Harder & Hafer Coal Min. Co. of Sullivan County, Ind. v. Schmidt

• Decision Date: 02 October 1900
• Docket Number: 651.
• Citation: 104 F. 282
• Parties: HARDER & HAFER COAL MIN. CO. OF SULLIVAN COUNTY, IND., v. SCHMIDT.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

104 F. 282

HARDER & HAFER COAL MIN. CO. OF SULLIVAN COUNTY, IND., v. SCHMIDT.

No. 651.

United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit.

October 2, 1900

O. W Dynes, for plaintiff in error.

Cyrus J. Wood, for defendant in error.

In Error to the Circuit Court of the United States for the Northern Division of the Northern District of Illinois.

The defendant in error was the plaintiff in the court below, and obtained a verdict and judgment against the plaintiff in error, defendant below, in the sum of two thousand eight hundred and ninety-five dollars damages for personal injuries received by the defendant in error in the mines of the plaintiff in error. The principal error relied upon is that the court refused, at the conclusion of the testimony, on motion of the plaintiff in error, to instruct the jury to find a verdict for the plaintiff in error.

The evidence was somewhat contradictory, but the facts found by the verdict of the jury, upon the instructions given, and supported by a sufficient weight of evidence, may be stated as follows:

The plaintiff in error was, on the 20th of December, 1894, a corporation under the laws of Indiana, conducting a coal mining business in Sullivan county in that state.

The general plan of the mines, so far as it need be considered is, in substance: A long horizontal passageway called the 'main entry' runs north and south past the foot of the hoisting shaft. This passageway is used for drawing cars of coal to the shaft. Other similar passageways used for the same purpose are cut at right angles to the main entry or passageway, and they also run in a horizontal direction, and the coal cars are drawn in them from the 'rooms' where the miners excavate the coal, over to the main entry where they turn and traverse the main entry to the hoisting shaft. These latter passageways, which run east and west, or at right angles to the main passageway or entry, are high enough for a man to walk in and wide enough for cars to be pulled through, averaging from six to nine feet in width.

From these east and west passageways the miners bore into the coal veins at regular intervals or distances along the passageway and make what are called 'rooms.' The room is made by excavating or removing the coal, and it is in these rooms that the actual mining work of dislodging coal is performed.

Before the room is made, there is a piece of technical work performed called 'turning the room,' which means making a doorway from the passage into the room. This is done by picking or blasting a hole about four feet wide and four feet high into the side of the passageway, a distance of about six feet. When the miner clears out such a hole he may then remove the coal lying beyond and open up the area called the 'room.'

Sections 7472 and 7479 of the Mining Act of Indiana (Burns' Rev. St. 1894) are as follows:

'7472. Duties of Bosses.-- That the mining boss shall visit and examine every working place in the mine at least every alternate day while the miners of such place are, or should be at work, and shall examine and see that each and every working place is properly secured by props or timber, and that safety in all respects is assured, and, when found unsafe, he shall order and direct that no person shall be permitted in an unsafe place, unless it be for the purpose of making it safe. He shall see that a sufficient supply of props, caps and timber are always on hand at the miners' working places. He shall see, also, that all loose coal, slate and rock overhead, wherein miners have to travel to and from their work are carefully secured.'

'7479. Mining Boss-- Duties.-- That in order to secure the proper ventilation of each coal mine, and promote the health and safety of the persons employed therein, the owner, operator, agent or lessee shall employ a competent mining boss, who shall be an experienced coal miner and shall keep a careful watch over the ventilating apparatus and the air ways, and shall see that, as the miners advance their excavations, all loose coal, slate and rock overhead are carefully secured against falling therein on the traveling and airways. He shall measure the air current at least once a week at the inlet and outlet, and at or near the face of the entries; he shall keep a record of such measurements which shall be entered in a book kept for that purpose, the said book to be open for the inspection of the mine inspector. He shall, also, on or about the first day of each month, mail to the inspector a true copy of the air measurements given, stating, also the number of persons employed in or about said mine, the number of mules and horses used and the number of days worked in each month. Blanks for this purpose shall be furnished by the state to the inspector and by the inspector to each mine boss.'

In the operation of these mines the miners were paid sixty cents a ton for the coal mined and loaded, and two dollars for turning the room. In a general way, a miner, with his help or buddy, worked a room, each other miner, with his help or buddy, working some other room; but occasionally a miner had more than one helper, especially when he wished to help one who was waiting for a place as an employee.

The plaintiff, Herman Schmidt, was a practical coal miner of about twenty-four years experience, but had been employed in the defendant's mine for about two weeks. With his buddy, he was engaged in mining coal from one of the rooms.

On the day when the accident occurred the mine was shut down to such an...