People v. Bates

Headnote

Assault and battery, with intent to commit a rape, may be proved without the testimony of the person injured.

Where there is reason to believe that the person injured is kept out of the way by the prisoner or his friends; and the assault and battery, ha., are proved by persons who heard the cries of the woman and witnessed the transaction from a distance, the jury may infer the intent from the circumstances as proved.

The prisoner was indicted for an assault and battery, with an intent to commit a rape on Anne Cubes, who was not present at the trial. She and her husband were transient persons and foreigners, and there were strong reasons to believe they had been hired to go off by the friends of the prisoner. Brown, the principal witness, who resided in Canada, had been offered a sum of money if he would "not appear against the accused. Brown testified that in passing along the road, in a retired place near evening, he heard -the cries of a woman for help. Passing over a small hillock in the road, he discovered the prisoner who had hold of Mrs. Cubes, and was apparently attempting to drag her into a small piece of woods adjoining the road. She was screaming and appeared much frightened. "When the witness came up, she requested him, though a stranger, to go with her to her residence. The prisoner ordered the witness to be off; who thereupon called for assistance to others who came in sight, and the prisoner on discovering them, fled into the woods.

contended that he could not he convicted for this offence without the testimony of Mrs. Cubes, upon whom the rape was charged to have been attempted.