Kain v. State

Mr. and Mrs. Osheski operate a combination gas station and tavern on Highway 48 in Shawano county. On the morning of March 14, 1969, $600 was stolen from a cigar box on the tavern premises. Mrs. Osheski testified the defendant entered the tavern and, after purchasing a can of oil and several glasses of beer, asked for an eight-pack of Chief Oshkosh beer. Cases and eight-packs of beer were kept in the tavern basement. Mrs. Osheski left the bar area, went through the kitchen and downstairs to get the defendant his eight-pack. Defendant paid Mrs. Osheski with a ten-dollar bill. Mrs. Osheski got the change out of a cigar box kept in a drawer beneath the cash register. In the cigar box was approximately $600 in cash which Mrs. Osheski had counted shortly before defendant entered the tavern. As the defendant sat at the bar, a man delivered gas to the Osheski filling station and was paid in cash from the cigar box. Shortly after the gas man left, the defendant asked to exchange the eight-pack for a case of beer. As Mrs. Osheski was returning up the stairs, she heard a "thump." She hurried up the stairs, exited through a side door, and placed the beer in front of the tavern. She observed the defendant leaving the tavern "in a hurried way." Defendant stated he had left the money on the bar, picked up the case of beer and drove off. Mrs. Osheski returned to the bar, took the money from the bar, placed it in the cash register and continued cleaning the tavern. Shortly thereafter, when she attempted to pay a bill for towel service, she discovered the money in the cigar box was missing. Mrs. Osheski testified that except for the gas man and towel service man, the defendant was the only person in the bar from the time she opened until she discovered the money missing. Later the same day defendant bought a car from a friend for which he paid cash.