Opinion
January, 1920.
Judgment and order reversed, and new trial granted, costs to appellant to abide the event, for the reason that plaintiff failed to prove negligence on the part of defendant. The alleged defect in the iron bar was not the proximate cause of the accident. The bar inserted in a space three inches deep slipped, not because of the wearing away of one-quarter or one-third of an inch at the corner of the bar, but because the space in which it was inserted was covered with grease and oil placed there by plaintiff. The method of turning over the engine by use of the bar was selected by plaintiff of his own volition. He testifies that the ordinary method was by use of steam. The bar in question was a simple ordinary appliance used before and since without alteration or change, and the accident was occasioned by the manner in which it was used and not by any defects in the bar. Jenks, P.J., Rich, Putnam, Kelly and Jaycox, JJ., concur.