Arson
the malicious and willful burning of a dwelling-house or out-house belonging to another person by directly setting fire to it, or even by igniting some edifice of one's own in its immediate vicinity. If a person, by maliciously setting fire to an inhabited house, cause the death of one or more of the inmates, the deed is murder, and capital punishment may be inflicted. When no one is fatally injured the crime is not capital, but is still heavily punishable; it is a penal offense also to attempt to set a house on fire, even if the endeavor do not succeed.