People v. Eaton

Eaton was convicted of arson. The testimony connecting him with the crime was entirely circumstantial. The property burned consisted of a barn, situated upon lands belonging to a divorced wife and her daughter, and occupied by her father. The evidence consisted of showing his animosity to his wife and to her father, and of his threats made previous to the fire, and also of his own contradictory statements, made after his arrest, as to his whereabouts on the night of the fire.

The witness, Ida May White, was permitted to testify to threats made by the respondent some two years before the fire…