief, a conclusion deduced and inferred from other collateral facts.
All of the above propositions involve questions of fact, to be ascertained and passed upon by the trial judge upon a preliminary investigation, and in that sense are commonly designated questions of law. 1 Rosc. Cr. Ev. (8th ed.), 61; 1 Greenl. Ev., 219; Whart. Cr. Ev., 689; 1 Phil. Ev., 3, 7, 573; Simmons v. State, 61 Miss., 243; State v. Burns, 33 Mo., 483; Kilgore v. State, 74 Ala., 1; Owens v. State, 59 Miss., 547; Ellis v. State, 65 Miss., 48; Bell v. State, 72 Miss., 510.
It is therefore pertinent to inquire what degree of proof in law is required as to the facts which constitute what is ordinarily termed the foundation for the admission of such testimony — whether they should be established to the satisfaction of the court, or to that higher degree of certainty which excludes all reasonable doubt — and to what degree of certainty must it appear to be competent as the statement of a fact; and, second, what rules should prevail in determining whether it is an opinion or a statement of a fact — whether the literal form of a statement is to control, or whether its true character is to be gathered from the statement, considered in connection with the surrounding circumstances.
Taking up the first proposition, we find that the authorities in this state establish the rule that in a preliminary investigation by the court, for the ascertainment of facts precedent and necessary to the competency of proposed evidence, the degree of proof should be such as to exclude all reasonable doubt as to the facts of such foundation; and this is certainly true when the competency of any testimony rests upon collateral facts, independent of the main fact proposed to be proved; and in this case the rule applies to the preliminary questions (1) whether Stewart realized he was in extremis; (2) whether he was at the time sane and rational. Bell v. State, 72 Miss., 510; Owens v. State, 59 Miss., 549; Simmons v. State, 61 Miss., 257; Holly v. State, 55 Miss., 430; Ellis v. State, 65 Miss., 48.
But the competency of a statement, whether one of fact or opinion, is a question of judicial interpretation as to its meaning, as indicated by its terms, viewed in the light of surrounding circumstances. The interpretation must rest upon the ascertainment as to what was the true purport of the declaration. It is the conclusion to be reached as to this fact which must control. If it bo a reasonable construction that a statement is one of fact, it ought to be admitted.
Tested by the foregoing principles, we are of opinion that the judgment of the court below was right in holding that the foundation was sufficiently laid (1) as to the fact that Stewart was in extremis when the statement was made, and that he realized that he was beyond the hope of recovery, and (2) that at the time he was not insane or delirious, but spoke with discernment, reason and intelligence. We think the evidence established both of these propositions beyond reasonable doubt. He was in the throes of death when the statement was made, and died shortly thereafter. He called upon a bystander to pray for him, and declared that he was going to die. As to his mental condition, there is nothing in the evidence to justify a doubt that he was rational, except the suddenness, violence and brevity of the attack — a condition not inconsistent with a sound mind. It is argued that the statement itself, in form and substance, res ipsa loguitw, is the utterance of a mind diseased — an illusion of a disordered imagination. We do not so view it. The words of the speech may be unusual, yet they are words of discernment and reason.
This brings us to the question as to the admissibility of the declaration itself as evidence. If, according to the rule announced, it is a reasonable and probable theory that the declaration, according to its just import, taken in connection with the surrounding and relevant circumstances, was a statement of a fact within the knowledge and observation of Stewart, then it is competent, and its credibility and value as evidence was properly submitted to the jury; but if such an interpretation be unreasonable, or involves an improbable theory as to any assumed fact, it was incompetent, and the ruling of the court erroneous. At the threshold of the question we are met with the contention that so much of the statement as refers to Huy Jack having insurance upon Stewart's life, and. that he hired Lipscomb to kill him, are facts which are not of the res gestee, as immediately connected with the killing, and that part — "that he had been dead, and the Lord had sent him back to tell " — is irrelevant, and consequently that the court erred in admitting the whole declaration which embraced these statements. That they were not a part of the res gestee, and are irrelevant, goes without saying, and, as such, were inadmissible. But, inasmuch as no specific objection was made to these particular parts of the declaration, but was to the whole statement, it is contended, on the other hand, that such objection,, according to familiar rules, will not avail if any part of the declaration was competent or relevant. Inasmuch as the decisions in this state are not apparently uniform as to the practice in applying the 'rule, it is deemed proper that a statement of the law as to this very familiar rule, as we all understand it, be made.
