Erie Railway Co. v. Decker
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
Error to the Court of Common Pleas of Pike county: Of January Term 1874, No. 832. This was an action on the case, brought September 1872, by Daniel Decker against The Erie Railway Company.
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Error to the Court of Common Pleas of Pike county: Of January Term 1874, No. 832. This was an action on the case, brought September 1872, by Daniel Decker against The Erie Railway Company. The following was the cause of action :— The house of the plaintiff, which stood near the track of the defendants’ railroad at Shohola Station, in the county of Pike, between Port Jervis and Lackawaxen, was destroyed by fire on the 6th of March 1872; the plaintiff alleged that the fire originated from sparks thrown from locomotive engine No. 458, belonging to the defendants, which passed his house about the…
1Opinion of the CourtJustice Gordon
It appears from the evidence, and it was conceded in the argument, that the only locomotive that could have fired the premises in question was that numbered 458, in charge of Alfred Carpenter, as engineer. It follows, therefore, that the condition of this engine and its management were all that were legitimately before the court. If it was properly constructed as to its furnace and smokestack, and was furnished with a spark-arresting grate of the proper character, the company would not be liable, though the building were burned by fire accidentally issuing, from it: Railroad Co. v. Doak, 2 P.…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- Griffith v. EshelmanSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1835
3Cited by7 opinions
- Henderson v. Phila. R., Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Philadelphia County1891
- Knickerbocker Ice Co. v. Pennsylvania RailroadSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1916
- Commonwealth v. GraumanSuperior Court of Pennsylvania · 1912
- Kalbach v. Philadelphia & Reading Ry.Supreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1923
- Mellinger v. Pennsylvania RailroadSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1910
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