Abbott v. State

Abbott has appealed from a conviction for misdemeanor.

The indictment charges common-law lewdness, in that Abbott placed certain articles, suggestive of sexual intercourse, upon a Christmas tree, addressed to a young woman, “publicly, scandalously, wickedly and corruptly,to the manifest corruption of the p.ublic morals, and to the evil example of all others in like cases offending.”

The argument of plaintiff in error that this indictment charges no indictable offense overlooks the early decisions of this court on the subject. After discussing pertinent sections of Blackstone, the court, in…