Thiele

This action was brought by plaintiff against defendant to recover treble damages for injury done to plaintiff’s land by a fire, alleged to have been kindled by defendant on his land adjoining the land of plaintiff, and to have been so negligently watched and tended that the fire came upon plaintiff’s land, and burned and destroyed pasture, fences, etc. The jury found a verdict for three times the amount of the actual damage, for which judgment was rendered; and defendant appeals from the judgment and from an order denying his motion for a new trial.

Passing other points made by appellant, we are satisfied that the record presents no evidence to support the verdict. The defendant resided in San Francisco, and owned land in the hilly part of Stanislaus county, which he used for pasturing stock. Plaintiff’s land, upon which the damage is alleged to have occurred, was also in the same neighborhood, but did not join the land of plaintiff. Between the land of plaintiff and that of defendant there was land owned by a man named Richards. One Henry Mills was the general foreman and superintendent of the defendant, and attended to his stock business in Stanislaus county. Mills employed the…