Nilan v. People

The defendant was indicted for the murder of John Purcell,. found guilty of murder of the second degree, and sentenced to a term of ten years in the penitentiary. The evidence is not voluminous, and the facts may thus be stated:

*208Mike Nilan, the defendant, a boy fifteen years of age, and John Purcell, the deceased, nineteen years of age, in company with some other boys and some girls of about the same age, were engaged in playing on a vacant block in the city of Denver. Nilan was a small boy for his age; the deceased was larger and stronger. The boys were playing at ball when Nilan climbed upon…