Evans v. City of Kankakee

• Citation: 83 N.E. 223,231 Ill. 223
• Parties: EVANS v. CITY OF KANKAKEE.
• Decision Date: 17 December 1907
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

231 Ill. 223
83 N.E. 223

EVANS
v.
CITY OF KANKAKEE.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Dec. 17, 1907.

Error to Appellate Court, Second District, on Error to Circuit Court, Kankakee County; Frank L. Hooper, Judge.

Action by Harriet Evans against the city of Kankakee. From a judgment of the Appellate Court of the Second District, affirming a judgment dismissing the action, plaintiff brings error. Affirmed.

[231 Ill. 223]W. R. Hunter and B. L. Cooper, for plaintiff in error.

231 Ill. 225]Eben B. Gower, for defendant in error.
[231 Ill. 226]HAND, C. J.

This was an action on the case commenced in the circuit court of Kankakee county by Harriet Evans against the city of Kankakee. The declaration contained six counts, to which a general demurrer was sustained, and the case was dismissed at the cost of the plaintiff, which judgment has been affirmed by the Appellate Court for the Second District, and the plaintiff has sued out a writ of error from this court to review the judgment of the Appellate Court.

The declaration charged, in substance, that the city of Kankakee, in the month of December, 1904, was in the use and control of the first floor of a three-story building situated upon one of the public streets of said city, except one room thereof, which was occupied as a hardware store; that the second floor of the building was occupied by a telephone exchange, where the plaintiff was employed as an operator, and that the third floor was occupied by fraternal societies; that the second and third stories of said building were reached from the street by inside stairways, and that the entire building was heated by a steam plant located in its basement, with steam pipes running from the boilers through the several floors of the building; that the first story was used by the city for city offices and a city calaboose; and that the city wrongfully and negligently [231 Ill. 227]suffered and permitted a man afflicted with smallpox to remain in said city calaboose from the 11th day of December, 1904, to January 1, 1905, which city calaboose was located immediately below the room in which the plaintiff was employed, and that the city burned the clothing of said smallpox patient upon the premises, and that the air which passed through said calaboose and the smoke and fumes from the said burning clothing, laden with smallpox germs, penetrated the room where the plaintiff was employed, whereby the plaintiff became afflicted with smallpox, which necessitated her removal to a pesthouse, in...