Dean v. State

Harrington, J.,

delivering the opinion of the court:

In a prosecution for homicide at common law while each case necessarily depended upon its' own particular facts, it was generally necessary to allege, with as much certainty as the circumstances of the case would permit, the manner of death and the means or instrument by which it was effected. Russell on Crimes, vol. 1, p. 557; Wharton on Homicide, §§ 563, 565; Ency. of PI. & Pr. vol. 10, p 126; 31 Cyc. 841.

While the strictness of the old rule has been somewhat modified by statute in England, as well as in some of the States in this country…