Fagan

The defendant was indicted jointly with his father, whose appeal was recently disposed of here (People *88 v. Fagan, 98 Cal. 230 , 33 Pac. 60 ), and William Ducker. They had separate trials and the cases, as presented in the record, differ widely. By this record it appears that one P. Weyer had about two hundred head of cattle on the Booth ranch, in the county of Stanislaus, twenty-two miles west of Modesto. On the second day of October, 1891, twenty-one head were missing. Nothing was known as to the mode or cause of the disappearance, but on the 8th or 9th of the same month seven animals were found by William Grummett on the Howard ranch. Grummett had charge of Howard’s stock and had some belonging to himself. At the suggestion of Howard, he put the strays in with his own. On the 13th, four more animals appeared, and were taken by Grummett. Howard, on the 16th of the month, having heard of Weyer’s loss, notified Purvis, sheriff of the county, of the presence of the cattle. On the next day, Purvis and McGinnis, a deputy constable who was looking for the cattle, and had offered a reward for their recovery and the apprehension of the thief, supposing them to have been stolen, went…