Texarkana Gas & Electric Light Co. v. Orr

Decision Date09 June 1894
PartiesTEXARKANA GAS & ELECTRIC LIGHT CO. v. ORR
CourtArkansas Supreme Court

Appeal from Miller Circuit Court RUFUS D. HEARN, Judge.

STATEMENT BY THE COURT.

This suit was instituted by appellee, administrator of the estate of Ed. Wallace, deceased, against the appellant company, in the Miller circuit court, at its November term, 1891, and the cause was tried at the November term 1892, resulting in a verdict and judgment for plaintiff in the sum of $ 20 actual damages and $ 200 punitive damages against the defendant.

ABSTRACT.

The cause of action is fully set forth in the complaint, which is as follows, to-wit: "Comes the plaintiff, Thos. Orr administrator of the estate of Edward Wallace, deceased, and complaining of the defendant, the Texarkana Gas & Electric Light Company, a corporation existing under and by virtue of the laws of the State of Arkansas, states that on the 23d day of August, 1891, defendant owned, maintained and operated in the city of Texarkana, Arkansas, a system of electric lights and that, by means of wires, the electric current was carried over, upon and along the streets of Texarkana, Arkansas--from the power house to the various points of service in said city; that, during the night of the 22d of August, 1891, or early on the morning of the 23d of August, 1891, said company's wires became disabled and out of repair, and being either broken or disengaged from their fastenings, fell to the ground upon the sidewalk and crossing in the city of Texarkana at the intersection of Broad street and Pine street in said city, and said defendant negligently permitted said wire to remain so grounded and lying upon said street crossing from about 12:30 o'clock a. m. until after daylight in the morning, when said street was thronged with passers-by; that the deceased, Edward Wallace, while passing along said street about or a little after daylight, had his attention called to said obstruction lying upon said crossing, and being ignorant of the character of said wire and presuming, and having a right to presume, that defendant would not permit a live wire to remain under the feet of passers-by upon so crowded a thoroughfare, took hold of same to cast it aside out of the way of pedestrians, and was killed by the powerful current with which said wire was at the time charged. And plaintiff alleges that deceased came to his death by the gross negligence and wanton misconduct of defendant, its agents and employees, and that deceased came to his death without fault on his part, and to the damage of his estate in the sum of twenty thousand dollars. Wherefore plaintiff prays damages in the sum of twenty thousand dollars, and his cost in and about this cause expended."

The answer is substantially a denial of all the material allegations in the complaint.

The evidence in the case is to the effect that, during the night of the 22d day of August 1891, there was an electrical storm in Texarkana, such as was never known in that locality before that time; that at that time the appellant corporation was operating its lamps and wires in that city for the purpose of furnishing lights to its inhabitants; that there was more or less of inexperience in the persons immediately in charge of the operation of the machinery at the "power house;" that there was an apparent want of that extra care and watchfulness on the part of those in control, which the peculiar circumstances seem to have demanded; and that, by reason of the terrific character of the storm, and its effect upon the machinery and wires, there was considerable demoralization among the employees then on duty.

The testimony goes to show that some of the wires were broken and down between 12 o'clock and 2:30 o'clock a. m. of the night in question, while some of the testimony would seem to point to a later hour. At all events no discovery of a "ground" seems to have been made at the "power house" earlier than about 2 o'clock a. m. "By 'ground' is meant any connection between the line and the earth. This connection may be made by the line, or any of its connections, being broken, and the ends coming in contact with a tree or its limbs, or with the pole or roof of a house, or by another wire or rope or string being thrown over the line and resting on the earth. To cause ground by the wire coming in contact with the pole or a tree or the roof of a house, there must be damp. "It was shown by the testimony of experts that it is scarcely possible to ascertain the locality of a "ground" by the application of the most efficient tests, but that these tests are available to ascertain the fact that there is a "ground," and, to some extent, the nature of the "ground."

There is no complaint that proper tests were not applied on the occasion of the storm in question. In fact the object of the application seems to have been attained by the person in charge of the machinery at the "power house," for we find one witness (who seems to have been in a position to testify directly on the subject) testifying as follows: John Thurston testified: "I was at the electric plant at work, carrying in strips to fire with, when Ed. Wallace was killed. Mr. Gafney, the engineer that night, sent me to the hotel to notify the superintendent that the alternating incandescent machine was badly grounded. I went and told him--Mr. Randall. The superintendent told me to go ahead. He asked me what the trouble was, and I told him as stated, and he asked me what time it was, and I replied, I did not know, and then he told me to go back and tell them to go ahead. I went back, and told Mr. Gafney. I went to work for the Electric Light Company on the 14th of June, I believe, and this thing happened in August, I think. That was a very bad night. We were all badly scared up."

The evidence discloses to us the fact that, while the locality of a "ground" cannot be ascertained by the application of tests at the "power-house," and also that the storm was raging so furiously, and the night was so unfavorable that it may have been asking too much of the employees of the company to hunt up those broken wires until daylight, yet we are informed by the testimony in the case that the accident resulting in the death of plaintiff's intestate occurred some hours after daylight, and at a time when people had begun to appear upon the streets of the city.

Concerning events immediately connected with the accident, it is said in testimony that it was during the thunderstorm, about 5:30 o'clock in the morning, that Ed. Wallace came into the saloon where witness was working, the "Triangle Saloon" just across the street from Smith's drug store. This was about ten minutes before he was killed, and the witness, Jesse Cole, spoke to him about catching hold of the wires that were connected with the main wire and that ran into the saloon. He then had hold of a dead wire, and witness then told him to be careful of those wires. While deceased was at this point, a short time afterwards, a hog had come in contact with live wires on the opposite side of the street and made demonstrations of having received a shock from them, but whether deceased saw this or not witness could not say, further than that he was in a position to have seen it, and witness believed he did, as they were standing together on the sidewalk, in full view. From...

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