Shebley

The action was for damages for the death of F. A. Shebley occurring while he was a passenger in an auto-stage run and operated by appellant between Yreka and Fort J ones, in Siskiyou County. At the trial the case was dismissed as to all the defendants except appellant. The claim was based upon alleged negligence of the driver in the operation of the machine and the failure of the owner to keep said auto in proper condition and repair. Defendants denied any negligence and claimed the accident was occasioned by a latent defect in a wheel of the machine, which no degree of care could have avoided. The cause was tried before a jury and a verdict rendered in favor of plaintiff for the sum of sixteen thousand five hundred dollars, and the appeal is from the judgment following said verdict. Appellant states: “This appeal is based entirely upon errors in law committed by the court in the trial of said cause by permitting plaintiff over the objections of appellant to introduce evidence showing the poverty of the widow and children of plaintiff’s intestate.” [1] The question to which the objection was made is as follows: “Except as you stated—were you at the time of his death dependent upon…