Wheeler v. New York Central & Hudson River Railroad

Plaintiff’s buildings were destroyed by fire on J une 19, 1890, in the afternoon, between the hours of 12 and 1 o’clock. Defendant’s local freight train, drawn by engine No.. 82, had passed 15 or 20 minutes before. Plaintiff’s buildings stood on the easterly side of and very near defendant’s track, and the wind was blowing from west to the east. The fire started on the roof of plaintiff’s barn towards the railroad. Some of defendant’s employes, at the time, were in the yard adjacent to the building, but .it does not appear that any one saw sparks emitted from the defendant’s engine while passing plaintiff’s premises.

Plaintiff contends that there was evidence which should have been submitted to the jury, tending to show that the fire occurred on accountgof the negligent emission of sparks from defendant’s said engine. The trial judge thought otherwise, and nonsuited the plaintiff, deeming that there was no sufficient evidence to show that defendant’s engine caused the fire, or that it was not properly constructed to prevent the emission of sparks.

I regard the case as a close- one, and have reached a conclusion with considerable hesitation. °

It is held that in such an'action as this, and under such circumstances, after testimony has been produced tending to exclude the probability that the fire originated from any other source, evidence may be given showing that it was possible for the sparks from the engine to reach the burned building, and facts tending to show that the fire originated from that source and no other. Amer. & Eng. Encl. of Law, 8 Vol., pages 7 and 8, and notes; Crist v.Erie Railway Co., 1 T. & C., 435; 58 N. Y., 638 ; Sheldon v. The Hudson R. R. R. Co., 14 id., 218; Field v. N. Y. C. R. R., 32 id., 339 ; Hinds v. Barton, 25 id., 547.

In this case it is not clear that plaintiff produced the preliminary proof held necessary by above and kindred cases. Although plaintiff’s husband and her hired man were inside the building where the fire originated on the day it occurred, neither were examined with a view of showing that the fire could not have occurred by some act of theirs inside of the barn. It was not shown that they did not use a match within the building before the fire, as to light a pipe or otherwise. It was not shown that children or other persons were not within the bam previous to the fire. In fact no direct evidence was given by plaintiff tending to show the improbability of the fire originating from some cause other than from defendant’s locomotive. But I am inclined to think that direct evidence tending to show that there was no other probable cause of the fire, except sparks from defendant’s engine, was unnecessary, when the facts of the case indicate that the fire probably originated from that cause.

The fire was in the summer time, in the middle of the day, and' when several men were in the yard adjoining the building. It started a few minutes after defendant’s train passed up the road,.

I think, therefore, the evidence tending to show that the fire was started by defendant’s engine, that the plaintiff, within the authorities cited above, was entitled to have that evidence submitted to the jury, if she also produced any sufficient evidence tending to show negligence on the part of the company. See the Lackawanna & Bloomsburg R. R. Co. v. Doak et at., 52 Pa., 379 .

Assuming that defendant caused the fire in question, it remains to be considered whether there was testimony given that said engine No. 82 was not in proper condition at the time of the fire which the trial judge should have submitted to the jury.

Defendant was not responsible for the fire if it used proper care. It had the right to run its locomotives at all times on its track, provided they were in proper condition. Collins v. N. Y. C. & H. R. R. R. Co., 5 Hun, 506 ; 71 N. Y., 609 .

And it was for the plaintiff to show by evidence the defect, if any existed, in defendant’s engine. Cosulich v. Standard Oil Co., 122 N. Y., 123 ; 33 St. Rep., 287 .

The only direct testimony as to the condition of said machine was given by the witness Fisher. He testified it was in 'first class condition two or three days before the fire; that the sparkarrester was then examined, as it was a few days after the fire, and was found in good repair on each occasion.

The fact that large cinders were found on defendant’s track and on plaintiff’s premises, twenty-five paces therefrom, at or about the time of the fire, does not show that the engine was not in good repair, because it is not shown that such cinders came therefrom. In this case plaintiff has identified the engine which caused the fire. No other engine of defendant’s is shown to have passed the burned building at any time near the time of the fire. In cases where it is probable that some engine of a railroad company has started a fire, and several are shown to have passed at or about the time, evidence that engines on that road have frequently dropped sparks or cinders may be competent. Sheldon v. The Hudson R. R. R. Co., 14 N. Y., 218 .

