Perry & Van Houten v. Beardslee
Supreme Court of Missouri
APPEAL from St. Louis Circuit Court. 1st. The court erred, in refusing to permit the defendants below to prove, what was the custom, •of trade and-general usage, in cases of hiring slaves to steamboats. 2 Greenleaf on Evidence, § 251, and cases there cited. 2nd.
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APPEAL from St. Louis Circuit Court. 1st. The court erred, in refusing to permit the defendants below to prove, what was the custom, •of trade and-general usage, in cases of hiring slaves to steamboats. 2 Greenleaf on Evidence, § 251, and cases there cited. 2nd. The court erred in refusing to instruct the jury, as prayed by defendants, as to the degree to which the liability of defendants was modified and changed by the nature of the property hired, and the incompatibility of his being at all serviceable as a servant with his being placed in such ■■surveillance as would ensure his not…
1Opinion of the CourtNapton, J.
Beardslee and wife brought an action on the case, against Perry and others, owners and officers of the steamboat “Harry of the West,” to recover damages for the loss of a slave, hired as a fireman on said boat The plaintiffs obtained a verdict and judgment.
*570The evidence on the trial conduced to show, that the slave belonged to. Mrs. Beardslee, then Miss Smith — that he was white, with blue eyes and light sandy hair; that her agent, John Carlyle, hired the boy to Van Houten, captain of the Harry of the West, by the month and for no definite period. The boy made his escape at St.. Louis. A…
2Cited by2 opinions
- Fulkerson v. EadsMissouri Court of Appeals · 1885
- Arnot v. BranconierMissouri Court of Appeals · 1883