Ischer v. St. Louis Bridge Co.
Decision Date | 21 May 1888 |
Citation | 8 S.W. 367,95 Mo. 261 |
Parties | ISCHER v. ST. LOUIS BRIDGE CO. et al. |
Court | Missouri Supreme Court |
Appeal from St. Louis circuit court; AMOS M. THAYER, Judge.
Action by Edward Ischer against St. Louis Bridge Company and Tunnel Railroad Company.
S. M. Breckenridge and M. F. Watts, for appellant. A. R. Taylor, for respondent.
This is an action for damages for personal injuries, in which plaintiff recovered judgment for $5,000, from which defendants have appealed. The cause of action alleged in the petition is as follows: That plaintiff was in the employment of defendant unloading iron pipes from certain cars at the city of St. Louis, near the Union depot; that while so engaged one of the iron pipes rolled against him, and caught one of his legs, crushing the bones so that it had to be amputated. It is alleged The answer was a general denial. The action of the trial court in refusing to sustain a demurrer to the evidence, and in giving and refusing instructions, is assigned for error. But two witnesses (the plaintiff being one of them) were examined as to what took place when plaintiff was injured, and their evidence tended to show the following state of facts: That in April, 1880, plaintiff was in the employ of defendants in unloading iron pipes from box car. These pipes were from 12 to 14 feet long, about 1 foot in diameter weighing 1,800 or 2,000 pounds, and were placed in both ends of the cars, — two tiers in each end; one tier on the other. That plaintiff had been in defendant's employ about eight days, and was one of a gang of six or seven men, of which Christian Schouv was foreman. That at the time of the accident plaintiff and others of the men were shoving one of said pipes out of the car door; that the pipes had all been removed out of one end of the car, and the upper row in the other end had also been removed, leaving the bottom row of pipes. In order to get the pipe out of the car, one of the workmen had inserted a wooden bar in one end of the pipe, just high enough to permit another workman to place a small iron bar under it, on which, acting as a pivot, the pipe was turned, in order to launch it out of the side door of the car. The custom had been to "chock" the pipes on the floor of the car with small blocks of wood provided for that purpose, to prevent them from rolling when one of the pipes was removed. The evidence showed that this was usually done by Schouv, and when not done by him was done...
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