Hoffmeyer v. State

• Decision Date: 27 March 1906
• Docket Number: No. 5,951.,5,951.
• Citation: 77 N.E. 372,37 Ind.App. 526
• Parties: HOFFMEYER v. STATE.
• Court: Indiana Appellate Court

37 Ind.App. 526

77 N.E. 372

HOFFMEYER

v.STATE.

No. 5,951.

Appellate Court of Indiana, Division No. 2.

March 27, 1906.

Appeal from Criminal Court, Marion County; Fremont Alford, Judge.

Prosecution against Fred Hoffmeyer for a violation of Burns' Rev. St. 1901, §§ 7087h, being “An act concerning labor,” etc. From a judgment finding defendant guilty and imposing a fine, he appeals. Transferred from the Supreme Court. Affirmed.W. H. Latta and G. W. Payne, for appellant. C. W. Miller, Atty. Gen., C. C. Hadley, W. C. Geake, and Henry Dowling, for the State.

COMSTOCK, J.

The affidavit upon which the prosecution was founded was filed by David F. Spees, chief deputy state inspector of the department of inspection of the state of Indiana, before William C. Smock, a justice of the peace in Center township, Marion county, of said state. It alleged that Fred Hoffmeyer was superintendent of and in charge of the workshop for the repair and manufacture of articles and that Henry Courtat was foreman of said shop; that the shop was owned and controlled by the Indianapolis Traction & Terminal Company, a corporation controlling and conducting a street railway in the city of Indianapolis, of said county and state; that on or about the 24th day of April there was an accident, which happened in said shop to one M. L. Weaver; and that said Fred Hoffmeyer and Henry Courtat failed to report in writing, within 24 hours of its happening, the accident, to the chief inspector of the state of Indiana. The defendant moved to quash the affidavit, which motion was overruled. The motion to quash the affidavit as to Henry Courtat was sustained. The case was tried before Justice of the Peace Smock, and the defendant was found guilty and fined $1 and costs. An appeal was taken from said judgment to the Marion criminal court, and there the case was submitted to the court without a jury, upon an agreed statement of facts; the defendant, Fred Hoffmeyer, pleading not guilty. Upon the facts submitted the court found the defendant guilty as charged and fixed his fine at $5.

Appellant contends that the Indianapolis Traction & Terminal Company is not engaged in manufacturing, and for that reason the judgment should be reversed. This question is presented by the assignment of errors and discussed by counsel. The affidavit is based upon section 8 of “An act concerning labor,” etc. Acts 1899, p. 234, c. 142; Burns' Rev. St. 1901, § 7087h. The facts agreed upon are substantially as follows: The defendant, Fred Hoffmeyer, was, on the 24th day of April, 1905, a superintendent of a certain repair and workshop in the city of Indianapolis, Marion county, Ind. That on said day there was an accident in said shop whereby injury was done to one of the employés therein, named Monroe L. Weaver. That said Hoffmeyer did not within 48 hours of the time of the accident, or since, report the same to the chief factory inspector of the state of Indiana. That said shop is the property of, and was owned and operated by, the Indianapolis Traction & Terminal Company, a corporation organized under the laws of the state of Indiana, for the incorporation of street railway companies, in pursuance of the terms and provisions of the act for the incorporation of street railways, as set forth in sections 5450 and 5479a in the Revised Statutes of the State of Indiana of 1901. That said Indianapolis Traction & Terminal Company is not organized under any part or any of the provisions of the manufacturing and mining act or the voluntary association act. That said Indianapolis Traction & Terminal Company, or any employé thereof, nor any person working in or about said repair and work shop in which said accident happened, is not engaged in the manufacture of any article whatever, unless the following is manufacturing within the terms of the statutes: That said company in said repair and work shop whenever the floors in any cars become broken, does take flooring and cut the same on circular saws to fit and put the same in place on the floor of said cars. That when any of the signs on any cars are broken the said company does, from lumber bought for and delivered to said shop, repair and replace the same. Said signs are repaired by taking boards and cutting out the letters with saws in said shop, then fitting celluloid and iron castings purchased for the purpose on the same whereby the sign is held in place on the car; they are then painted. That whenever a window sash or car door is broken or needs repairs the same is fixed by putting in a new piece of lumber for that purpose and using as much of the old door or sash as is practicable. That signs for baseball parks and band concerts are prepared in said shops as follows: Rough boards are cut in lengths of about 2 feet and nailed together, planed, painted, fitted on iron castings bought for the purpose, and set temporarily in cast iron sockets on the cars. Some others are prepared by pasting printed notices on rough boards, which are fitted in said iron castings. There are in said shops planing machines, shappers or fizzers, circular saws, band saws, rip saws, cut-off saws, gig...