James Clark McReynolds

“ The sole question propounded upon this direct writ of error is whether the District Court rightly held that it had jurisdiction to entertain the libel by which defendant in error sought to recover damages for the death of her husband. ”

“ Acting under this employment, he began to make repairs upon a scow moored in the navigable waters of Buffalo river. He stood upon a scaffold resting upon a float alongside. One of the company's tugs came near, negligently agitated the water, swamped the float, and precipitated him into the stream where he drowned.
While performing maritime service to a completed vessel afloat, he came to his death upon navigable waters as the result of a tort there committed. The rules of the maritime law, supplemented by the local death statute, applied and fixed the rights and liabilities of the parties. ”