Klee

The defendant was tried upon an information for embezzlement, was found guilty, and appeals from the judgment and the order denying a new trial.

The property alleged to have been embezzled was a gray mare, the property of one J. C. Hickey, which had been intrusted to defendant on the 18th of October, 1901, “to use and care for as a bailee.” A brief preliminary statement of facts is to the effect that the defendant was engaged in selling paper bags, twine, etc., through the country, carrying his stock in a covered delivery wagon, with one horse, and wished to get a second horse “for its keep”; that he obtained from the prosecuting witness, J. C. Hickey, in the city of Los Angeles, a gray mare, which he drove with his own horse, and at or near Saticoy, in Ventura county, traded her to one Willis for another horse, paying $25 “to boot,” and continued on northerly, intending to go to Oakland, and was detained at Niles, in Alameda county, by a constable, upon information from Los Angeles. Defendant’s contention is that he had an option to purchase the mare at a stated price, and was therefore authorized to dispose of her. The prosecuting witness, J. C. Hickey, testified that he was…