It is well settled, by numerous adj udications, that a general objection raises no issue, except it is as to whether the evidence would, under any circumstances or for any purpose, be admitted, and that a specific objection raises no other issue than the particular one tendered. If, under any circumstances of the case, testimony be admissible, a general objection would be properly overruled; and, conversely, it would be error to sustain a general objection if, under any view of the case, the evidence might be admissible. This rule applies with particular force in cases where the objection may have a twofold aspect, and may be put upon different grounds. It might go to the competency of the witness, to the mode of proof, to the insufficiency of the foundation, or to the relevancy or competency of the matter of the testimony. Testimony may be material and relevant, and still incompetent by reason of the method of proof or lack of some precedent predicate required by law to be first established, and vice versa. In Heard v. State, 59 Miss., 546, it is said: "When an objection is made to evidence which in its nature is such as may be obviated, it must be specific, so as to allow the party offering it an opportunity to supply its place if the objection is sustained, and, where this is not done, it will not be noticed m the appellate court." Morris v. Henderson, 37 Miss., 492; Brown v. State, 72 Miss., 95. The reason of the rule is said to be twofold: (1) To enable the trial judge to understand the precise question upon which he has to rule, that he should not be required to search for objections which counsel do not discover, or conceal; (2) to afford the opposite party an opportunity to obviate it if well taken. Decell v. Lewenthal, 57 Miss., 331; Heard v. State, 59 Miss., 545; 1 Thomp. Trials, sec. 693; Wesling v. Noonan, 31 Miss., 599; Morris v. Henderson, 37 Miss., 492; Brown v. State, 72 Miss., 95; Mills Co. v. Smith, 69 Miss., 299; Reynolds v. State, 68 Ala., 502; Archibald v. State, 122 Ind., 122 (23 N. E., 758); Dozier v. Jerman, 30 Mo., 216; Brown v. Weightman (Mich.), 29 N. W., 98; Moore v. Bank, 13 Pet., 302; Stone v. Oil Co., 41 Ill., 85; Gilbert v. Thompson, 14 Minn., 544 (Gil., 414); Rush v. French, 1 Ariz., 99 (25 Pac., 816).
A large number of cases to the same effect are collected in 1 Thomp. Trials, sec. 693. The rule also involves the particular proposition that a general objection is properly overruled to testimony a part of which is admissible and part not. But this particular rule has not been uniformly followed in this state. In Merrill v. State, 58 Miss., 66, and in Field v. State, 57 Miss., 474, statements were admitted in evidence parts of which were admissible and part were not. In both cases the ruling of the court was held to be erroneous, notwithstanding the objection was general. It is true the point was not made in either case invoking the rule that the objection was general. It has been well observed that a court might take cognizance of fatal error in proper cases to avoid injustice, notwithstanding, by inadvertence or accident, the objections were not made specific or properly framed. In view of the fact that the rule has not been strictly enforced in this state in all cases, by reason whereof some doubt may have prevailed as to the practice, it might be questioned whether it ought to be enforced in this case, especially as the record shows that the objection was argued by both sides, and presumably, of course, upon specific grounds. We do decide that Field's case and Merrill's case are not to be held as precedents for a different rule than that announced above.
Again, as preliminary to the question of the admissibility of the statement, it is important to first ascertain, as a rule of interpretation, whether the form of the statement — the literal sense of the words used — is to govern, for, if this controls the interpretation, there is no room for construction, for leaving out the figurative reference to the Lord, as is proper to do, the words of the statement, in their ordinary significance, literally interpreted, fairly import knowledge, and not opinion. We appreciate the force of the argument so ably made by counsel, for the state, which is supported by some precedents, that the face of the statement alone must be looked to for its purport in that respect. The proposition is not founded in sound reason, and is contrary to the great weight of authority. The ends of justice are to be attained only by ascertaining, as far as practicable, the very truth. The truth as to the purport of any speech — its true meaning — is to be gathered, not from the literal form of the phrase and irrespective of the nature of the'act narrated. The situation of the speaker; what of mental impulse, motive, inducement or emotion was evinced, and all the surrounding circumstances; the words used, their literal signification, as well as that in which, in common parlance, they are often employed; and the character and nature of the fact stated, are all to be considered in determining the truth as to the meaning of any utterance. They aro ' ' the light unto the path ' ' which leads to a true solution of every such problem.
