State v. Elwell

This is a criminal action. The defendant by the indictment was charged with the crime of arson by burning a building belonging to another, but occupied by himself as tenant. A trial resulted in a verdict of guilty and judgment of conviction. Defendant appeals, and assigns as error the refusal of the court to grant his request, seasonably made, to direct the jury to acquit him.

The state proved that the building burned; that the defendant had a small stock of merchandise therein and also some furniture, and that he, with his family, occupied the building as a dwelling place; that defendant and…