People v. Delbos

SHAW, J.

The defendant appeals from a judgment of conviction of grand larceny and from an order denying her motion for a new trial.

It is claimed that the verdict is contrary to the law and the evidence. We think the evidence was sufficient to sustain the verdict. The charge was, that the defendant had on the twelfth day of December, 1902, stolen from one Maria Marquet the sum of four hundred dollars in money. The particular claim is made that the evidence does not show a larceny of the money, but an obtaining of the money by false pretenses. There was legal evidence tending to show that the defendant and the prosecuting witness Maria Marquet were cousins by marriage and somewhat intimate; that Maria Marquet wanted to buy a lodging-house, and defendant undertook to buy one for her; that the defendant learned that one Stalford had a lodging-house for sale which could be bought for ninety dollars; that she made the bargain with Stalford for the sale thereof to Maria Marquet at that price, and then represented to Mrs. Marquet that she had purchased the lodging-house for her, the prosecuting witness, for the sum of five hundred dollars; that Mrs. Marquet then said to defendant that she would pay four hundred dollars down and the balance in a few days, and requested the defendant to get the four hundred dollars from a Mrs. Janzi, who had that much money belonging to Mrs. Marquet," at the same time sending instructions to Mrs. Janzi to deliver the money to the defendant, which Mrs. Janzi accordingly did, and defendant thereupon delivered to Mrs. Marquet a bill of sale, which had been previously signed by Stalford, purporting to sell the property to Mrs. Marquet, and that Mrs. Marquet afterwards paid the balance of the purchase money to the defendant. The evidence indicated that Mrs. Delbos had from the beginning of the transaction intended to obtain the money from Mrs. Marquet, ostensibly to use in paying for the property sold by Stalford to Mrs. Marquet, but really to convert all of the same to her own use except the ninety dollars actually paid

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to Stalford. The distinction between larceny and false pretenses sometimes depends on a close analysis of facts and legal principles. It is stated in Harris on Criminal Law (3d ed., p. 194): “The most intelligible distinction between false pretenses and larceny has been thus set forth: ‘In larceny, the owner of the thing has no inteiition to part with his property therein