Hornthall v. Roanoke, N. & B. Steam-Boat Co.

• Decision Date: 20 October 1890
• Citation: 11 S.E. 1049,107 N.C. 76
• Parties: HORNTHALL v. ROANOKE, N. & B. STEAMBOAT CO.
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court

11 S.E. 1049

107 N.C. 76

HORNTHALL v. ROANOKE, N. & B. STEAMBOAT CO.

Supreme Court of North Carolina

October 20, 1890

This was a civil action, tried at the fall term, 1889, of the superior court of Bertie county; before BYNUM, Judge. The plaintiff alleged that the defendant agreed, in consideration of the freight paid to it by plaintiff, to safely convey for him from Edenton to Flag Run, on the Roanoke river, certain goods of the value of $346.05; that defendant had failed to do so, and that the same were wholly lost to plaintiff. The defendant admitted receiving the goods for shipment at Edenton, on the 11th of October, 1884, and that they were not delivered at Flag Run, but denied the right of plaintiff to recover under the contract of shipment; that they were destroyed by fire without any negligence of the defendant. The material parts of the bill of lading were as follows:

"Eastern North Carolina Dispatch, Elizabeth City & Norfolk Railroad Roanoke, Norfolk & Baltimore Steam-Boat Co., Seaboard and Raleigh Railroad. H. C. Hudgins, General Claim Agent Norfolk, Va. Fast Freight Line between Tarboro, Bethel Robinsonville, Williamston, Jamesville, Plymouth, Roanoke river, Edenton and Norfolk, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Providence, and the east.

"Edenton ___, Oct. ___, 1884. Delivered to the steamer Plymouth, by N S. R. R. Co., the property mentioned and consigned as below, in apparent good order, to be forwarded to ___, and there delivered to consignee or connecting line, to be forwarded to destination. It is mutually agreed that the carrier shall have liberty to transfer the goods to and transport them by steamers, lighters, and barges, with liberty to tow and assist vessels in any situation, and sail without pilot. No carrier shall be liable for any loss or damage arising from any of the following causes, viz.: Fire, from any cause, on land or water, jettison, ice, freshets, weather, robbers, collisions, riots, explosions, accidents to boilers or machinery, any accident on or perils of the seas or other waters, or of steam or inland navigation, quarantine, deviation, detention, or accidental delay, insufficiency of package in strength or otherwise, rust, dampness, loss in weight, leakage, breaking, sweat, blowing, evaporation, vermin, frost, heat, smell, contact with other goods, natural decay or exposure to the weather, or for loss or damage of any kind on goods whose nature requires them to be carried on deck or on open car, or for any deficiency in the contents of packages if receipted for as in good order."

Noah Burfoot, a witness for the defendant, testified: "I was clerk on the steamer Plymouth, a steamer belonging to the defendant company, in October, 1884, running between Edenton and Williamston. The goods for plaintiff were received on steamer Plymouth, at Edenton, on 11th of October, 1884, and were carried on that day to Williamston, and placed in the warehouse of the company. Flag Run was beyond Williamston and Palmyra; freight was carried above Williamston by small steamers,--the Bettie and others. I had no official connection with steamers above Williamston; the goods were not carried up the river from Williamston the day they got there, because the Bettie was not there; the water was very low. I had not been above Williamston, but, judging from the water at Williamston, I don't think large draft steamers could go to Flag...