Fernandez

This is an appeal from a judgment against the defendant for the sum of $925, being the amount of damages claimed to have been suffered by the plaintiff by reason of the destruction of his house and premises at Melrose in Alameda County through the explosion of a powder magazine on the premises of the defendant.

This is one of a series of cases which grew out of that explosion, two of which were Kleebauer v. Western Fuse & Explosives Co., 138 Cal. 497 , [ 94 Am. St. Rep. 62 , 60 L. R. A. 377, 71 Pac. 617 ], and Fisher v. Western Fuse & Explosives Co., 12 Cal. App. 299 , [ 107 Pac. 332 ]. Briefly, the facts are that the defendant conducted an establishment at Melrose for the manufacture of fuse, and in connection therewith maintained a powder magazine in which it stored the powder used in the manufacture of its product. On the day of the accident one of its employees, a Chinaman—who had murdered a fellow-countryman—sought refuge in the powder magazine, the entrance to which he barricaded. Being pursued by peace officers and threatened with arrest, he fired the magazine, thereby causing much damage to surrounding property, including that of the plaintiff.

The amended complaint…