"Camp
Chaffee is located on Arkansas State Highway 22, nine miles
east of Fort Smith, Arkansas. The camp area is under the
control of the Camp Service Command, which is empowered to
promulgate rules and regulations governing persons entering
the area. However, the Command has never promulgated or
enforced any but the most lenient rules regulating the
entrance to the camp at all hours, except between 10 p.m. and
6 a.m. Civilian guards under the Camp Command are stationed
at all entrance gates, at all hours of the day and night.
Between all hours except from 10 p.m. and 6 a.m
pedestrians, drivers and passengers in motor vehicles,
including civilians, are permitted to enter the camp area
without identification, pass or authority from the camp
authorities. Between those hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.
civilians are not permitted to enter the camp area except by
permission of those in authority. Persons who are permitted
to enter the camp are free to travel upon all streets and
sidewalks, including those hereinafter mentioned.
"The
main entrance into Camp Chaffee from said highway 22 is upon
4th Ave., which is paved, and extends north and south.
Proceeding south, it is intersected at several places by
other paved streets which run east and west in the camp area.
The thirteenth street so intersecting is Fort Smith
Boulevard, which is paved, and it extends east and west of
4th Ave.
"Stone
sidewalks extend along both the north and south sides of Fort
Smith Boulevard, from 4th Ave. east. The
sidewalk abutting Fort Smith Boulevard on the south side is
approximately 5 feet wide, and extends east continuously from
4th Ave. to the next street running north and south, which is
3rd Ave. This sidewalk passes in front of the buildings
occupied by the Signal Center, the Signal Officers
Headquarters, the Post Photo Shop and Service Club No. 1.
This sidewalk may be used without restrictions by all
persons, including civilians and civilian employees, who
enter the camp area, and its use is not restricted to those
approaching or leaving Service
Club No. 1. The sidewalk comes to an end at 3rd Ave., which
runs north and south, at the east line of the Service Club
No. 1 premises, there being no other buildings or camp
facilities of any kind east of said 3rd Ave., except a fire
station just across 3rd Ave. and east of Service Club No. 1.
"The
sidewalk abutting Fort Smith Boulevard on the north side is
approximately 7 feet wide and extends east continuously from
4th Ave. to 3rd Ave., the next street running north and
south. It passes in front of the field house, which is across
the street from Service Club No. 1. It is also a public
sidewalk. This walk is level from 4th Ave. east to the field
house. At a point on this north sidewalk, almost directly
across the street from the main entrance to the Service Club,
there is an extension of this sidewalk south that forms a
culvert over the drainage ditch that parallels Fort Smith
Boulevard on the north side and this enables a pedestrian to
cross directly over the street from the north side to the
Service Club, without getting off the sidewalk or pavement.
"A
gravel alley leads off south of Fort Smith Boulevard 60 feet
west of the west building line of Service Club No. 1, and it,
also, leads off north of Fort Smith Boulevard 72 feet west of
the field house.
"The
principal means of transportation or conveyance of civilian
employees at the camp, and soldiers, from Fort Smith to Camp
Chaffee, and over the streets within the camp area, is by bus
and private automobiles. Camp Chaffee Transit Company
operates buses from Fort Smith into Camp Chaffee, and return.
These buses enter the camp area and proceed
regularly along designated routes, over streets inside the
camp area, one of them being 4th Ave. Bus stops are made at
regular, designated places on those streets. Civilians and
soldiers travel by bus and private cars upon the streets in
Camp Chaffee. The regular bus fare from Fort Smith to Camp
Chaffee, and return, is 35 cents. The nearest regular bus
stop for a person going from Fort Smith to Service Club No. 1
is at the northwest corner of the intersection of 4th Ave.
and Fort Smith Boulevard. This is approximately 360 feet west
of Service Club No. 1.
"Service
Club No. 1 is located at Camp Chaffee, on the south side of
Fort Smith Boulevard, and about 360 feet east of 4th Ave.
