Hovermale

James Hovermale and Roy Smith were charged jointly with the crime of robbery by an indictment returned by the grand jury of Los Angeles County. The prosecution proceeded with the trial against Hovermale in the absence of Smith, who at that time had not been apprehended. Prom the judgment of the court upon a verdict of guilty, and the order denying his motion for a new trial, defendant Hovermale prosecutes this appeal.

Prom the record it appears that on the evening of November 7, 1923, between the hours of 7:40 and 8:00, a Pasadena Short Line ear • of the Pacific Electric Railway Company was boarded by three men at Valley Junction, a stopping point in a sparsely settled section of Los Angeles City. Immediately upon the car getting under way one of the trio passed rapidly through the car to the front platform, the other two remaining on the rear platform. A few minutes after the car had started, and while the conductor was occupied in collecting fares, a report was heard similar to that of an exploding track torpedo. The conductor immediately turned to go to the rear platform but was confronted by one of the two men, who had boarded the car at the last stop, with a revolver and a…