Dickinson v. Indus. Bd. of Illinois

• Decision Date: 23 October 1917
• Docket Number: No. 11425.,11425.
• Citation: 280 Ill. 342,117 N.E. 438
• Parties: DICKINSON et al. v. INDUSTRIAL BOARD OF ILLINOIS et al.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

280 Ill. 342

117 N.E. 438

DICKINSON et al.

v.INDUSTRIAL BOARD OF ILLINOIS et al.

No. 11425.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Oct. 23, 1917.

Error to Circuit Court, Cook County; Oscar M. Torrison, Judge.

Application to the Industrial Board of Illinois by Emil Olson, employé, for compensation for a temporary total incapacity, opposed by Jacob M. Dickinson and others, receivers of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway Company, employer. Compensation was awarded, and the award was confirmed by the circuit court, and the case certified as one proper to be reviewed by the Supreme Court, and the employer brings error. Judgment affirmed.

William J. Weldon, of Chicago, for plaintiffs in error.

John J. Poulton, of Chicago, for defendants in error.

DUNN, J.

The plaintiffs in error are receivers of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway Company, and on May 15, 1915, were engaged in the work of elevating the main tracks of the railroad in the city of Chicago on a right of way 100 feet wide. Emil Olson was employed by them as a carpenter, building forms on the margins of the right of way, into which concrete was to be poured for the purpose of forming retaining walls. The forms were to be removed after the concrete had set and the space between the walls was to be filled with material upon which the elevated tracks would rest, bridges being constructed across the intervening streets. The railroad was in use during the construction of the forms by many trains, both interstate and intrastate. While he was at work sawing a timber the wind blew the dust into Olson's left eye, injuring the sight and causing a temporary total incapacity. On his application to the Industrial Board he was awarded compensation amounting to $143.55 and $67 for medical attention. The circuit court of Cook county having confirmed the award and certified the case to be one proper to be reviewed by this court, a writ of error was sued out for that purpose.

It is insisted that the injury did not arise out of the employment, and that the Industrial Board had no jurisdiction because the injury occurred while Olson was engaged in interstate commerce. In his application the claimant, after stating that he was sawing timbers, at the time of the accident, for bracing the inside footing of the embankment wall, stated:

‘Description of accident and cause of injury? Dirt or sawdust or some other foreign substance entered left eye.’

In his testimony he said:

‘I was sawing some timber for the footings there, you know, for bracing, and the wind was kind of strong that day and the dust was flying in my eye-the left eye.’

The plaintiffs in error argue that Olson does not say that he got sawdust in his eye; that it cannot be assumed that he meant sawdust when he said dust; and that there was as much reason to presume that the injury was caused by ordinary dust blown about by the wind as that it arose out of any condition peculiar to the employment. His testimony shows the circumstances under which the accident happened. There was no cross-examination, and it is fairly to be inferred from the witness' language that the dust caused by his sawing flew into his eye.

The plaintiffs in error were operating an interstate as well as an intrastate railroad,...