1. Assault with intent to rape: identifiction of defendant: evidence. — I. There is no question that an assault with intent to commit a rape was made upon Adelia M. Bale, on a sidewalk in one of the streets of the city of Des Moines. The crime was committed late in the night. Mrs. Bale .... and another woman were returning to their homes from the house of a neighbor, where they had been practicing music for a wedding. The assailant of Mrs. Bale seized her, and threw her upon the sidewalk, pulled up her clothing, held his hand over her mouth, lay down upon her, and attempted to part her legs, and only desisted when surprised by some one coming towards the place where the parties were. We have stated enough of the particulars of the assault. The
2. Appeal: complaint of remarks of court: record. The first complaint made in behalf of defendant is that the court improperly and erroneously, and while one of his counsel was cross-examining the . . ., n . comPlaimng witness, addressed counsel m these words: “Mr. McHenry, treat the witness respectfully.” The record does not show that the language used by counsel to the witness was improper. He could not cross-examine the witness without making reference to the disgusting details of the crime, and so far as the mere words used by counsel were concerned, there was no disrespect shown to the witness. But counsel claim that the command came from the bench in such a peremptory, arbitrary and commanding tone as to prejudice his client in the minds of the jury. We cannot accept this statement and act upon it. The manner of counsel toward the witness may have been disrespectful, even though the mere words were not; and the court may have been justified in using the language it did as a reproof, or, for aught that appears, the language used by the court may have been uttered by the court in such a tone of voice as to have been unobjectionable.
II. Complaint is made of the court’s rulings upon the admission of evidence. We do not discover any ground for these objections. The rulings throughout the trial appear to us to be conspicuous for their fairness to the defendant; and we may say the same of the ruling of the court on the alleged improper conduct of
3. Assault with intent to rape : corroboration complainant. III. The defendant’s counsel requested the court to charge the jury as follows: “Before you can find the defendant guilty in this case there must be other evidence of some person or persons than the person. injured, tending to connect the defendant with the commission of the crime.” The instruction was refused, and we think this ruling was correct. It is provided by section 4560 of the-Code that the defendant in a prosecution for a rape cannot be convicted upon the testimony of the person injured, unless she be corroborated by other evidence tending to-connect the defendant with the commission of the-offense. The defendant was neither indicted nor tried for a rape, and the statute has no application to any crime except those enumerated in the act. The rule is-that a person charged with an offense may be convicted by the mouth of one witness, and, because there are-certain exceptions made by the statute is no reason for extending it to crimes not named in the exception. It-is useless to contend that the same reason which requires corroboration in a charge f or rape applies to-an assault with intent to commit that crime. The argument may be sound, and yet the statute does not prescribe the measure of proof requisite to convict for an assault with intent to commit a rape; and this court did not, in State v. Stowell, 60 Iowa, 585, so hold, even by implication.
4. Alibi: evidence: instructions. IV. Complaint is made of the court’s instructions-to the jury upon the question of an alibi. Substantially the same instructions were given in the case ^ of State v. Maher, 74 Iowa, 77, and they were approved by this court. Other instructions were complained of. We find no just ground of objection to them. In conclusion, we have to say that we think no prejudicial error occurred in the trial of the case, and the judgment of the district court is
Affirmed.