Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1898-12-20
DECISION In WHITE ASH CASES.
Territorial Supreme Court Affirmed Judg-
ment Of Lower Court Denying Plaintiff
Damages-Text of the Opinion,

Damages-Text of the Opinion.
On Saturday the supreme court hand
ed down an opinion in the famous White
Ash cases against the Cerrillos Coal
Railroad Company, affirming the iudg-
ment of the lower court. The opinion
was from Chief Ju&tice Mills and con-
surred in by the other members of the
bench.
This case was before the supreme
court on a writ of error from the dis
trict court Of Santa Fe county, and in
the decision the court held as follows:
This is the second time this case has
been here for review. In these several
actions, damages are claimed by Jose
phine Deserant, as Administrative,
against the defendant, for the death of
her husband, Henry Deserant, and her
sons, Jules Deserant and Henry Deser-
ant, Jr., by an explosion which oc
Cured in the White Ash mine on
Wednesday, February q, 1895, at about
| 1O:40 q. m, For the purposes of this
| trial the three cases We're consolidated
also heard in this court in the same
manner.
The declarations charge negligence
in various ways, but on the trial no
proof other than crcumstantia was Of
fered to show what was the cause of
the explosion, or where it began in the
language of the learned judge who
wrote the opinion, when this case was
last before this court, 1T appears that
by this explosion all the employees, % in
number, We're at the time in the fourth
left entry Except those in what was
called the 'planeD were killed, and
therefore all evidence to show how the
| explosion occurred, and where was its
| initial point, is necessarily circum-
stantial." 1t is unnecessary for us to go
| into the particulars of the accident or
| to show the workings of the mines, as
they are sufficiently set out in the case
of Cerrillos Coal Company VS.. Deserant,
supra, heretofore reported. The only
substantial difference in the evidence
| is that on the former trial, it was testi
fed that the body of Kelly was found in
| the upper cross-cut, between rooms s
and 8, and the body of Flick was found
| on the railroad track in room No. s
above the cross-cut, while in the pres
ent case it is shown by the testimony of
Kelly, one of the witnesses for the
plaintiff, that the bodies of Kelly, Flick,
and Donohue We're found within a few
feet of each other.
The theory of the prosecution as to
the cause of the explosion is the same
now as then, to-Wit: That owing to an
accumulation of water previous to the
explosion in low place in the fourth
| left air course, a sufficient quantity OF
pure air was not going into the face of
the workings in the fourth left entry to
remove and eXpel the noxious gases
that Kelly and Flick, who We're compa-
ny men; that is, not paid by the day and
not according to what work they did,
acting under instructions from Dono-
hue, the day pit boss, went with him or
by his directions into room No. to re-
move a railroad track, carrying naked
lights, and that such lights set fire to
the gas which had accumulated there,
by reason of the insufficiency of the air,
and caused the explosion This theory
is purely speculative and is not support
ed by the evidence. 1t cannot be posi-
lively proved what was the initial
point of the explosion, or what caused
it. In fact, the evidence goes to show
from measurements taken at various
times by the superintendent of the mine
the pit boss and the United States mine
inspector, that sufficient air was goins
through the fourth left air course ant
mine to make it safe. Indeed, the eVl
dence goes further and shows that afte
the explosion and on the day of the IN
vestigation by the coroner's jury, an