It is of common experience that matters of information, and of belief or opinion, are generally expressed in a form importing personal knowledge. Fixed convictions, regardless of' the mental processes involved, take the form of dogmatic assertion, and suspicion is couched in terms of direct accusation. Even the cautious and learned do not discriminate, and give emphasis to their settled conclusions by declaring, "I know. ' ' In this case, an expert physician, who had heard all the evidence pertaining to the symptoms of Stewart's malady, and the evidence of the presence of strychnine disclosed by analysis, when asked if he could state from these facts the cause of death, replied " that the evidence makes me believe — I know; I believe I can say I know — that he died from strychnine poisoning. " "1 know that my Redeemer liveth ' ' is the exclamation of an exalted faith, disclaiming all equivocation, and yet the thought traverses the realms of the unknown and the unknowable. Credo ut intelligam. The question is not one of the probability of the truth of the fact stated, or of the opportunities for knowledge, but what is the statement itself with reference to the fact? Is it an opinion or not? And the true rule, we have already announced, is that it should be given that construction in this regard which, under the circumstances, appears most reasonable. State v. Williams, 67 N. C., 12; Walker v. State, 39 Ark., 221; Jones v. State, 52 Ark., 345 (12 S. W., 704); Bell v. State, 72 Miss., 514; Nelms v. State, 13 Smed. & M., 500.
Cases could be multiplied all to like effect, that a statement is not to be held as one of fact because of the literal sense of its words, but is to be interpreted in the light of all the attendant circumstances. Applying these rules of interpretation to the dying declaration in this case, the majority of the court hold that a part of the declaration, to wit: that "Dr. Lipscomb has killed me, has poisoned me with a capsule he gave me to-night, " is separable from the other parts of the statement, and is competent as a statement of fact. The other parts — the reference to " the Lord sending him back to tell," etc., " that Guy Jack had his life insured, and hired Lipscomb to kill him " — are, of course, inadmissible. Judges Whitfield and Thompson hold that no error can be predicated on the admission of the incompetent matter under a general objection. I dissent from the view that any part of the declaration was admissible. It seems to me that when the declaration, " Dr. Lipscomb has killed me; he has poisoned me with a capsule he gave me to-night, " is considered, not according to its literal terms, but in the light of all the circumstances and in connection with all parts of the statement and the nature of the act alleged and the mental processes necessa rily involved, the conclusion is inevitable that the statement was not one of knowledge, but the expression of an opinion, a mere inference, a deduction, a conclusion. The very nature of the thing stated implies a process of reasoning by induction. Facts which the law recognizes as of knowledge must, be perceived through the senses. Cause and efficient agencies may be perceived and known as well as effect, but an agency or cause which is known only by subsequent effect, is not known in truth, but deduced, and the particular agency can only be inferred. Stewart knew he took a capsule. He did not know it was poison. He afterwards knew and felt certain sensations. They were subsequent effects. That they were the effects of poison he could not know, but only infer. He could not know any more, nor as much, as an expert physician, had one been present observing his condition, and what, in such case, would be observed by the physician and felt by Stewart, would be but symptoms to both, indications evidentiary in character, but which, from the nature of things, could only be the basis as facts from which other facts could be concluded. The facts known to Stewart pointed with unerring certainty to the truth. — that he was poisoned; yet, the truth still remains only an inference of fact. If he knew the capsule was poison, he knew it when he took it— an incredible theory. If he became convinced of it afterward, as well he may have done, then it was a deduction, logical and conclusive it may have been, but still a deduction, inferred from his symptoms, the taking of the capsule and the insurance upon his life. His assertion that Jack held insurance upon his life, and hired Lipscomb to kill him, though illegal evidence, throws a flood of light upon his meaning. It lays bear the processes of his mind. The capsule, the insurance and his dying condition, revealed to him to a moral certainty the motive and agencies of the foul murder, but the revelation came only through a process of reasoning by inference, and, at last, only as an opinion.
