Bragdon

The defendant was convicted of the crime of burning two insured barns on the Bragdon ranch in Trinity County with the intent to defraud the insurer. This appeal is from the judgment of conviction and the order denying a new trial.

The barns are referred to as the “upper barn” and the “lower barn,” each of which was insured against loss by fire in the sum of $1,000. The prosecution did not contend that the defendant personally set fire to the barns, but that he hired Lloyd Clayton Smith to do so. Smith was residing on the ranch with his family at the time of the fire, but the defendant was outside the county. The barns were burned between 3 and 4 o’clock in the morning of February 27, 1929.

Smith testified that he was hired by the defendant to burn the barns in the latter part of January, 1929, or the early part of February. He further testified: “I was working in the mine there. . . . Bragdon, he comes out with a mining man by the name of Kaufman, I believe, and Charlie Heath. They was looking the mine over, and I went around with him a little while. Finally I went back to work . . . and pretty soon Bragdon came down to where I was working. We talked around a little bit about…