People's Gas Co. v. Tyner

31 N.E. 59 (1892)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Ds and others dug and constructed a natural gas well near P’s residence. To increase the flow from the well Ds planned to shoot the well with nitro-glycerine or another nitro-explosive compound to increase the flow of gas. P and his wife are the owners, by entireties, of real estate consisting of four city lots enclosed together by a fence, and his dwelling house and residence, in which D and his family reside. The well had been dug to a depth of about one thousand feet, and about two hundred feet distant from P's residence, with only a street forty feet in width between P's lots and the lot on which the well is sunk. P contends that an explosion of sixty or one hundred quarts of said explosive, at any given place on the surface of the earth could, and probably would, destroy life and property for a distance of five hundred yards in all directions from such explosion. P contends that the mere handling or storing thereof in or about Ds' gas-well of the explosives will endanger the lives of his family, as well as the safety of his property, and that the shooting of said well with nitro-glycerine will greatly injure and damage P's said property both above and under the surface of the earth, and endanger his life and the lives of his family. P sought an injunction to prevent Ds from using the explosives, alleging that it was dangerous to property and life. The court granted a temporary injunction and Ds appealed.