It is urged in argument that it is a " fact ' ' that Stewart was poisoned, and as the evidence tends to show it was administered by Lipscomb, that it is also a "fact" that Lipscomb poisoned him, and that the declaration, therefore, states them as ' ' facts. ' '
The argument is in a circle. Of course a ' ' fact ' ' may be stated, but not in the sense that the statement makes the ' ' fact, " for the fact exists independent of the statement, but in the sense that it asserts knowledge that a thing was done or an act come to pass. The question is. not whether the matters of the statement are matters of fact, of things or acts done, but whether the statement made in reference thereto is an opinion concerning the facts or an assertion of personal knowledge of the facts. A "statement of a fact," as distinguished from hearsay or opinion evidence, means the testimony by a witness of his recollection of things observed and perceived by him. It is that knowledge which is derived through impressions made upon the senses by external objects and through subjective sensations. Without reference to the metaphysical theories of the processes of sensation, experience, acquired perception, intuitions, reflection, ideation, and the like, it is enough for the practical purposes of the law that the knowledge of which a .witness may testify is the ordinary perception and understanding of things seen or heard, or otherwise perceived through the senses, or subjectively.experienced through sensation, and whatever other facts these import are inferences.
The argument based upon the illustration that when one is seen to fire a pistol toward another, and that other feels the shock and pain of the wound, and in such case knows that he is shot, though not seeing the flight of the missile, is without analogy, and its fallacy is apparent. For in that case the very agency or cause of the hurt is seen. The act of the shooting and design is seen before and simultaneously with the effect, and the instrument used, according to universal experience and common knowledge, is a deadly weapon, and when fired produces a wound instantaneously and simultaneously with the shot, and a wound of a character as unique and universally known as are the outlines of a horse, by which we distinguish him from other animals.
Whenever poison is taken, and it be not known at the time, it cannot be known in a legal sense at all. It may be demonstrated as a certainty, and even that cannot be done absolutely, if the symptoms felt by the victim or seen by others be relied on. This is self-evident. It may be demonstrated beyond a reasonable doubt, but then only by inductive reasoning. If, besides the symptoms, an analysis is made, then the demonstration may become absolutely certain, but no one will say that the disclosure afforded by an analysis imparts knowledge of the cause of the death, as distinguished from conclusion.
It is argued that the nearness in point of time between the taking and the effect of poison, enables one to know that he is poisoned. The fact is, he knows nothing but the effect, and the cause, whether near or distant, stands in mental contemplation apart from it, and cannot be perceived by the senses, but must be reached by the reason. And this argument would concede that, if longer time intervened, it might not be ' ' knowledge, ' ' which demonstrates that it is only opinion in both cases, the difference being in the degree of certainty. Cause and effect are concepts of the relation of things. Both may be perceived and known, but where only one is known, the other can only be inferred. It is true that one may speak of his sensations and describe them as of his knowledge, and it would be competent if the statement meant only that he felt as if he was poisoned, for that would be but a description, however uncertain, vague and conjectural it might be. In my opinion no part of the statement is admissible. It is true the fact is stated by implication that he took a capsule which Lipscomb gave him, and if that stood by itself, it would be admissible. But it is not stated directly. It is stated by implication, sub modo, in the general charge that Lipscomb poisoned him with a capsule he gave him. The principal proposition of the statement is that Lipscomb poisoned him, and this is inadmissible. It is a charge which sentiment and imagination invest with potential effect. In its chief significance and the quality of its most effective import it is mere conjecture, and legally false. It cannot be made to do duty as evidence of the incidental fact implied that Lipscomb gave him the capsule.
Nor can I concur with the majority of the court that the statement can be separated in its parts, and to hold a part admissible and a part not. Even conceding, as held by the majority of the court, that so much of the statement, to wit: ' That he poisoned me with a capsule he gave me, ' ' is admissible, taken by itself, yet, it seems to me that the declaration is so related in its parts that the true meaning of any part cannot be had, except when considered in its connection. It should stand or fall as a connected whole.
