Jones

The defendant was convicted of the crime of .arson in the second degree and sentenced to imprisonment in ¡the state’s prison for the term of five years, and appeals from the judgment and an order denying his motion for a new trial.

The information charged that Walter Jones and L. B. Spivey on March 6, 1897, did willfully, unlawfully, et cetera, set fire to and bum a certain dwelling-house, the property of one W. A. -Cosby.

The first witness called for the prosecution was S. S. Crutcher, the deputy constable who arrested the defendant, and who it appears had acted as a detective in working up the case, and it was proposed to prove by him certain statements in the nature -of confessions made by defendant Jones, who was then being tried, the defendants having severed. It was objected that the corpus delicti had not been proved. Ordinarily, the corpus delicti should be the first point to which the evidence should be directed; but the order of proof is usually in the discretion of the court, and, unless it clearly appears that the defendant has been prejudiced by the manner in which that discretion has 'been exercised, it will not justify a reversal of the judgment. We see no such…