Hawkins v. Louisville & N.R. Co.

• Decision Date: 30 June 1905
• Parties: HAWKINS v. LOUISVILLE & N. R. CO.
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

40 So. 293

145 Ala. 385

HAWKINS v. LOUISVILLE & N. R. CO.

Supreme Court of Alabama

June 30, 1905

Rehearing Denied Jan. 30, 1906.

Appeal from City Court of Birmingham; C. W. Ferguson, Judge.

"To be officially reported."

Action by James F. Hawkins against the Louisville & Nashville Railroad Co. From a judgment for defendant, plaintiff appeals. Affirmed.

This was an action by James F. Hawkins against the Louisville &amp Nashville Railroad Company to recover fees for inspecting oil, and was tried upon the following agreed statement of facts: "It is agreed by and between the plaintiff and defendant that James F. Hawkins is now, and was on the 14th day of September, 1904, and prior thereto, county inspector of miners' oil in and for the county of Jefferson, state of Alabama, having been duly appointed and qualified as provided by an act of the Legislature of Alabama, approved by the Governor on the 27th day of February, 1901 (Acts 1900-1901, p. 1249), entitled 'An act to prevent the sale or use in the county of Jefferson of impure miners' oils or other material that shall be used for illuminating purposes in mines, and providing for the inspection of miners' oils or other material used as a substitute therefor,' and this act is hereby specially referred to and made a part hereof as if fully set out herein; that on the 14th day of September, 1904, or prior thereto, the Standard Oil Company, a corporation engaged in the manufacture and sale of miners' oil at Birmingham, in Jefferson county, Ala., six barrels of miners' oil to be shipped to the persons or corporations named in the plaintiff's complaint, at different places in Jefferson county; that the said oil was intended for use as miners' oil and for illuminating purposes in the mines of Jefferson county, Ala. It is further agreed that the said barrels to be shipped to the Pratt Coal Company, at Mineral Springs, Ala contained 50 gallons in one barrel and 51 gallons in another barrel; that said miners' oil to be shipped to the Sayer Mining Company at Sayer, Ala., contained 48 gallons in one barrel and 50 gallons in another barrel; that the said barrel of miners' oil to be shipped to the Pratt Coal Company at Crocker, Ala., contained 52 gallons; that said barrels of miners' oil to be shipped to the Pratt Coal Company, at Arcadia, Ala., contained 49 gallons, and that all of the said oil amounted to 300 gallons; and that said oil was bought for use, and intended to be used by the persons to whom it was to be shipped, as miners' oil and for illuminating purposes in the mines of Jefferson county, Ala. It is further agreed that the plaintiff found the oils above described in the freight depot of the defendant corporation, marked ready for shipment to the parties above named, and that none of the barrels containing miners' oil had been duly and carefully inspected or marked, after the said oil had been placed in said barrels, by the plaintiff, or by any one authorized by him to inspect the same, and that upon discovery of said barrels in said depot the plaintiff took possession of the said barrels of oil and duly inspected the oil in the same, as required by the said act of the Legislature heretofore referred to; that this inspection by the plaintiff was made on September 14, 1904, being the day following the discovery of the said oils in the defendant's depot. The said oils met the requirements specified by the act of the Legislature, requiring the plaintiff to inspect the miners' oils, and that plaintiff affixed, by stencil, on each of said barrels, the words 'Jefferson County Test 24 Degrees.' Plaintiff attached the following statement in writing to each of the said barrels: 'This package is held for inspector's fees, and any person removing the same without first paying such fees will be guilty of a violation of the law. Fees of inspector, 96 cents. This the 14th day of September 1904. James F. Hawkins, C. O. Inspector of Miners' Oils.' After due inspection of the said barrels and the oil therein contained plaintiff attached a tag, showing that they had stood the test for use as miners' oils and for illuminating purposes in the mines of Jefferson county, Ala as required by law, and after attaching the statement as required by law, and after attaching the statement to each barrel that it was held for the fees of the inspector which was unpaid, the plaintiff notified the defendant not to remove the said barrels or either of them without first paying the inspector's fees due. The defendant refused to pay the said fees for inspection, but held said barrels at the depot for two or three days, at which later time each of the said barrels were shipped or taken by the defendant and delivered to the parties to whom they were shipped, in Jefferson county, Ala. It is further agreed that, when plaintiff discovered the oil above mentioned at defendant's depot, each of the said barrels had plainly stenciled on its head the following words: 'The contents of this package taken from the tank inspected by the county inspector of miners' oils under date of September 8th '04'--which the plaintiff then and there read. And it is further agreed that on the day of September, 1904, the plaintiff did inspect a tank of oil for the Standard Oil Company, and that the same was up to the test requirements provided for by the said act of the Legislature of Alabama, and the plaintiff duly stamped said tank 'Jefferson County Test 24 Degrees,' and dated the same September 8, 1904, and affixed his official signature thereto. And it is further agreed that plaintiff was not present when the oil was removed from said tank so inspected by him, and that he had no knowledge before that the oil contained in the said barrels in the defendant's depot had been inspected, and no notice thereof, unless it be that the words, 'The contents of this package taken from the tank inspected by the county inspector of miners' oil, under date of September 8th, '04,' was notice to him that it had been duly inspected by him. It is further agreed that on September 8, 1904, when the plaintiff inspected the tank of oil for the Standard Oil Company, that it contained about 5,000 gallons of miners' oil; that he left the premises of the Standard Oil Company, for whom the same was inspected, and that he did not see the oil removed from said tank, but that a part of it was placed in the barrels found in the defendant's depot; and that all the oil in the barrels, which was inspected by the plaintiff and for which inspection fees this suit is brought, was inspected in the tank on September 8, 1904, for the Standard Oil Company, by the plaintiff, and that the fees for the first said inspection in the tank were paid on the date of such inspection. The Standard Oil Company, by its agents, in the absence of an inspection of such oil, loaded a part of it from the inspected tank into the barrels in which it was found in the defendant's depot. It was not placed in these barrels in the presence of the plaintiff or any one authorized by him to act for him. It was so loaded without requesting him to be present when the oil was placed in the barrels wherein it was found; but after he was informed by the Standard Oil Company of its purpose to load said oil into...