Polansky v. Heller

The defendant owns a four-story brick building on Salem Street in Boston. The first floor is occupied as a store; *485the second is rented to one Silver, a tailor, for his business and residence; and the floors above are let by the defendant for dwelling purposes. Access to the upper portion of the building is through an entrance hallway, from which a flight of fifteen steps leads to the second floor. From the hall at the head of this stairway, a rear flight of steps leads down to the back door and yard. This second floor hallway is about three feet wide; and the rear stairway cuts into it, so…