Vaughn

Defendant was convicted of the crime of assault with intent to commit murder and sentenced to the penitentiary for a period of fourteen years. The prosecutrix was very seriously injured by a gunshot wound, and there is no doubt it was inflicted without any justification by defendant, but his defense is based upon the claim of insanity.

The first point made by appellant for a reversal is that the demurrer to the information should have been sustained, for the reason that it is not alleged therein that “the Celia Skehan, upon whom the alleged assault was committed, is a human being.” The charging part of said information is as follows: “The said H. W. Vaughn on or about the second day of October, nineteen hundred and nine, at the county of Tuba, in the state of California, then and there being, did willfully, unlawfully and feloniously, and with malice aforethought, assault one Celia Skehan with intent then and there to kill and murder said Celia Skehan. ” It is difficult to treat seriously such an extremely technical objection. The court of appeals of New York, in People v. Gilbert, 199 N. Y. 10 , [ 92 N. E. 85 ], has recently considered a similar contention as follows: “The…