Billows v. Moors
| Decision Date | 23 June 1894 |
| Citation | 162 Mass. 42,37 N.E. 750 |
| Parties | BILLOWS v. MOORS. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court |
This was an action of tort to recover for personal injuries sustained by plaintiff while using a freight elevator or lift at Hotel Edinburgh, 261 Columbus avenue, in the city of Boston. It was admitted that defendant was the owner of said building, and that one Curtis was the agent of the defendant, and had general charge and supervision of said building. Plaintiff offered evidence tending to show that the elevator upon which the plaintiff was injured was defective and out of repair, through negligence on the part of the owner, as set forth in her declaration, and that, by reason of such defective condition, she sustained the injuries complained of. She testified that, at the time of the injury complained of, she was living with her husband at the said Hotel Edinburgh, and had been living there since November 16 1891, and that her husband was employed as janitor of said building by defendant. There were two elevators in said building,--one, which was an ordinary passenger elevator, on the westerly side of said building, which ran from the first floor above the basement to the sixth story of said building. The other was an ordinary freight elevator or lift, about 31/2 feet square, on the easterly side of the building, and which ran from the basement floor to the top floor of said building. It ran one story higher and one story lower than the passenger elevator. By the terms of her husband's contract with the defendant, her husband was to perform the ordinary duties of janitor, which included the care and management of both the elevators in said building, and for his services he received a stipulated compensation, and also the use of a certain suite of rooms in the basement of the building. She also testified that on December 9, 1891, her husband was at work in one of the suites in said building and that he rang a bell, and asked her if she would not go up and show Mrs. Nichols (a lady who had just moved in) a place on the roof where she could hang her clothes. That she thereupon put the clothes on the freight elevator, and started the freight elevator up to the top story, and that she and Mrs. Nichols proceeded to walk up to the top story. The freight elevator was so balanced by weights that, when the main rope was liberated, it would of itself ascend, and carry about 70 pounds to the roof. That, when she got to the top story, she helped Mrs. Nichols put her basket on the roof, but that it was so icy they could not find the numbers, and she then proceeded to go down. That she stepped onto the elevator from the top landing, to go down. That she did so by standing on the platform, and passing her foot over the top of a railing at the side of the elevator about 18 inches from the floor, onto the elevator. That she took the "check" or brake rope in her hand, and that the elevator went as fast as it could to the bottom. That some time after the elevator was started, and before it reached the bottom, the ropes came about her head; she was all...
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