17 Mo. 461 | Mo. | 1853
delivered the opinion of the court.
Ready filed a complaint, under the statute, against the Highland Mary, charging that he had taken passage on the boat at Rocheport to go to Kansas, and that he had taken with him on board the boat a horse, to be transported on the same voyage, and be delivered at Kansas, the dangers of the river and fire excepted ; that he was to pay for his own passage five dollars, and for the transportation of his horse the same sum; that on the voyage, by reason of the negligence of the officers and crew •of the boat in placing the horse in an insecure place on the boat, and by negligent and careless management of the boat, the horse was lost overboard and never delivered at Kansas. An answer was filed for the boat, in which it was denied that .the 'horse was taken on hoard the boat under any contract between the plaintiff and the boat or her officers, and it was alleged that the horse was at the risk of the plaintiff and subject to his order ; that he was put in as secure a place as any other on the boat, and that his position was known to the plaintiff, who was a passenger on board ; that the horse was lost entirely by-the dangers of the navigation, and not by the negligence or want of skill or care of the officers or crew of the boat. At the trial, it appeared that the horse was fastened on the afterguard of the boat, and that in passing a dangerous part of the river, after night, the boat encountered a snag which tore away the
The case being submitted to the court to try the facts without a jury, the facts were specially found in these words : “ That the plaintiff, in the fall of 1849, at Rocheport, took passage on the defendant, on her way up the Missouri riyer, and placed on board the horse mentioned in the petition, which horse was to be delivered by defendant at ^Kansas, and as the boat was ascending the river, the horse was knocked off the boat at the mouth of the Little Blue, some distance below Kansas, by a snag coming in contact with the boat, and was lost; that the place where the horse was lost, was a difficult point for boats to pass, in consequence of the snags in the river at that place, and was known to be such by the officers of the boat; that the boat passed through that place in the night, and struck a snag which tore off the guard behind the wheel house, where the horse was placed, and the horse was knocked off and lost; that he was worth one hundred and twenty-five dollars.” The decision of the court is then added in these words : “ The decision of the court is, that the defendant is guilty of negligence in passing through the snags in the night, and is liable to the plaintiff for the worth of the horse lost, and directs judgment to be entered for the sum of one hundred and twenty-five dollars.” The judgment was accordingly entered.
In the' amended petition, it was alleged that the horse was to be carried for hire; and in the answer thereto, it is denied that he was taken on board the boat under any contract; but the court does not find upon this question either way, although the obligation of a carrier without reward, is very different from that of a carrier for hire.
The judgment will be reversed, and the cause remanded for further proceedings,