Chapman

Action for damages brought by the plaintiff as assignee of the firm of “John Rosenfeld’s Sons.” In the superior court a demurrer to the com-' plaint was sustained, and judgment thereupon rendered *692 in favor of the defendant. The complaint, omitting merely formal and immaterial averments, may as against a general demurrer be construed as alleging, in substance, that on August 10, 1891, the defendant, in consideration of wharfage and dockage charges, paid to its officers, the state hoard of harbor commissioners, received upon one of its public wharves, situate in the city of San Francisco, and under the jurisdiction and control of the state board of harbor commissioners, about one hundred and thirty tons of coal belonging to the assignors of plaintiff, and to be removed by them from such wharf; and that on said day a large portion of the wharf on which this coal was placed broke and gave way “ by reason of the negligence, omission, and carelessness of defendant, its officers, and agents, .... in failing and neglecting to keep said wharf in good and sound condition and repair”; and all the coal of plaintiff’s assignors then on the wharf was sunk in the bay of San Francisco, and…