Hathcote v. State
Supreme Court of Arkansas
APPEAL from Grant Circuit Court. A. M. Duffie, Judge. Pie Hathcote was convicted of carrying a pistol as a weapon. A witness, W. H. Crutchfield, testified that defendant, while engaged in carrying the mail, stopped at a postoffice on his route, and that, while sitting down waiting for the mail to be changed, a pistol dropped out of his pocket.
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APPEAL from Grant Circuit Court. A. M. Duffie, Judge. Pie Hathcote was convicted of carrying a pistol as a weapon. A witness, W. H. Crutchfield, testified that defendant, while engaged in carrying the mail, stopped at a postoffice on his route, and that, while sitting down waiting for the mail to be changed, a pistol dropped out of his pocket. Defendant testified: “At the time mentioned I was engaged regularly in carrying the United States mail for Mr. G. M. Floyd, the contractor, from the town of Malvern, in Hot Spring county, to Sheridan, in Grant county, a distance of about thirty miles.…
1Opinion of the CourtHemingway, J.
1. Right of mail carrier to carry weapons. Engagement in the service of the federal government implies no license to violate State laws; and a crime against the State is not excused by the fact that the criminal was, at the time, though not in the act, of its commission, engaged in such service. No such doctrine is found in Neagle’s case, for it only holds that what the federal government enjoins as a duty the State cannot punish as a crime. In re Neagle, 135 U. S., 1. It by no means follows that if a federal officer, while engaged in his employment, does some independent act in violation of…
2Cases cited5 opinions
- In Re NeagleSupreme Court of the United States · 1890
- Burst v. StateIndiana Supreme Court · 1883
- State v. BarnettWest Virginia Supreme Court · 1890
- Wilson v. StateSupreme Court of Alabama · 1880
- Smith v. StateTennessee Supreme Court · 1872
3Cited by10 opinions
- State v. HorneSupreme Court of Missouri · 1981
- Riggins v. StateCourt of Appeals of Arkansas · 1986
- Ellington v. DenningSupreme Court of Arkansas · 1911
- State v. SmithIndiana Supreme Court · 1901
- Beebe v. JuddSupreme Court of Arkansas · 1918
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