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People v. McPherson

176 A.D. 885 Court N.Y. App. Div. English

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p. 885
The People of the State of New York, Respondent, v. John McPherson, Appellant.

Judgement of conviction of the County Court of Kings county reversed and new trial ordered. The defendant was indicted for carrying and possessing a bludgeon. The instrument offered in evidence is not what is commonly known as a bludgeon. The Legislature intended to punish for carrying or possessing certain defined and commonly known instruments used before and at the time of the passage of the statute,[1] by persons criminally disposed. Carr, Stapleton and Putnam, JJ., concurred; Mills and Rich, JJ., voted to affirm on the ground that it was competent for the jury to find that the instrument, as being carried by the defendant, was a bludgeon within the meaning of the statute.

* See Penal Law, § 1897, as amd. by Laws of 1911, chap. 195; Laws of 1918, chap. 608, and Laws of 1915, chap. 390. — [Rep.