The statement cannot be even constructed grammatically into different sentences. It embodies a continuity of thought and expression relating to a single fact, the cause of his death. The parts proposed to be rejected stand in the relation of emphatic qualification of the meaning of that proposed to be admitted, even to the extent of casting upon the whole suspicion and doubt. Is not the defendant entitled to the benefit of the absurdity involved in the introduction: "I have been dead, but the good Lord has sent me back to tell, ' ' etc. ? It goes to the discredit of the whole statement. So the concluding part: "Guy Jack had my life insured, and hired Lipscomb to kill me," is a component part of the statement. It is manifestly the expressed reason and ground for the statement that Lipscomb had poisoned him. It is rejected as inadmissible because it is a palpable conjecture, but that very construction supports the theory that the whole statement is mere opinion, and in that respect tends to qualify it. To vary the weight and significance of the statement by arbitrary and artificial adjustment is to juggle with its sense. It is a grave injustice, to be remedied only by admitting the whole statement — a greater injustice.
An examination of all the cases cited by counsel, in support of their view of the dying declaration, and of many others, has been made, but none of them seem to me to support the proposition contended for. It is true that in Payne's case, 61 Miss., which is followed in Powell's case 74 Miss., the statement "shot me without cause," and the case of Boyle, 105 Ind., where the statement was "he cut me without reason," go to a further limit in holding such statements to be of fact than any other adjudications where the precise question is decided. For the decision in Payne's case no reason is given. It was simply asserted that the statement was a fact and not an opinion — a petitio principii. But one authority is cited, and that is the case of Wroe v. State, 20 Ohio, which will be found upon examination to be doubtful authority for the principle announced. In the case of Boyle v. State, 105 Ind., 469, which follows Payne's case, the dissenting opinion by one of the judges is an overwhelming demonstration of its error. Payne's case rests upon Wroe's case, and that upon Handy v. Commonwealth, 5 Crim. L. Mag. (Ky.), 47, and that, in turn, upon Rex v. Scaife, 1 M. & R., 551. Referring to these cases, we find that, in the case of Rex v. Scaife, "I don't think he would have struck me if I had not provoked him, ' ' was admitted, after hesitation, by Coleridge, J., but upon the express ground that it was in favor of and not against the prisoner. And in Handy v. Commonwealth (Ky.), referring to Coleridge's decision, supra, it is said: "That the general rule that declarations of deceased are admissible only when they relate to facts, and not to opinions, is subject to the exception that declarations of mere opinion of deceased are admissible when favorable to the accused, and explained the conduct of the deceased, ' ' and yet this case is cited in Wroe's case, as authority for the proposition that the statement was one of fact. But that case of Handy v. Commonwealth is without any analogy to the cases of Wroe, Boyle, or Payne. The authority of that tribunal, however, in an exactly analogous case, condemns the cases mentioned. In Coll ins v. Commonwealth, 12 Bush (Ky.), 271, the declaration was, "Michael Collins killed me, and killed me for nothing; " as to which Chief Justice Lindsay says: ' The statement that Collins killed the deceased for nothing was but the expression of an opinion, and was clearly inadmissible."
In the cases of People v. Farmer, 77 Cal., 41; Richards v. State, 87 Wis.; Robert v. State, 5 Tex. App., 141; People v. Green, 1 Denio; Weight v. State, 30 Tex. Co. App.; State v. Terrell, 12 Richards, 330; State v. Belton, 24 S. C., 188, the question as to whether the declaration was one of "fact" or "opinion" was not raised. In the case of Walker v. State, 39 Ark., 22, the statement was, "Nick Walker shot me," and though the evidence shows it was through an auger hole at night, it was admitted upon the theory that it was in the form of a statement of fact, and if, by any possibility, it could be known to the declarant, it was admissible; but this case was overruled practically in Jones v. State, 52 Ark., where a person was shot through a crack, and it was held impossible that he could know. In Brotherton v. People, 75 N. Y., 159, the deceased stated he did not recognize the prisoner until he commenced his pranks. The prisoner was disguised as a tramp, was the son-in-law of and well known to the deceased, and the testimony was clearly admissible as indicating knowledge from his personal observation. In the case of State v. Arnold, 13 Iredell, the declaration was that "A. B. has shot me, and none other." It is contended that, from the situation of the parties at the time, deceased did not have an opportunity of knowing the fact so as to enable him to express more than an opinion on the point, which was held to go to the credibility of the statement. In State v. Giles, 8 Wash., 12, the declaration