William Strong

“ The fact that a building stands near a railroad, or wholly or partly on it, if placed there with the consent of the company, does not diminish their responsibility in case it is injured by fire communicated by their locomotives. The legislature have chosen to make it a condition of the right to run carriages impelled by the agency of fire, that the corporation employing them shall be responsible for all injuries which the fire may cause.' These cases are directly in point as to the reach of the statute. ”

“ The second assignment of error is, that the court excluded testimony offered by the defendant to show that the usual practice of railroad companies in that section of the country was not to employ a watchman for bridges like the one destroyed. It is impossible for us to see any reason why such evidence should have been admitted. The issue to be determined was, whether the defendant had been guilty of negligence; that is, whether it had failed to exercise that caution and diligence which the circumstances demanded, and which prudent men ordinarily exercise. ”

“ And, if it be conceded that the statute is applicable only to injuries of buildings and other property which the railroad company may insure, we do not perceive why it may not obtain insurance of buildings and property on its location with its consent. But, if the statute is applicable to the case, it is plain that the Circuit Court could not direct a verdict for the defendant for the reason that the damages were too remote. ”

“ If evidence that two unknown engines crossed the bridge, a little before the fire, raised a probability, however slight, that the damage resulted from the negligent acts of the defendant, and was therefore competent, there can be no doubt that the further evidence that several unknown engines had scattered fire near the same time and place would tend to strengthen the probability so raised. ”

“ There being a unity of management in a railway company, evidence that some of its engines are permitted to scatter fire impeaches that management, and raises a probability more or less strong as to the cause of the particular loss. ”

“ The defendants in error gave evidence that their mill, lumbershed, and store were thus erected in part upon the company's land in 1854, and had been occupied by them from that date to the time of the fire; that these buildings were so erected near the railway-track for the purpose of delivering and receiving freight; that, soon after the mill was built, the plaintiff in error constructed a side track near to its main track, along the platform of the mill and lumber-shed, and up to the end of the mill, and the side track had been used since that time in loading lumber upon the cars ”

“ If the defendants in error are entitled to stand in the position of licensees, or of persons going upon the railroad premises to transact business, as upon invitation, then each party is bound to use ordinary care in respect to the other, and the question of contributory negligence is for the jury. ”

“ Proof that other engines have thrown fire as far as the building destroyed, offered in a case where the building is separated from the track, stands upon precisely the same footing as proof that other engines have 'scattered fire,' offered in a case where a railway bridge itself is first burned. ”

“ A license, therefore, for the permanent use of ground, within their chartered limits, should be held void as contrary to sound public policy, and the intruder treated as a wrong-doer or trespasser, until, at least, his occupancy has ripened into a prescriptive right. ”

“ Insurance Co. v. Tweed, 7 Wall. 44; Webb v. R.R. Co., 49 N. Y. 420; Piggot v. R.R. Co., 54 E. C. L. 229; Smith v. R.R. Co., 5 Com. Pleas, 98; Fant v. R.R. Co., 4 Chicago Legal News (1 Redf. Cas., 2d ed., 350) ; R.R. Co. v. Stanford, 12 Webb (Kan.) ”