Conboy

The plaintiffs owned a lot fronting on the south side of Vallejo Street, in the city of San Francisco. On the lot was a one-story dwelling-house, which covered the whole of it except a yard at the rear end about seven feet deep. The lot was on a level with the grade on the street in front of it. The defendant owned a lot fronting on the west side of Montgomery Street, which adjoined the south end of plaintiffs’ lot. For the purpose of building on his lot, defendant commenced excavating it in 1888, and continued the work until one of the first days in March, 1889. At the front end of the lot he excavated it to a depth of eight or ten feet below the grade of Montgomery Street, and at the rear end to a depth of forty feet below its natural surface. Adjacent to the rear end of plaintiffs’ lot he left undisturbed a strip about four feet wide, from which there was a slope extending out at its base about twenty feet from a perpendicular line from the top. On .the surface the earth was about twelve or fourteen feet deep, and underneath was a sandy rock with seams running back through it. On the 11th of March, 1889, a heavy rain fell, and there was a slide into defendant’s excavation,…