Brooks v. State

35 Ohio St. 46 (1878).

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Newton came to the city of Warren in a buggy to attend to some business. He fastened his horse to a hitching post on Market street. On his way home, in the forenoon of the same day, he discovered that he had lost the package of bank bills totaling $200. He searched for it in various places where he had been but failed to find it. He looked where he hitched his horse on Market street, but he states that he did not look there very carefully, as there was a team of horses hitched there at the time. Notice of the loss was published in the two newspapers printed in Warren, and in one printed in Leavittsburgh, which also had a circulation in Warren. Brooks (D) who resided in Warren, while working on Market Street, near the post at which Newton hitched his horse, found the roll or package of bank bills. The package was found 'five or six feet from the hitching post.' He was, at the time, working in company with several other laborers. At the time he found the money, one of these laborers was within ten feet and another within twenty feet of him, but he did not let any of them know that he had found the money. He put it in his pocket as soon as he found it. Just after finding the package, he picked up a one-dollar bill, which he did show to them. It was wet and muddy, and he sold it to one of them for twenty-five cents, saying if none of them bought it, he would keep it himself. An hour later D quit work, and, at his request, was paid off. He spent part of the money, the same day, for a pair of boots, and other purposes, and paid Mrs. Lease $50 to purchase furniture for his wife, and other purposes. Mrs. Lease saw him have the money at his house the afternoon of the same day. At the time of receiving the money, she told him that she did not want to take the money if it was stolen or was counterfeit. He told her he received it from an uncle, and, at another time, on being asked by her about it, said, 'what if I found it?' D and his wife left Warren almost immediately, and that he attempted to secrete himself before he left. The evidence did not show that D saw any of the notices of the loss of the money published in the newspapers, or that he had any notice of the loss by Newton at the time it was found. D requested the following jury instruction: 'To render the finder of lost property guilty of larceny, he must know who the owner is at the time he acquires possession, or have the means of identifying him instanter or have reason to believe that he knows who the owner is.' This instruction was refused. D was found guilty. He appealed.