State v. Thomas

(charging the jury). The indictment in this case charges that Ernest Thomas, the accused, on the 22d day of July of this year, in Blackbird hundred, in this county, violently and feloniously did make an assault upon one, Emma Talley, and her, the said Emma Talley, did violently, forcibly, and against her will, feloniously ravish and carnally know.

The offense charged is that which is commonly known as rape. Rape in this state has been held to be the carnal knowledge of a woman by force and against her will. Force, either actual or presumptive, is, in legal contemplation, an indispensable…