Boyle

This is an action by the administrator of the estate of Patrick O’Donnell, deceased, to recover as damages the sum of fifteen thousand dollars for the alleged wrongful and negligent act of the defendants in causing the death of the plaintiff’s intestate.

The charging part of the complaint reads: “That, on the 14th day of December, 1911, and at the same time and place, defendants, through their agents, servants and employees, were operating a derrick or hoist for the purpose of lowering a water pipe by means of a chain into the trench hereinbefore mentioned in which said Patrick O’Donnell was engaged in digging; that on said date and at said time and place and through the carelessness and negligence of the defendants in the operation of said hereinbefore mentioned hoist or derrick, the pipe which was being lowered by defendants, its agents, servants, and employees, was permitted to swing on the chain connected with said hoist so that said pipe struck without any warning whatever said Patrick O’Donnell while he was engaged in his work in the trench hereinbefore mentioned, inflicting serious and violent injuries upon his head, which resulted in his death within a few hours’…