People v. Hurley

Sharpstein, J.:

The fact that the hides of the cattle alleged to have been stolen were found in the defendant’s barn, is not controverted. And we think that they were found there within a sufficiently recent period, after the loss of the cattle, to answer the requirements of the law in that respect.

But that is not all that is required to warrant the inference that the defendant stole the property. To justify that inference it must further appear that the possession was personal, • and that it involved a distinct and conscious assertion of possession by him. And even then such possession may be…