Rowan v. Western Kentucky Gas Co.

SWINFORD, District Judge.

Beulah Mae Rowan, a Negro woman thirty-eight years of age, occupied a house in Owensboro, Kentucky, in which there were no gas fixtures and to which there were no gas pipes. The closest gas pipe to her residence was the main of the defendant company in the street to which her house was adjacent. This gas main was about 14 feet from her house and about four feet from the sewer pipe which was between the gas main and the house.

On the occasion set forth in the action she struck a match to light the paper, kindling and fuel in her cook stove. An explosion occurred and she…