Uurran sramns v. caacruns. . 31
statnte,——that is to say:, the defendant is accused of having made a false
entry on three several occasions in the "General Balance Book of the As-
sociation/’ whereby theactual amount of cash on hand at the close of
business on said _three days was largely exaggerated. In counts Nos. 2,
4, and 6, the defendant is accused of making false entries in the same
book, andion the same days, as in counts Nos. 1, 3, and 5; but the
manner of making the entries is partieu-lar1y_described, and as described
the false- entries consisted in the erasure of certain figures of numbers
previouslywritten, and the substitutionof different figures in their place.
For example, it is alleged that the first two figures of the number
(136,302) representing the amount of cash on hand on a given day were
erased,. and the nguresv 2 and 9_ substituted, whereby the number be-
came 296,302. It is obvious that the two sets of counts relate to the
same transactions, there being only three false entries involved in the six
counts. Therefo1·e,whi1e the demurrer only professes to question counts
2, 4, and 6, it really challenges the whole indictment; for if the erasure
of figures and the substitution of others in their stead is not in effect
" making an- entry," within the meaning of section 5209, then, as no en·
try has been made, no offense has been committed which is punishable
undereither count of the indictment. I
The contention on behalf of the defendant is that the indictment
merely charges an alteration of an entry previously made which was
correct when made, and that the statute has not made it an offense to
alter an entry, even though the books of the association are thereby fal-
sified. As there are no adjudications applicable to the question at issue
it must be decided by a fair interpretation of the phrase " make any
false entry," and also by a due consideration of the purpose of the statute,
and the mischiefs intended to be guarded against. In section 5209 the
word "entry" is used with reference to books of account, reports,.and
statements. When used in such connection Webster defines the word
as "th.e. act of making or entering a record;" that is to say, the act of
making a record of a fact or transaction. But in section 5209 it is ob-
viously used to denote the result of the act, rather than the act itself.
It signifies that which is written, be it words or figures, and if that
which is- so written misrepresents the fact or transaction which it was in-
tendedto authenticate, then it is a false entry, within the meaning of .
the statute. When a person makes an entry in books of account, the
act may involve, and oftentimes does involve, an alteration of an entry
previouslymade; but the act does not lose its character on that account.
An entry is made, notwithstanding the fact that a previous entry is al—
tered. Adopting the definition before stated of the words "entry" and
" false entry," it appears to me that a person makes afalse entry, within
the meaning of the statute,. who erases one or more figures from a num-
ber already written in a book of account, and writes other figures in lieu
thereof, so that the fact intended to be recorded isfalsified. I can see
no substantial difference between erasing certain figures of a number, and
writing different ones in their place, and making an entry every part of
which is in the writer’s handwriting. The act in question, as I conceive;