Case Name: W. T. McCready, Administrator of Lansdell, v. the South Carolina Rail Road Company
Court: South Carolina Court of Appeals
Jurisdiction: South Carolina
Decision Date: 1848-02
Citations: 2 Strob. 356
Docket Number: 
Parties: W. T. McCready, Administrator of Lansdell, v. the South Carolina Rail Road Company.
Judges: O’Neall, J. Evans, J. and Frost, J. concurred.
Reporter: South Carolina Law Reports
Volume: 33
Pages: 356–361

Head Matter:
W. T. McCready, Administrator of Lansdell, v. the South Carolina Rail Road Company.
Where the fact of damage from the fire of the Rail Road, was established by the sufferer, and the manner in which the fire was communicated also appeared, the Court held that it was immaterial whether the evidence came from the plaintiff or from the defendant, and that it went properly to the jury, whose province it was to judge of the fact of negligence.
If harmless as to the questions presented, the fact that the instructions of the presiding Judge to the jury may have been in some particular objectionable, aft fords no sufficient ground for disturbing a verdict based upon facts.
Before Mr. Justice Frost, at Charleston, Oct. Term, 1847,
This was an action on the case to recover damages for the destruction of the house aud out-buildings on Lansdell’s plantation, charged to have been burnt by the negligence of the Company’s servants, in the conduct of the locomotive.
The plantation, consisting of about two hundred and fifty acres, is situate in the fork of the State and Dorchester roads, about six miles from Charleston. The improvements consisted of a dwelling house and out-buildings, which were estimated to be woith from 2,500 to $4,000. At the time the settlement was burnt, the placed was leased to Gen. Wayne, for seven years, at the annual rent of three hundred dollars. He had on the place eight negroes and two boys, and two white men ; one of these, Hart, was employed as overseer, and worked with the hands. The Rail Road passes through the eastern part of the tract, at the distance of about a quarter of a mile from the settlement. Between the road and the settlement was an old field, grown up in broom grass. The fire occurred on the morning of the 23d December, 1840.— Hart, the overseer, said, (hat early in the morning, as he was going into the woods, with two negroes, to work, he saw the locomotive pass, and the fire kindle. It extended about five or six feet. He remarked to one of the negroes, the house would be burnt down before night; the negro said he thought not. They went on to. their work, and on their return, in the evening, the settlement was burnt. The fire had extended from the first kindling, over the broom grass field, and so com? municated to the settlement. Hart said he could have put it nut • but did not, not apprehending any danger. Gen. Wayne ..said that he did not reach the place until the house was burnt. The wind was high. The fire first burnt the broom grass .fie.ld, and then the settlement. He traced the fire to its origin, and ascertained it to have been caused by the locomotive. (C.o,als had been emptied from the furnace on the road, between the rails, and thence extended to the field. Some of the coals were not extinguished when he went to the place. After he leased the farm, he removed the fence back from the road about one hundred yards. A fire had occurred before, when he spoke to the Engineer and cautioned him against its recurrence; but his caution was neglected. When the fire took the field, he said it could not be stopped.
The jury were instructed by the presiding Judge, that the grant of an easement or privilege over land, subjects the grantor to such inconveniences and risks as are necessarily incident to the use of the thing granted; and therefore when one granted a right of way through his land for the Rail Road, of which the motive power is steam, the privilege was granted subject to such risks as are necessarily incident to the use of steam locomotives. That the risks thus assumed, were such only as might occur Avith the exercise of proper care and diligence; and if, thrortgh any negligence, damage were done to the grantor, he would have an action for tedress. The jury Avere also instructed, that every kindling of a fire, by sparks from .the engine, was not actionable ; but it should appear to have .occurred through neglect of proper precautions. It Avas submitted to them to determine, whether the fire in this .case happened from the Avant of proper care on the part of the Company’s agents. They Avere advised, that the clearing of the furnace, by emptying the coals, was necessary to ■the working of the engine: but it should be done in a place from Avhich no damage could happen. It was suggested to them, that the engineer, in this case, should have emptied the furnace in some swamp, or Ioav ground, or clear place in the ■woods, remote from a settlement, and not near a broom grass field extending to a settlement. On this subject, the advice to the jury Avas far from the expression' of an opinion, that there Avasno Avant of care in throAving out the coals, where it ■was .done ; though His Honor did not charge them that the plaintiff’s case Avas clearly made out. All the facts affecting the-inquiry, whether the fire occurred through negligence, were brought to the attention of the jury, in a manner supposed not to be unfavorable to the plaintiff’s recovery; but they found a verdict for the defendant.
