Men Plead Not Guilty to Burning Home of ‘Mary’ from ‘Little Lamb’

Two men have pleaded not guilty to setting two fires last August, including one that burned the birthplace of the woman made famous in the nursery rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”

John Rousseau and Michael Dreslinski of Clinton were arraigned on two counts each of burning a building and conspiracy to commit arson. They have been accused of allegedly burning a barn in Holden, Mass. as well as the vacant house in Sterling, Mass. where officials say Mary Elizabeth Sawyer, who inspired the “Little Lamb” poem was born.

Rousseau and Dreslinski have been held without bail since late August, when they were arrested on arson charges in a July fire at a vacant warehouse in Erving. They are also charged in a July fire that damaged a railroad bungalow in the town of Florida. They pleaded innocent to those charges last fall.