Williams SS Co., Inc. v. Wilbur

RUDKIN, Circuit Judge.

This was a libel to recover damages to a cargo of fish meal shipped on board the steamer Willsolo from Baltimore, Md., to Portland, Or. The meal heated in the course of the voyage, and when the hatches were thrown open at San Eranciseo fire broke out in the hold where the cargo was stored, through spontaneous combustion. As a result of the heating and fire the cargo was damaged and partially destroyed.

After a part of the testimony had been taken by deposition, but before the. commencement of the trial in the court below, the ease was consolidated for trial with a…