44 FEDERAL mcronrizs.
8. SAME——LIAB'l'LITY on Vnssnns rn FAULT.
Ferry·boat No. 2 and the steam-launch Mikado collided in the Willamette _
river, in front of the Portland slip of the former, and thereby caused the death
. of a (passenger on the latter, when such collision might have been avoided and
the eath prevented by the proper handling of either boat. Held, the owners
of both boats are liable to the administrator of the deceased, under the statute
of Oregon, in aolldo, for the damages resulting from such death.
(Syllabus by the Court.)
In Admiralty. '
William H. Ejinger, for libelant.
` Rufus Mallory, for Brown & McCabe.
John W. Whalley, for receiver, Koehler.
Danny, J. This suit is brought by the libelant as the administrator
of the estate of Philip J. Holland, deceased, against the defendants J.
A. Brown and William L. McCabe, as owners of the steam-launch Mikado,
and Richard Koehler, as the receiver of the United States circuit court
of this district, of the property of the··Oregon & California Railway Com-
pany, the owner of the steam ferry-boat No. 2, to recover damages for
the death of said Philip, alleged to have been caused by the concurring
negligence and misconduct of the persons in charge of said boats, re-
spectively, on October 26, 1886. _ »
The owners of the Mikado and the receiver answer separately, and the
controversy has assumed a three—sided form; each defendant practically
admitting that the deceased came to his death by the fault of the person
incharge of the other’s boat. Brown and McCabe also allege that the
negligence of the deceased contributed to his death; and both defendants
allege that his death was no loss to his estate. The character in which
the libelant sues is admitted.
‘ From the pleadings and evidence in the case, and a view of the vicin-
i ity where the injury occurred, I find the following facts:
On and before October 26, 1886, the Oregon 8c California Railway Company
was the owner of the steam ferry-boat N0. 2, then running under the direc-
tion of the defendant Koehler, receiver as aforesaid, as a. ferry-boat on the
Willamette river, between her slip at the foot of F street in Portland, and
her landing on the east side of the river, a distance of about 1,000 feet across
the stream and 800 feet down thesame from said slip.
The ferry-boat is a double ended, heavy, side-wheel, iron boat of great power.
about 130 feet long and 54 feet wide over a.l1,—-her guards projecting beyond
her hull some 10 to 12 feet, and about 8 feet above her water-line, and is
capable of making 12 miles an hour, and of stopping when under way, at full
speed, in about 70 feet.
· At the same time the defendants Brown & McCabe were the owners of the
steam-launch Mikado, then engaged in carrying passengers between Port-
land and Albina,—a distance of about a mile,-starting from her dock in
Portland, between D and E streets, and about 360 feet above the ferry slip.
The Mikado isa propeller about 45 feet long and 12 feet beam, and can make
10to 12 miles an hour. She has a pilot-house a few feet aft of her stern,
' back of which ls a cabin on deck and an open space at the stern, for the ac·
commodation of passengers, of which she can carry 60.
Brown Sn McCabe are stevedores, and the Mikado was being used by them