Swinney v. State

In the court below, the appellant, Swinney, was convicted and fined two hundred dollars, for an assault and battery upon the person of one Gibson.

The evidence adduced on the trial, is briefly as follows:

Gibson, upon whom the assault was made, was a very small boy, and, in the language of the witnesses who testified in the case, was “ whipped unmercifully,” his back and arms being so severely bruised as to endanger his life. The only reason for the assault, as given by Swinney himself, was that Gibson had been in his water-melon patch.

The court charged the jury in substance, that if they…