Maher v. Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh Railway Co.

For some years prior to June 10, 1922, defendant owned and maintained a private telephone cable, supported upon a line of poles owned by the Rochester Gas and Electric Company, set in the towpath of the Erie canal. A few days prior to June 10, 1922, defendant contracted with the Wheeler-Green Company of Rochester to remove the cable. Three employees, of whom deceased was one, were sent by that company, and began the work of removal on the morning of June tenth. Early in the afternoon, deceased went up one of the poles to a height of thirty-five feet, strapped his life-belt around it, began to…