Kearner v. Charles S. Tanner Co.

• Citation: 76 A. 833,31 R.I. 203
• Parties: KEARNER v. CHARLES S. TANNER CO.
• Decision Date: 07 July 1910
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Rhode Island

76 A. 833

31 R.I. 203

KEARNER

v. CHARLES S. TANNER CO.

Supreme Court of Rhode Island.

July 7, 1910.

Exceptions from Superior Court, Providence and Bristol Counties; George T. Brown, Judge.

Action by Maria Kearner, administratrix, against Charles S. Tanner Company. Verdict for plaintiff. Defendant brings exceptions. Exceptions overruled, and cause remitted, with directions for judgment.

Comstock & Canning and Jeremiah E. O'Connell, for plaintiff.

Vincent, Boss & Barnefield, Charles A. Wilson, and Alexander L. Churchill, for defendant.

DUBOIS, C. J. This is an action of trespass on the case for negligence brought by the widow of Albert C. Kearner, in her capacity as administratrix of his estate, to recover, for the benefit of herself and minor children damages from the defendant corporation arising from the death of her intestate husband, which she alleged was caused by the negligence of the defendant company on the 12th day of February in the year 1908. The case was tried in the superior court before a jury and resulted in a verdict for the plaintiff, which the justice presiding at the trial refused to disturb upon a motion for a new trial, and the case was brought to this court upon the defendant's exceptions to various rulings of said justice, including his denial of the motion for a new trial.

It appears in evidence that on the day aforesaid, between 4:10 and 4:30 o'clock in the afternoon, two or more explosions occurred in a building on the easterly side of South Main street, between Coin and Silver streets, in the city of Providence, R. I., which threw the stone walls of the building down into South Water street, as well as into Coin street, on the corner of which streets the body of said Albert C. Kearner was found the next day under the debris. It was admitted at the trial that the death of the plaintiff's intestate was caused by portions of the wall of the building falling upon him, and that he was rightfully upon the highway as a traveler and in the exercise of due care at the time. The building, which was wrecked by the explosion and partially consumed by the ensuing fire, was a structure 3 1/2 stories in height, was about 80 feet in length by about 48 feet in width, and was bounded as follows: On the north by Silver street; on the east by an area or alleyway, running from Silver street to Coin street; on the south by Coin street; and on the west by South Water street. With the exception of two rooms on the ground floor, the entire building was occupied by the defendant company and used in the manufacture of starch, gums, and dextrine. These two rooms were occupied by Abbott L. G. Chase, a grocer and ship chandler. One was on the corner of Coin and South Water streets and fronted on the latter. It was about 18 feet in width by about 40 feet in length and was used by Mr. Chase for his grocery store. The other, a room of equal size, separated from the grocery department by a brick wall, adjoined it on the north and also had its entrance on South Water street. This room was used by Mr. Chase for his ship chandlery shop. The rear wall at the easterly extremity of these rooms was about 2 feet distant from the westerly end of the furnace and oven room of the defendant, and the northerly wall of the chandlery shop was about halfway between Coin and Silver streets. There was no communication between the two rooms aforesaid or between the premises of Mr. Chase and those of the defendant, while there was free communication between the several parts of the building occupied by the defendant. The remainder of the ground floor of the building was used by the defendant which had its offices in the room at the corner of Silver and South Water streets, and the next room, south of its offices and between them and the ship chandlery shop of Mr. Chase, was a room occupied by the defendant for storage purposes. In the rear of its offices was another storage room, and beyond that to the east was its engine room. To the east of the building occupied by Mr. Chase and the defendant as aforesaid was another two-story building adjoining the northerly half of the firstmentioned building, the ground floor of which was used by the defendant in part for storage and furnace and boiler rooms. There were four furnaces in all, which, for the purposes of the trial, were described as though numbered from north to south 1, 2, 3, and 4. This building measured about 30 feet in width and extended from Silver to Coin streets. The portion that adjoined the premises already described as occupied by the defendant consisted of a room used for storage, the boiler and furnace No. 1. while furnaces Nos. 2, 3, and 4 were opposite the rear end of the premises occupied by Mr. Chase but separated therefrom by a space, measuring 1 1/2 to 2 feet in width, between the exterior walls of the buildings.

