Defendant was indicted on two counts (1) for possessing and (2) for selling, on July 13,
1930, one-half gallon of whiskey in violation of the National Prohibition Act. He pleaded not
guilty. Upon the trial he relied upon the defense of entrapment. The court refused to sustain the
defense, denying a motion to direct a verdict in favor of defendant and also refusing to submit
the issue of entrapment to the jury. The court ruled that "as a matter of law" there was no
entrapment. Verdict of guilty followed, motions in arrest, and to set aside the verdict as contrary …

On the question of entrapment, the evidence was that one Martin, a federal prohibition
agent, went to the home of the defendant in the country near Clyde, NC, with three other young
men, and was introduced by them to defendant as a furniture dealer of Charlotte. After some
conversation, Martin asked the defendant to get him some liquor, stating that he wished to take
it to his partner in Charlotte. Defendant at first denied that he had any liquor; but after further
conversation, in the course of which Martin several times asked defendant to get liquor for …