was, "They butchered me." The indictment was for manslaughter for an unnecessary surgical operation. The court held that it no more expressed an opinion than the word ' killed ' ' used without qualification. Hackett v. People, 54 Barbour, 370, merely distinguishes between what is and what is not res gestae. In Com monwealth v. Matthews, 87 Ky., 287, the statement was that the accused and the deceased were engaged in playing, and that the shooting was an accident, and held admissible for the defendant. In State v. Clemons, 51 Iowa, 274, the declaration was, "Ed Clemons shot me; ain't I right? " The court says: ' ' The closing part is put in the way of an interrogatory, and may have been for the purpose of assuring himself, not that he was correct as a matter of opinion, but that his observation of the fact was correct." In Sullivan v. State, 102 Ala., 142, "Jim Sullivan cut me; he cut me for nothing. I never did anything to him." And to the objection made that the statement was one of opinion, the decision in the case made but a single reference to it, contained in two lines. It says, ' ' True, this statement was very general, but it is admissible as a collective fact," citing Brickell's Digest, 437. Certainly in this case the expression, "he cut me for nothing; I never did anything to him," might well be held not an opinion, but a denial that the deceased made any overt act, in view of the circumstances shown for the state that, at the time he was stabbed, he was standing with both hands to his sides in a natural position, and made no movement whatever. But how the expression ' ' collective fact, ' ' whatever that may mean, tends to illustrate the difference between a fact and an opinion, is incomprehensible to me. In Jordan v. State, 81 Ala., 20, the statement was, "Jule shot me, and Handy cut me, and all for nothing, ' ' and the only objection urged to it in the appellate court was that no sufficient predicate had been laid, and this was the only question relating to the dying declaration decided by the court.
It will thus be seen that but few of the cases cited for the state are distinctly upon the question whether the dying declaration was a statement of fact or an opinion, or throw any light upon the precise question in this case. In but two of the cases where the question was a debatable one is any reason given for the conclusion that the statement was one of fact. In one (Sullivan v. State, 102 Ala., 142) it is put on the ground that the statement was of a "collective fact, ' ' and the other is Boyle v. State, 105 Ind. Says the court in that case: ££ £He cut me without reason ' is an inference of facts from observed facts, ' ' an exact definition of an opinion, and is its own refutation. Like the struck eagle, it may
View its own feather on the fatal dart
That winged the shaft that quivered in its heart.
Several of the cases above referred to have been challenged and condemned.
Rice on Evidence, vol. 3, p. 536, refers to Wroe's case, 20 Ohio St., 460, to Roberts' case, 5 Texas App., 141; Payne v. State, 61 Miss., 161; People v. Abbott, 4 Whart. Rep., 422; Brotherton v. People, 75 N. Y., 159, as being opposed to the weight of authority, as precedents for the admission of opinion evidence, and referring to the dissenting opinion in Boyle v. State, 105 Ind., 469, says: "It is seldom, indeed, that any opinion is so critical in its analysis, so exhaustive in its citation, or so logical in its conclusions. Any discussion of this subject which omits a careful consideration of this case must be regarded as grossly imperfect. The principal opinion was delivered by Mr. Justice Elliott. It is a very ingenious argument in favor of the prevailing view. But while perfectly aware that my function as a text writer will not tolerate the least attempt to make a law, I submit the dissenting opinion of this exceedingly able court contains the statement of the better view both on principle and authority. ' '
Turning- now to the other decision, I think it will appear that the declaration in this case, as admissible evidence, is absolutely condemned by precedent. Of all the adjudications examined, but one has been found directly in point, where the facts are almost identical. In the case of Berry v. State, 63 Ark., the circumstances were that the prisoner had given to the deceased a drink of whisky; that shortly after he was taken ill, and died from the effects of poison. To the physician who was called to at tend him, he stated " that he had drunk the whisky; that the prisoner had given it to him; that he was poisoned; that the prisoner had given him his dose; that it tasted nasty when he drank it. ' ' It will be observed how much stronger is this case than the one at bar in favor of the theory that it was a statement of fact, for he not only experienced the sensations which he thought might be those of poison, but he stated that the whisky "tasted " nasty, a fact which he perceived through one of his senses and that he drank the whisky which the prisoner had given him, yet the court, in that case, held the testimony to be incompetent, because it was but the expression of an opinion, and, in my judgment, rightfully so held.
