People v. Bargala

HART, J.

The defendant was convicted in the superior court of Yolo County upon an information charging him with the crime of grand larceny, and he appeals to this court from the judgment of conviction and the order denying his motion for a new trial.

The only point upon which the defendant relies for a reversal is that the evidence does not support the verdict.

The information states that, on or about the twenty-sixth day of August, 1926, in the county of Yolo, the defendant stole and carried away certain personal property, to wit: One hundred and fifty feet of “telephone toll cable, then and there of the value of $210 . . . and then and there the property of the Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company. ’ ’ A prior conviction of burglary of the second degree, a felony, in the superior court of Amador County is also charged in the information. On his arraignment, the accused admitted the prior conviction charged in the information, and pleaded not guilty to the crime likewise charged against him.

As to the facts there is no dispute. It was shown that, in the month of August, 1926, the Pacific Telephone and Tele

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graph Company, a corporation, was engaged in erecting or installing, as a part of its telegraph and telephone line between the cities of Sacramento and San Francisco, a telegraph and telephone cable at a point known as “Mikon Tower,” situated in Yolo County, a short distance from the city of Sacramento, and along and near the tracks of the Sacramento Northern Railroad Company. The cable is composed of a large number of wires and is inclosed in a leather casing. On the twenty-fifth day of August, 1926, the cable at the point mentioned above had been put in place on the poles, and in the evening of that day was observed by one of the employees of the company, who was then passing that point on a train of the Sacramento Northern Railroad, to be in place. On the following morning (August 26th), about 9 o’clock, it was discovered by the employees of the telephone company engaged in constructing the cable that approximately 150 feet of the cable at the point above indicated had been removed from the poles and taken away. An investigation followed, with the result that the material composing that part of the cable which had been removed was found at the Acme Junk Company’s establishment, at 1916 Twentieth Street, Sacramento. The material consisted of 431 pounds of copper wire and 750 pounds of lead. M. Franzoni, buyer for said junk company, testified that, between the hours of 3 and 4 o’clock of the twenty-sixth day of August, 1926, the defendant and one Lon Yarnell appeared at the junk-shop mentioned in a passenger or touring ear; that, while the defendant remained in the car, Yarnell got out of the car, went to where the witness was then standing and proposed to the latter the sale “of some copper wire and lead.” Yarnell asked Franzoni what prices he was paying for such material, and the latter gave the former the prices he was paying. Yarnell agreed to the prices, and the copper wire and lead were then removed from the touring car in which Yarnell and defendant went to the junk-shop and was weighed. It had been cut into small pieces. Yarnell, defendant, and a man employed at the junk-shop removed the copper wire and lead from the car. After the material was weighed and so found to weigh something over 1100 pounds, Franzoni delivered to Yarnell a “ticket” entitling him to be paid at the office of the junk company the aggregate sum of $92.05. Franzoni testified