This is a recreation place where food and drinks are served
to soldiers and civilians. It was always operated exclusively
by civilian employees, under jurisdiction of the Special
Service officers. That building set back 16 feet south of the
stone sidewalk on the south side of the street. The main
entrance to the building is through a double door in front of
the building. There is another door east of this, which opens
into the cafeteria building, and also a rear door to the
building. The employees at Service Club No. 1 are permitted
to enter the building through either door, but they generally
use the main front entrance door. It is approximately 46 feet
from the main front entrance door to the west line of
northwest corner of the building.
"Etta
M. Silence, a civilian, residing at 3526 Eller St., Fort
Smith, Arkansas, entered the employ of Service Club No. 1 at
Camp Chaffee, as civilian cook, on April 18, 1942. Her
residence and employment in this capacity continued until the
time of her injury hereinafter described. She traveled from
her residence in Fort Smith, to and from her place of work,
by bus of the Camp Chaffee Transit Company, paying her own
fare. Her employer did not furnish her transportation. Her
hours of employment commenced upon her arrival in Service
Club No. 1, at 7:30 a.m. and terminated upon her departure
from said place of work at 4:00 p.m., daily. Her average
weekly wages in said employment at the time of her injury,
hereinafter described, was $ 27.50.
"On the morning of February 15, 1944, Mrs.
Silence left her home in Fort Smith en route to her work, and
traveled by bus of Camp Chaffee Transit Company to the
intersection of 4th Ave. and Fort Smith Boulevard in Camp
Chaffee. She paid her own fare for transportation. The bus on
which she was a passenger reached the regular, designated bus
stop at the northwest corner of the intersection of 4th Ave.
and Fort Smith Boulevard. She debarked from the bus there, at
approximately 7:30 a.m. There were two ways by which she
could then reach Service Club No. 1. She could have walked
east and on the north side of Fort Smith Boulevard to a point
opposite Service Club No. 1, crossing south, where there is a
walk south over the drainage ditch, parallel with Fort Smith
Boulevard on the north side thereof, or she could have
crossed to the south side of Fort Smith Boulevard from the
point where she debarked from the bus, or at any point
between
the place of such debarkation and Service Club No. 1, but on
this occasion she followed the route usually followed by her
in going to Service Club No. 1 from the bus stop. When the
accident hereinafter described occurred, Mrs. Silence was
walking east on the sidewalk on the south side of Fort Smith
Boulevard, and had reached a point on said sidewalk 15 feet
east of the west wall of said Service Club No. 1 building,
and approximately 31 feet west of the main entrance of said
building.
"Under
the military rule in force, each organization within the camp
area is required to police its own area. The hostesses in
Service Club No. 1 are responsible for the policing
(cleaning) of the sidewalks and grounds around its building
including the sidewalk running in front of the building where
Mrs. Silence fell. The regularly employed janitors at Service
Club No. 1, under the direction of the persons in charge of
the Service Club, sweep and clean the sidewalk in front of
the Service Club every day, and oftener when necessary. At
times, when the janitor service at the Service Club is
insufficient the hostesses sometimes request a detail of
prisoners of war, but this request is done through the Camp
Special Service officer, and not direct. Some two days before
the accident prisoners of war detail were used
throughout the entire camp area, for cleaning away ice and
snow, and some of the cleaning was done in front of the
Service Club No. 1 building. However, Miss Kay Carden, the
director of Service Club No. 1, personally directed the
cleaning of the sidewalk where Mrs. Silence later fell, using
for the purpose two of her own porters, and removed a coating
of ice from the place at or near where Mrs. Silence fell. The
prisoners of war did not clean that portion of the sidewalk
for the reason that that portion had already been done by
those in charge at Service Club No. 1. During the night
before the accident of Mrs. Silence, water ran across the
south sidewalk and froze at a place in the center of the
sidewalk 15 feet east...
