Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 5.djvu/553

 HOLMES V. OEEGON & CALIFORKU BT. 00. 5^1 �equatUy certain tbatthegreater number gbt off onJiiiB upper side. Most of them represent the gap between the boat anci pontoon, iwhen and where the deceasedrwent'Cti, aë fi'ûm; three to six f«6t wide, -and that the bôat was;bagluBg ati the tiime» But the admitted oircumstancflythat the boaiiims .niade iaat as soon as ehe touched the pontoon and.rejnalned sô witbou* slacking,thç line, proves that she could not haye baçked; and completely disprqves the conjpctural and. reckless/^^ajiemfftts to the contrajry;.. Besides^ the pilot sweara positively that h,^ did not back tj^e^boat, but pnly swung het gtern up çtrpam to l}ring her into a right line withithç pcnl^opuj ^p, I infer, as tg make a cl,ose connection and aUpw the wagons to _.go oi^, Another faot stated by one of- th^Idpf endq,nt's ■witne8ses,(P.:(J. Grlisan) satislaetorily disposes of-thesç extravagant stateinpnts as to distance between the boat^q^nd the pontopp, and thiÇ imputation fo^nded upon them of recklessness on the;, part of tl^e deceased in àttempting to cross such a, chasm, He pa^f the deceased attempted to get off thja.bow of the boat jusi opposite where he was standing^pnthe pontoon; and that ibe gap between^ tho, two waa aboat i3.incbes-— jnst a good step across; that as the deceased approached him he called to hinj to "stand back," and thought to put bis hand on him and hpld him. on the boat, but beforehe, could dp bo the deceased stepped off, and as.he did so strucl^, bis foot on the pontoon and fell ; that as he fellthe ■witness reached fpirward and caught him by the çoat, but could not hold him, and he fell down into the water, some six or seven feet below. Under the cir- eumstances ai^p-witness is very liable to be, naistaken as to the width of Jhe gap between the boat and the pontoon- — particur larly after the lapse of two ye^rs ; but the fact that the der ceased stepped f rom the one to the other in Glisan'e immediate presence, and that he caught Perkins by the coat as he fell between them, is a matter he cannot well be mistaken about. The most probable conclusion, then, is that the space between the boat and the pontoon, when and where the deceased atr tempted to cross it, was about 18 inches. But it is also highly probable that it was less than this, if anything just ����