Sparks

The libel in this ease is filed to recover damages for a breach of a contract with libelant for his transportation as a passenger in the above vessel. It is admitted that Mr. Sparks took passage as a first-class passenger in New York to be transported to California, and that, in pursuance of that contract, he came on board the Sonora at Panama, and was conveyed to this port. The alleged breach of contract consists in ■ the insufficient and uncomfortable character of the accommodations afforded to him. The grounds of complaint chiefly insisted on by the libelant are, first, that his stateroom was wholly unfit to be occupied by reason of its high temperature, arising from its vicinity to the boiler, and the existence of a ventilator which constantly filled it with heated air; second, by reason of offensive smells proceeding from the ventilator, and also various articles stowed upon the guard or small deck near the wheel, on which the port hole of the stateroom opened, and from the water-closets of the vessel. It is also alleged that a pipe which passed through the stateroom was leaky or defective, and that the bed and bedding of the libelant were constantly wet. It is further…