Opinion by
This action and thirteen others between the same parties were tried together and involved the right of the' plaintiff to maintain the liens filed for work done and material furnished in the equipment of certain dwelling houses with heaters. The defendants attempted to show that the liens were invalid because more than six months had elapsed from the time the last work was done and the last material furnished. To establish this fact, a witness was called by whom it was proposed to show that he was familiar with the progress of the work on the buildings as an agent of the Land Title & Trust Company ; that his duty was to see that the work was being done in accordance with the plans and specifications, and to certify to certain amounts of money to the various contractors each week; that he inspected the work on the buildings once every week; that he made an examination of the houses with reference to the time when the last material was furnished and the work was done, and made memoranda of the fact, as a part of his record of inspection, which record showed that the work was completed at a certain time. The original memoranda made on his records by the witness has been lost and could not be produced at the trial, but while they were in his possession, he had made on other papers, from the originals, a record of the same dates as to the time of the completion of the wouk. The witness was unable to give these dates from memory, whereupon it was proposed to prove the fact,
The great weight of authority is against the conclusion of the court below that the memoranda could not be used by the witness because they had been copied from the original documents made by him. If, as the defendants show, papers in the hands of the witness refreshed his memory and enabled him to testify as to the date when the last work was done under the contract, he should have been permitted to use these memoranda to revive his recollection as to the date involved.
The first and second assignments are therefore sustained.
The third and fourth assignments, relating to the protested notes given to the plaintiff, were not pressed, and as the statement of the question involved makes no reference to them, it is unnecessary to discuss that branch of the case.
The judgment is reversed with a venire facias de novo.