Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 5.djvu/556

 544 FEDERAL REPORTER. ,,, �bas provided:e9rrtbat. othçrwise. Whenever deatli ensues from the miscQpdact or negligence of an officer of a steam- TGBsel, he may be prosecuted and punisbed as for manslaugh- i^r. Section 5344, Eev. St. �According to the standard life tables the expectancy of life of the deceased was about 88 years. He bad no trade or call- ing by wbicb to earn anything save that of a common laborer, and the decided weigbt of the evidence is that he was indo- lent or inefficient, and inclined to intemperance. At both Eoseburg and Salem the family were glad to accept charity from comparative etrangers, although the deceased was one of them and in apparent good health. Earning a? he might, if he iwould, $300 or $400 a year, it is not probable that he could furnish bis mother more than $100 a year of it. Her age is not shown directly, but it may be inferred from the cir- cumstances that she is between 40 and 50 years old. Her expectation of life is then about 20 years. The present value of $100 a year for 20 years is a,bout the compensation she is theoretically entitled to for the pecuniary loss caused by the death of her son. The expectation of life in the case of the brothers and sisters is greater, indeed greater than that of the deceased ; but the obligation to take care of them is less than in the case of the mother. Counting interest at the present legal rate — 8 per cent. — I think $1,000 is ail that ought to be recovered. �But as, in my judgment, the grant of letters to Davis was valid until avoided, and those to the libellant void, the latter cannot maintain this suit as the representative of the deceased, and theref ore the libel must be dismissed, with costs. ����