Commonwealth v. Townsend

Opinion by

Keller, P. J.,

The defendants, Charles Townsend and Flossie Townsend, his wife, were convicted of the larceny by trick, of $122 from Ida Lee Butler. From the respective sentences imposed upon them they have appealed to this court.

The particular trick, by which Mrs. Butler’s money was taken from her, is known in underworld lingo as ‘flim-flam’ or ‘drop-pigeon’ 1 — a form of ‘bunco’ or ‘confidence game’. It was described by Mrs. Butler roughly as follows:

While shopping in a store market on June 9, 1941, around 12:30 p.m. she was engaged in conversation by a woman, whom she had never…