Smith v. City Ice & Delivery Co.

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Mason, J.:

A little before noon a team of mules attached to an ice wagon of the City Ice and Delivery Company of Wichita were left in the street untied while the driver went into a restaurant for lunch. They ran away, and John Smith received fatal injuries in an attempt to stop them. His widow brought this action against the company, recovering a judgment for $10,000, from which it appeals.

*4861. The law treats the voluntary risking of one’s own life as negligence per se if the purpose is merely to protect property, but not if it is to save human life. Here…