Thompson

delivered the opinion of the Court.

This appeal is prosecuted from a judgment of the District Court, the appellant having been found guilty of “murder.”

1. The first error assigned is, that the indictment is “insufficient in law for want of accuracy,” etc.

The criminal code of this State has abolished the subtle distinctions and nice technicalities usually observed in an *indictment at common law. The [240] Legislature, regarding the form of indictments as used in the older States as of little consequence, so far as the substantial rights of the State or the prisoner are involved, and the strict construction given in such cases too often resulting in the escape of the criminal on some immaterial ground or clerical error, have prescribed a simple *241 form of indictment, for the purpose of obviating these difficulties and preserving the ends of justice.

The facts necessary to be set forth are provided in the-statute, and whenever it is substantially followed, so as to-put the prisoner upon fair notice of the offense charged, and the time, place and circumstances necessary to constitute the crime, it will be sufficient. While we are unwilling to reverse a case upon a mere…