The plaintiff appealed, on the folloAving grounds:
1. That his honor erred in charging, that it was not enough ¡to prove that plaintiff’s loss was caused by fire from the Rail Road Company’s engines, but that there must be direct proof of negligence on the part of the defendant; Avhereas, it is submitted, that having traced the fire to the Rail Road engine, 'the onus was upon the defendant to prove that all due precautions were taken.
2. That his honor erred in charging, that where a Rail Road passes through the land of a party, he or those under whom he claims must be presumed to have given or sold this right of way, and consequently to have bargained for risks •occasioned by the use of fire on the road ; a proposition which, it is submitted, has no foundation in law, and could scarcely fail to mislead the jury.
3. That his Honor erred in charging, that there was no want of care in throwing out live coals in a spot surrounded by dry grass, and when there was a high wind blowing; although the fire by which plaintiff’s house and fields were burned, was traced to the coals so thrown out, and not a tittle •of evidence was introduced by the defendant to explain, justify, or extenuate this proceeding.
4. That the plaintiff’s case was clearly made out, and his honor ought so to have charged; and the verdict is contrary to law and evidence.
Simons, Bailey, for the motion.
Memminger, Hayne, contra.

Opinion:
Wardlaw, J.
delivered the opinion of the Court.
Whether the owner of land through which runs a Rail iRoad whose motive power is steam, must be presumed to have .subjected himself by contract to any hazard, or no; if he be (Subject to only such risks as are necessarily incident to the ;use of steam locomotives, such as actually occur notwithstanding the exercise of proper care and diligence, his case does .not differ from that of any other person who may sustain •damage from fire communicated by one of the steam engines. Either would have an action for damage through negligence : •¡neither could recover if it appeared that there was no negligence. When the fact of damage from the fire of the Rail Road has been •established by the sufferer, and nothing more appears, it might be important to consider whether the Rail Road company should .be held to show due care, or whether some evidence of want ;of care, should be required from the other side. In North Carolina (2 Iredell, p. 141) it has been held that " the showing of (damage from an act which does not ordinarily produce damage, makes out a prima facie case against the road, which 'cannot be repelled but by proof of care, or of some extraordinary accident, which renders care useless." But where, as in this .case, the manner in which the fire was communicated, if it did proceed from the engine, appears, it is immaterial whether the evidence comes from the plaintiff or defendant; it must go to the jury, whose province it is to judge of the fact of negligence. The jury being instructed that the place of throwing the coals (supposing the fire to have ignited as the plaintiff's witnesses said,) was the material inquiry, and that the place should have been one where no damage could happen, and the verdict still being for the defendant, the conclusion seems inevitable that the jury found either that .the iire did not proceed from the engine, or that there was no negligence in the selection of the place -for throwing the coals.. No countenance seems to have been given by the Circuit Judge to the notion, suggested in argument here as the ground of the verdict, that the damage resulted from the carelessness of the plaintiff's agent. As to this matter, the supposed agent' does not appear so to have represented the plaintiff, as by his; want of diligence, to deprive the plaintiff of remedy for that, which another caused, even if he might have prevented it. The verdict seems then to be one found upon facts, under instructions either altogether unobjectionable, or (if in any particular wrong) harmless a.s to the questions presented. It appears to the Court, that there is not sufficient ground for disturbing the verdict, and the motion for new trial is dismissed.
The opinion of the Court is reserved upon the 'question which was made on the part of the defendant, concerning the right of the plaintiff as administrator, to maintain this action for damage done to the freehold in the lifetime of his intestate. The question is mentioned only to prevent this case from being drawn into precedent.
O'Neall, J. Evans, J. and Frost, J. concurred.
Withers, J. absent.