People v. Hannibal

Plaintiff in error was indicted, tried and convicted in the circuit court of Sangamon county for the crime of arson and was sentenced to the penitentiary for an indefinite term. The indictment charged him with feloniously, willfully and maliciously burning a school house. The school house was burned about two o’clock in the morning of September 2, 1912, and was a country district school house. Plaintiff in error was a single man, twenty-eight years of age, and lived on a farm with his father. His residence was less than one-fourth of a mile from the school house.

It is first contended that the…