Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 2.djvu/916

 MAGUIBB V. STEAM-BOAT SYLVA» ÛLEN. 909 �the pier, and then he saw the green light as the sloop came about. It is not always possible to aceount for the errors of obBervation or memory se often disclosed in this class of cases, but the testimony of this witness, though apparently entirely honest, is overborne by the great weight of testi- mony showing that the sloop had her red light burning. The statement? of this witness as to other matters, especially the relp'-ive position of the ferry-boat and the steam-boat, are very àiffieult to reconcile with the other proofs, and his testimony on this point of the light must be held to be a mistake. �It is observable in this connection that, though it is admit- ted in the pleadings that the steam-boat was crowded with passengers, and although it was testified by her lookout that there were many passengers on the forward deck who were known to him as regular passengers, none of them were called. Nor was the engineer ealled in respect to the speed of the steam-boat, although the witnesses from the sloop tes- tified to their opinions that she was going 15 miles an hour, which the proof as to her time for running to Agtoria rather tends to confirm, �It must be held, therefore, upon the proofs that the sloop had proper lights ; that the steam-boat was in f ault in not see- ing them, and in not keeping out of her way. The other faults charged against the steam-boat, that she was going at a rate of speed exceeding the limit fixed by the state statute— 10 miles an hour — and that she was running up the river at this excessive rate of speed, not near the center of the river, but near the New York shore, are also established by the evi- dence. It is not at ail probable that if she had been one- third of the way across the river when she saw the green light on her port hand, slowly moving out on the starboard tack and then close into shore, she would bave found the diffi* culty stated in the pleadings and described by her witnesses, in going under the stem of the sloop, between her and the New York shore, or in slowing and stopping so as to avoid the collision. �The other charge of fault against the sloop bas no founda- �20* ����