Hutchinson

Harry Hutchinson was killed in an

automobile accident and the plaintiff, as administrator, com menced the above-entitled action, to recover damages. A judgment was awarded the plaintiff in the trial court; the defendant made a motion for a new trial, its motion was denied, and the defendant has appealed under section 953a of the Code of Civil Procedure.

In its answer to the plaintiff’s complaint the defendant denied many of the allegations contained in the complaint and then it set forth an affirmative defense, the contributory negligence of plaintiff’s decedent.

Early in the day on the 20th of April, 1919, plaintiff’s decedent, Harry Hutchinson, and his friend, Joe Russell, left their homes at Clovis and went to Firebaugh. While at that place two Mexican boys engaged Hutchinson to drive the party from Firebaugh north to a ranch known as Holland Farm. .They started before dark and while it was yet light they passed a point in the road where an excavation was being made for the purpose of inserting a concrete culvert. The excavation was two miles from Firebaugh and extended entirely across the road. There was a traveled space in about the middle of the road. From each side…