New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-08-08
Decision in Rochester
Case May Affect Black
Tom Litigation.
VICTIMS FATHER
LOST DAMAGE SUIT
Company Stored Explosives,
Which Were Stolen by Boys,
in Violation of Law.

The Court Of Appeals has handed
down decision fixing responsibility
for the explosion of some nitro
glycerine caps which caused the death
Of boy, and it is possible the prin-
ciple laid down may be used in litiga-
tions growing out of the Black Tom
explosion.
The action was brought in Rochester
by William J. Perry against the Roch-
ester Lime Company for the death Of
his eight-yeai-o son. Defeated in
the Appellate Division, he took his
case to the Court of Appeals, where
the judges unanimously upheld the
lower court, Diminishing the suit and
absolving the corporation from liza
bility, although as Judge Cardozo said,
in the opinion of the court, the de-
PENDANT stored explosives in chest
on the bank 81 'he Erie Canal, in viola
tioh Of the law.
Kept Chest OF Explosive.
1t was shown by the record Of the
I
kept. without permit, a chest of the
explosive on public property where
persons were accustomed to visit and
fish. The nitroglycerine caps were
packed in tins marked blasting caps.
Handle with care" The tin boxes in
turn were packed in wooden boxes
which had no marking on them.
One Sunday two boys, John Mcclure,
thirteen years old. and Archie Clark,
twelve, found the chest open and car
ried off one of the wooden boxes.
They showed the tin boxes to play
mates and carried them about in their
pockets. Arriving home they hid them
In a barn. Next day with the ex-
plosivo in the wooden box, Mcclure
and Clark went away accompanied by
the Perry boy. A few minutes later
;here was an explosion.
THE defendant stored the explo-
sives without a permit and in viola
zion Of an ordinance" said the Court
Of Appeals.
Became Wrongdoer."
at thus became a wrongdoer and
snswerable as such for the proximate
consequences of the wrong. 1t became
answerable, in other words, for those
consequences that ought TO have been
foreseen by a reasonably prudent man.
But we cannot say that what was done
with these explosives was something
that ought to have been foreseen. The
boys carried away large wooden box
containing thirty-three smaller boxes
and appropriated the contents. They
stole the caps in quantities that must
have carried notice even TO boys Of
their age that the act was wrongful.
/ Indeed there is good reason TO believe
that they stole not for play, but for
profit.
"The defendant had done nothing to
! invite or provoke this theft. II had
not scattered the caps about, or even
exposed them to view, so that children
might feel tempted and perhaps Ii
censed to handle and play with them.
/ The theft of one Of the boxes was no
more to be looked for than the theft
of the whole chest. II was possible,
Of course, that the contents would be
stolen by boys, or even by adults. But
nothing in the situation made that
outcome probable.
an short. a series of new and unex-
pected causes interviewed and had TO
intervene before these explosives could
bring death 10 Perry. Not one of
them was within the range of reason
able expectation. Boys discovered the
hidden caps, stole a box, carried it TO
their home q half a mile away and
killed a playmate. His death was not
the proximate result Of the open chest
.ho Ifrburatb