The furnaces were on the east side of the building wherein they were located. The next building east of the one in which the furnaces were contained was a double tenement house which fronted on South Main street, and extended from Silver to Coin streets. Its western, or rear, wall for a distance of about 56 feet, from Sliver street southerly, was 22 feet distant from the furnace building of the defendant, and for a distance of about 20 feet from Coin street northerly was only 16 feet from the defendant's said building. In other words, there was a projection in the rear of the tenement house which made it six feet nearer to that part of the building containing furnaces numbered 3 and 4 than it was to the remainder of the building. The oven room, where the products of the defendant's manufacture were baked, was directly over the furnace room; but there was no flooring between the furnaces and ovens which were directly over them. The floor between the furnace room and the oven room stopped at the entrances to the ovens. Each oven had two iron doors, which were set in grooves and could be raised by handles with the aid of counter weights. Rails were laid inside of the ovens, from the doors to the rear of the oven chambers, and between these rails were placed strips of sheet iron, which could easily be sprung in or out, for the purpose of equalizing the heat in the oven. These rails supported trucks holding pans in which starch was baked. Oven No. 4 was piped in such a manner that it was possible to carry hot gas from the furnace into and around the oven when required. To accomplish this purpose pipes had been connected with the chimney pipe at a point between the damper and the furnace bed, which, after passing around the interior of the oven, returned to the chimney pipe at a point beyond the danger, so that, when it was necessary to create in the oven the degree of heat required to hake starch, a temperature ranging from 220° to 300° Fahrenheit, according to the testimony, the damper would be closed, and thereby the hot gas would be caused to circulate in and around the oven and from thence into the chimney by this indirect route, which was from 25 to 30 feet more than the distance from the furnace to the chimney through the chimney pipe.

Fifteen minutes before the explosion two men were working in the oven room in front of the ovens, and had nearly filled all the pans provided to be used for that baking. Oven No. 4 was to receive the first load. In the morning after the explosion one door of oven No. 4 was found partly raised, bent over at the top and wedged in its groove, and the other door was found lying on top of the oven, together with part of the roof of the building. The interior of this oven was somewhat damaged at the top and to the right of the door nearest Coin street, and the heat radiating pipes therein were found burst open at the joints. In a section of this pipe between the furnace and damper was found a corroded hole about two inches long and several smaller corroded holes large enough to admit the insertion of a lead pencil. The fire box door was found closed. In the furnace lied there was a circle of unconsumed coal forming an outer rim of about four inches in width, while in the center was a circle of coal burned to ashes. The diameter of this furnace bed was 14 inches. The damper in the chimney pipe was found partly closed. The oven room was found to contain more or less wreckage, and brick from the outer wall in rear of the ovens was found in the alleyway adjoining the building. The plaintiff contended that the death of her husband was caused by the wrecking of the building through an explosion, caused by the negligence of the defendant; that this explosion was the result of fire coming into contact with starch dust, which was shown to be present in large quantities upon the premises of the defendant, and also was shown to be highly explosive under certain conditions.

The defendant did not deny that there was an explosion of starch dust upon its premises, and that this explosion was the cause of the principal damage to the building; but it contended that the initial and more violent explosion occurred in the ship chandlery shop of Mr. Chase, whence it was transmitted to the defendant's premises and caused the second explosion. No eyewitness testified that the first explosion occurred in Mr. Chase's shop; but the theory of the experts who testified in behalf of the defendant is that the first explosion occurred in the shop of Mr. Chase and was the result of spontaneous combustion; that in the storage room of Mr. Chase were a great variety of highly inflammable and explosive substances, including tar, pitch, turpentine, rosin, kerosene, linseed oil, oakum, and solarine, a polish composed partly of naphtha. No fire was kept in this storehouse, and the lantern used to illuminate the place was generally lighted in the other store. If the first explosion occurred within the premises of Mr. Chase, hereinbefore described, and threw down a wall belonging to the same which fell upon and killed Mr. Kearner, the plaintiff cannot...