Pell

This is an appeal from a judgment in plaintiff’s favor for the sum of two thousand dollars damages for the alleged negligence of the defendant resulting in the death of one Gabino Smith, of whose estate the plaintiff is the administrator.

The two points urged by the appellant are the insufficiency of the evidence to justify the verdict of the jury; and the contention that the verdict is excessive in the amount of its award.

The facts of the case are these: The defendant is a rancher residing in Monterey County. On the morning of September 28, 1913, the deceased, Gabino Smith, who was at that time his employee, came up to his house to wash before breakfast. The defendant was in the act of taking a drink of whisky from a bottle which was sitting on the wash-sink, and offered the deceased a drink, which he indicated his willingness to accept. There was very little left in the bottle from which the defendant had been drinking, so he reached under the sink and got what he apparently supposed was another bottle of whisky, and handed it to the deceased, stating that he guessed it was whisky. The deceased drank from the bottle which was handed him, and immediately after doing so said to…