80 Pa. 182 | Pa. | 1876
delivered the opinion of the court,
Whether a barn or a house standing near to the track of a railroad was set on fire by sparks thrown from a locomotive is a question of fact, depending on the circumstances, when no direct proof is made, and therefore must be decided by a jury. Hence all the circumstances tending to the proof of the fact must be admitted in evidence: Huyett v. Phila. & Read. Railroad Co., 11 Harris 373; Penna. Railroad Co. v. Stranahan, 29 P. F. Smith 405; Webb v. Rome, Watertown et al. Railroad Co., 49 N. Y. 423. The first and second errors are not supported. The third and fourth need no comment. Nor do we discover any error in the charge of the court and the answers to the points. The case was fairly submitted to the jury on the question of actual negligence and carelessness in the management of the defendants’ engines. If none, the jury were instructed that the plaintiff could not recover. But if the barn was set on fire by actual carelessness, and negligent management of the engines, no question of contributory negligence could arise under the evidence. There was no evidence of any act of the plaintiff contributing to the burning of the barn. The defendants rested their case on the condition of the roof of the barn and the dry weather. The substance of the defendants’ points was, that if the condition of the barn was such as to render it more liable to take fire than if it had had a secure and safe roof, the plaintiff was guilty of contributory negligence in suffering it to be in that con
Judgment affirmed.