Smith v. United States
Supreme Court of the United States
ERROR TO THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF ARKANSAS. Tins was an indictment in the Circuit Court of the United States for the Western District of Arkansas for the murder, at the Cherokee Nation in the Indian Country, on September 27, 1894, of John Welch, a negro and not an Indian, by shooting him with a pistol.
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ERROR TO THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF ARKANSAS. Tins was an indictment in the Circuit Court of the United States for the Western District of Arkansas for the murder, at the Cherokee Nation in the Indian Country, on September 27, 1894, of John Welch, a negro and not an Indian, by shooting him with a pistol. At the trial, the government introduced evidence tending to show that Welch and the defendant, about noon, at a fair ground in Muscogee, at a spot close by their respective tents, and near a merry-go-round, a dance hall, gambling places, refreshment…
1Opinion of the CourtJustice Gray
The main question in controversy at the trial was whether the killing of Welch by the defendant was in self-defence. Upon that question any evidence, which, according to the common experience of mankind, tended to show that the defendant had reasonable cause to apprehend great bodily harm from the conduct of the deceased towards him just before the killing, was admissible; and upon principle, and by the weight of authority, evidence that .the deceased was a larger and more powerful man than the defendant, as well as evidence that the deceased had the general reputation of being a quarrelsome…
2Cases cited8 opinions
- Starr v. United StatesSupreme Court of the United States · 1894
- Hicks v. United StatesSupreme Court of the United States · 1893
- Wiggins v. PeopleSupreme Court of the United States · 1876
- Allison v. United StatesSupreme Court of the United States · 1895
- Ryan v. . the PeopleNew York Court of Appeals · 1880
3 more not listed; retrieve them via the Exa API.
3Cited by22 opinions
- Arthur Wayne Carson, Cross-Appellee v. Officer Polley, Cross-AppellantsCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · 1982
- People v. MorettiIllinois Supreme Court · 1955
- Andersen v. United StatesSupreme Court of the United States · 1898
- United States v. James Allen GreggCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit · 2006
- Mattie M. Evans v. United StatesCourt of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit · 1960
17 more not listed; retrieve them via the Exa API.