But such evidence is not competent where the engine that caused the fire is identified, unless it is also shown that such machine is of similar construction, state of repair or management, to those which are shown to have emitted such sparks or cinders. Gibbons v. Wis. Valley R. R. Co., 58 Wis., 335 ; 13 Amer. & English Railroad Cases, 469; Boyce v. Cheshire R. R. Co., 42 N. H., 97 .

The court cannot presume defendant negligent for using an old engine to draw its freight trains, or one in which it was difficult to keep up steam, in the absence of competent testimony showing its spark-arrester defective. We should not imagine that be

Defendant's engine was shown to have the best known appliances to prevent the emission of sparks, and as we have shown, the only witness sworn as to its condition testified that it was in .good state of repair before the fire and when examined two or three days afterwards.

We must remember that this case is not like those where the plaintiffs have been able to show prior to a fire that the engine has emitted large sparks or caused frequent fires. .In such cases it has been held in some instances that such emission of sparks and fires was some evidence of a defective engine, the effect of which was to throw upon the company the burden of showing that its locomotives were in good condition. In this case no one saw any sparks emitted from engine No. 82 at the time of the fire, nor was there any proof of its causing any fires or emittting any large ■sparks prior to the fire in question. It was then incumbent on the plaintiff to show an improper condition of its spark-arrester ■or a defect in the engine that might cause the fire;

The only testimony offered by the plaintiff tending to show a defect in the spark-arrester of engine No. 82 that I am able to discover was its emitting sparks on two occasions after the fire in question.

The occasion testified to by Van Valkenburgh, when a car load ■of hay was burned, occurred some time after the fire, I think three or four week s. Nor does it appear that the fire which destroyed the hay was caused by large sparks, and not by such as are emitted from an engine with the best known appliances, in the best condition. The witness Lampman testified to another occasion, not as suggested by plaintiff’s counsel on June 20th, the day after the fire, but about the 20th of June, the 20th or the 22nd, he is not positive which. He says that a large coal of fire was then emitted from the engine and fell into his wagon three rods distant, setting fire to the straw.

Plaintiff’s contention is that this large spark, described by Lampman, could not have been emitted through a spark-arrester in proper condition, and although Fisher testified that the arrester in No. 82 was in good condition, both before and after the fire, yet by this testimony of Lampman’s a question of fact was raised which could only be properly determined by a jury.

I think that the learned trial judge took the correct view of this testimony. As it was for the plaintiff to show defendant’s negligence, if any, and as Lampman was uncertain whether the ■occurrence at Coxsackie was on the 20th or 22d, we should assume it occurred on the 22d, three days after the fire. It would not have been proper for the court to have allowed the jury to guess that the occurrence was on the 20th, when the witness himself did not so testify. I think the fact that three days after the fire one large spark was emitted from defendant’s engine could not be properly submitted to the jury as ■evidence that defendant’s engine was out of order three days before. There was ample time in the three days for some

If the affimative had been with the defendant as to the condition of the engine, and it had produced evidence that the sparkarrester was in good condition, both before and after the fire, it might have been proper for the plaintiff to have shown in rebuttal the emission of the spark after the fire. Such was the case of Loring v. W. & N. R. R. Co., 131 Mass., 469 .

Plaintiff had the burden of showing that on June 19 defendant’s engine was out of repair in such a way as to cause the fire that destroyed her building. She failed to produce any evidence from which the jury would have been authorized to find that ■such locomotive was so out of repair until some days after the fire. The then defective condition of the spark-arrester of said ■engine may have existed prior to the fire which injured plaintiff, or it may, from wear or accident, have developed since the fire. It was for the plaintiff to show the defect prior to the fire. This ■she failed to do.

It would not have been proper for the court below to have allowed the jury to conjecture as to the time the spark-arrester became •out of order. See Searles v. Manhattan R. Co., 101 N. Y., 661 ; Reiss v. N.Y. S. Co., 128 id., 107; 38 St. Rep., 842 .

The court below, I think, did not err in excluding the evidence offered by plaintiff to show that prior to the fire and in the vicinity of the premises where .the fire occurred sparks and cinders were found on the line of defendant’s road and on plaintiff’s premises. As we have seen, plaintiff identified the engine that caused the fire, and hence the evidence in question was properly excluded by the court.

I, therefore, conclude that the judgment should be affirmed, with costs.

Mayham, P. J., and Herrick, J., concur.