Though arson is no longer punished by
death, the hint is usually taken. Now and then such flagrant
offenders are met with, that the office can not avoid pursuing them
with the utmost rigor of the law. Such, in 1851, was the case of a
"respectable" solicitor, living in Lime Street, Watling Street, who
had insured his house and furniture for a sum much larger than they
were worth. The means he adopted for the commission of his crime
without discovery were apparently sure; but it was the very pains he
took to accomplish his end which led to his detection. He had
special]y made to order a deep tray of iron, in the centre of which
was placed a socket, the tray he filled with naphtha, and in the
socket he put a candle, the light of which was shaded by a funnel.
The candle was one of the kind which he used for his gig-lamp, for he
kept a gig, and was calculated to last a stated time before it reached
the naphtha. He furtively deposited the whole machine in the cellar,
within eight inches of the wooden floor, in a place constructed to
conceal it.
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