The same principle is illustrated in many analogous cases. In Whitley v. State, 38 Ga., the statement was, that "it was hard to be killed for telling the truth; that God knew he told the truth, and Ed knew it was the truth," and was excluded as an opinion. In Willaims v. State, 67 N. C., the statement was excluded as an opinion which was to the effect that Williams shot him, but "I did not see him," though it was contended that he might have heard the prisoner, and identified him in that way. A witness cannot be allowed to state that the shooting was intentional. Montgomery v. State, 80 Ind., 328. In McPherson v. State, 22 Ga., 478, the declaration was, "Did not believe that accused intended to hurt him. ' ' This was excluded as an opinion, although in favor of the accused. People v. Washington, 3 W. C. Rep.: " I think this man Washington was the man that shot me, ' ' was excluded as an opinion. In the case of Shaw v. People, 3 Hunt (N. Y.), 272, it is said that " it is more important to exclude an opinion deelaratio in articula mortis." In Chambers v. State, 87 Mo., 408, declarant said he thought he ivas about to draw something from his pocket— a knife or pistol — and that he followed him so that if he did draw a knife or pistol he could catch or knock it out of his hand before he could hurt him, and this was excluded upon the ground that it was an opinion. Moore v. State, 33 Ala., 421, the de- clarant, after detailing the circumstances of the homicide, said that defendant was the only slave on the plantation at enmity with him, was excluded. Of like effect is Jones v. State, 17 Ala.; Binn v. State, 37 Ala., 103; Loshbaugh v. Birdsell, 90 Ind., 466; Yost v. Conroy, 92 Ind., 464; Ferguson v. Hubbell, 97 N. Y., 507; Warren v. State, 9 Tex. Ct. App., 629; Moex v. State, 100 Ill., 240. In the light of these unchallenged precedents, on principle and justice, it is my conclusion that the dying declaration of Stewart was not'a statement of fact, but an expression of an opinion, and inadmissible as evidence.
It is assigned for error that the court refused the request of the defendant to deliver to the jury the paper containing a memorandum of the autopsy. Seeing that it was plainly required by the statute, it is not perceived upon what possible ground the request was refused. But as all the facts in the memorandum were testified to orally, and the memorandum read, the error is not deemed material. If the dying declaration was irrelevant and incompetent evidence, there can be no doubt, in view of its character and probable effect, as to the consequences of such error. It is conceded that such error must be fatal to any verdict, and for which, as well as for the error in the ninth instruction given for the state, I am of opinion that the judgment of the court below must be reversed.
The conclusions of the court are, all concurring:
1. That the court below erred in granting the ninth instruction given for the state.
2. Judges Whitfield and Thompson concurring, Magruder dissenting, that the court erred in refusing fifteenth instruction asked by the defendant.
.3. All concur that a part of the dying declaration is inadmissible. Judges Whitfield and Thomspon concur in holding a part admissible, to wit: " Dr. Lipscomb has killed me; he has poisoned me with a capsule he gave me to-night," and that this may be separated from the other parts of the statement. Judges Whitfield and Thompson hold that no error can be predicated of the admission of the dying declaration on the ground a part of it is incompetent, for the reason that the objection to its admissibility is general, and not specific. Magruder holds that no part of the dying declaration is admissible, and, from the character of the statement, is incapable of separation without injustice to the defendant. Judges Thompson and Magruder concur that the case should be reversed, for the reasons indicated in their respective opinions, and Judge Whitfield, notwithstanding the errors conceded by him as to giving the ninth instruction for the state, and the refusal of the fifteenth instruction for the defendant, hold the case should be affirmed.
I fully concur in the view stated by Judge Thompson as to the law which should govern the reversal of cases for error. It is not within the province of the appellate court, under our constitution and laws, to be the triers of fact and of guilt. Our duty is to lay down, with unswerving purpose, the law as we find and understand it. Questions of public policy belong to another forum. A legal trial is a trial according to the law, and a legal conviction is a conviction by a jury according to recognized procedure and principles of law. If, in any trial, an error of law be made, the case should be reversed, if it be so material or of such character as is calculated to influence, and probably did influence, the verdict. The case is not to be looked at from a judicial standpoint, and the guilt of the accused be so ascertained, or the materiality and consequence of the error be so determined, the question in all cases being, not what the jury ought to do, or might do, according to our judgment, but whether the error is of such character.as that the jury itself might have been influenced by it.