Commonwealth v. Hillside Coal Co.

• Citation: 109 Ky. 47
• Parties: Commonwealth v. Hillside Coal Co.
• Decision Date: 27 September 1900
• Court: Kentucky Court of Appeals

Page 47

109 Ky. 47

Commonwealth v. Hillside Coal Co.

Court of Appeals of Kentucky.

September 27, 1900.

APPEAL FROM MUHLENBERG CIRCUIT COURT.

INDICTMENT DISMISSED AND COMMONWEALTH APPEALS. REVERSED.

CLIFTON J. PRATT, ATTORNEY GENERAL & C. P. MOTLEY, FOR APPELLANT.

JOHN ALLISON, ATTORNEY FOR APPELLEE.

OPINION OF THE COURT BY CHIEF JUSTICE HAZELRIGG—REVERSING.

The appellee is engaged in the mining business, employing more than ten men, and, although able financially to do so, failed to pay in lawful money an employe on the 16th of April, 1899, the wages due him for the preceding month. A demurrer to the indictment, which was found on April 26, 1899, and which charged substantially the foregoing facts, was sustained by the trial court; hence this appeal by the Commonwealth. Section 244 of the Constitution provides that "all wage-earners in this State employed in factories, mines, workshops or by corporations shall be paid for their labor in lawful money." Section 1350 of the Kentucky Statutes provides that one who violates the provisions of section 244 of the Constitution shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and be punished by a fine of not exceeding $500 for each violation. A still later statute (section 2739a, Kentucky Statutes), it being the law under which the present indictment was found, provides as follows: "Section 2739a. (1) That all persons, associations companies and corporations employing the service of ten or more persons in any mining work or mining industry in this Commonwealth, shall on or before the sixteenth day of each month, pay for the month previous, such servant or employes on his or their order in lawful money of the United States the full amount of wages due such servant or employes rendering such services. But if such person, corporation or company, after using due diligence, is unable to make said payment as above required, he or it shall within fifteen days thereafter make out a pay-roll and statement of amount due each employe and also a due-bill for said sum bearing interest from said sixteenth day of the month, and deliver same to each of said employes." A succeeding section makes it unlawful for one employing such servants or employes to coerce or require them to deal with, or purchase merchandise from, any person or company or at any place or store, or to exclude laborers from work, for failing to deal with any person, or at any place or store, or to blacklist them for such failure, etc. A third section makes a violation of the preceding sections a misdemeanor, and fixed the punishment of the offender at a fine of not less than $50, nor more than $100.

A preliminary objection to the indictment by the appellant is that, as the operator has fifteen days after failing to pay within which to execute his due-bill, no indictment can be found until after the expiration of this time. It will be seen, however, that one who...