Edwards

Defendant was convicted of the crime of obtaining personal property of the value of $675 from one J. D. Ryan by means of false and fraudulent representations and pretenses. His appeal is from a judgment of imprisonment and an order denying his motion for a new trial. But one point is urged as ground for reversal. At the trial the prosecution was permitted, over the objection of defendant, to read in evidence, from a reporter’s transcript, the testimony of R. L. Hamilton given at the preliminary examination of defendant. Hamilton, as a witness before the committing magistrate, had given material testimony corroborative of the charge made by the complainant Ryan. The district attorney represented to the court at the trial that he was unable to procure the attendance of Hamilton as a witness, for the reason that the latter could not be found. To establish the necessary foundation entitling him to read in evidence the testimony of Hamilton taken at the preliminary examination, the prosecutor called three witnesses. Mrs. Hamilton, wife of the desired witness, testified that on the Wednesday preceding the day of the trial (that being Tuesday) her husband had left for Mexico; that he…