People v. Mann

Garoutte, J. The defendant was convicted of the offense of “ an attempt to commit grand larceny.” It is now insisted that the evidence is insufficient to support the verdict of the jury, and this brings us to a consideration of the sole question involved in the case, and that is as to the amount and character of evidence necessary to constitute the offense of attempt to commit [77]grand larceny. It is practically admitted that, if the defendant had finally been successful in securing the money of the prosecuting witness Manino, the offense would have been grand larceny. But his hopes and plans in that direction were never consummated, hence a larcen3r was not committed. And it is now insisted by defendant that his schemes, artifices, and acts looking toward his possession of Manino’s money had not progressed to that point of constituting the offense of attempt to commit grand larceny, when the prospective victim became alarmed, and defendant’s labors went for naught.

The facts'are interesting, though the tale has often been told in courts of justice. Manino had four thousand dollars in bank and was desirous of investing in the saloon business. The defendant, a stranger, casually met him, and suggested that he also would like to go into the saloon business, and proposed a partnership. A friendly acquaintance arose between them; Manino was compelled to leave the city for a few days; upon his return defendant immediately called upon him, and suggested the purchase of another place upon better terms than the one they had previously had in view. They went to a distant portion of the city and viewed the proposed purchase, and upon their return, when opposite 125 O’Farrell street, the following occurred, as shown by the testimony of the witness Manino:

“He stopped and said: ‘I have some tickets in a lottery, and I will go in and see if I have won anything.’ We went in. There was a man behind a counter. The defendant produced some lottery tickets, and the man behind the counter, after looking at a printed list of numbers, said: ‘ You have won one hundred and ten dollars,’ and handed the money to defendant. Defendant said: ‘ Give me ten dollars worth of tickets,’ and then asked me to try my luck. I pulled out some cards or tickets from a pack handed me, and the man behind the counter said: 1 You are very lucky. You have won four thousand dollars—two thousand dollars for you, [78]