12 S.W. 491


CRANCH
v.
STATE.


Court of Appeals of Texas.


June 29, 1889.1

Appeal from district court, Freestone county; RUFUS HARDY, Judge.

Thomas Cranch was convicted of the larceny of a bull belonging to one H. B. 
Stubbs, and appeals.

The state proved the ownership of the bull to be in Stubbs, as alleged, and 
that, without the knowledge of the owner, it disappeared from its accustomed 
range. It also proved an accurate description of the animal. The theory of the 
state was that the animal was one of a herd of several animals that were driven
from the range on a certain night; and that defendant and one Hankins were the 
men who drove the said herd. The proof which nearest inculpated the defendant 
was that a day or two after the alleged theft he was seen in possession of a 
bull which corresponded with the description of the alleged stolen animal; 
which said animal he claimed to own. Witnesses for the defense testified to 
facts which established the defendant's presence at a remote place on the night 
of the theft, and identified the animal claimed by defendant as another than 
the alleged stolen animal.

Bell, Bell & Bell and Kerven & Sims, for appellant. Asst. Atty. Gen. Davidson 
and Gardner & Gardner, for the State.

HURT, J.

This conviction was for the theft of a certain red bull, the property of H. B. 
Stubbs, and is a companion case to that of Hankins v. State, ante, 490, (just 
decided.) In this, as in the Hankins Case, the evidence is not sufficient to 
support the conviction, because of its inherent weakness and inconclusiveness. 
Reversed and remanded.

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Notes:

1. Publication delayed by failure to receive copy.

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