Rose

On March 18, 1935, the rumble seat of an automobile driven by a cigaret salesman was pried open and a suitcase and hat belonging to the salesman were liftéd from the inside. The suitcase contained cartons of eigarets and some miscellaneous articles. By information charging petit theft and prior conviction of a felony, which latter charge defendant admitted, defendant was brought to trial for stealing the eigarets, valued at $20, contained in the suitcase. No one saw defendant open the rumble seat and take the articles described. The testimony showed, however, that the salesman parked his car approximately at 3 P. M. and encountered the defendant a few minutes later, whom he knew casually, in company with one Sherman, and that shortly after 3 P. M. defendant and Sherman entered the backyard of a dwelling within a few blocks of where the. automobile was parked, one of them carrying a suitcase. An eye-witness testified that he saw defendant and Sherman in the backyard, saw them open the suitcase and take cartons of eigarets out of it, and that both men then left leaving the suitease and its remaining contents behind. The eye-witness followed them to the front steps of an apartment…