Phillips v. State

Appellant was convicted of murder in the first degree, and the death penalty imposed. Motion for new trial was filed and overruled, and to reverse the judgment of the court this appeal is prosecuted.

The evidence showed that the appellant had made a fire in a box car on a siding or branch line of the Rock Island Railroad Company in Brinkley, Arkansas. He put tin on the floor and built his fire, and then lay down on the floor to sleep. After the appellant was asleep, it was reported to the station agent that a tramp had started a fire in one of the box cars, and Mr. Pollock, the deceased, was…