Huelsmann v. Stute & Co.

• Citation: 28 S.W.2d 387
• Decision Date: 03 June 1930
• Docket Number: No. 21193.,21193.
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals
• Parties: HUELSMANN v. STUTE & CO. et al.

28 S.W.2d 387

HUELSMANN v. STUTE & CO. et al.

No. 21193.

St. Louis Court of Appeals. Missouri.

June 3, 1930.

As Modified on Denial of Rehearing. June 18, 1930.

Appeal from St. Louis Circuit Court; Frank Landwehr, Judge.

"Not to be officially published."

Proceeding under the Workmen's Compensation Act by Bridget Huelsmann to recover compensation for the death of her husband, August Huelsmann, employee, opposed by Stute & Co., a corporation, employer, and the Travelers' Insurance Company, insurer. From a judgment affirming an award of compensation by the Workmen's Compensation Commission, the employer and insurer appeal.

Affirmed.

Jones, Hocker, Sullivan & Angert, of St. Louis, for appellants.

Stout & Spencer, of St. Louis, for respondent.

BENNICK, C.

This is an appeal by the employer and the insurer from the judgment of the circuit court affirming an award of the Workmen's Compensation Commission.

The claimant is the widow and total dependent of August Huelsmann, who came to his death on August 31, 1928, while in the employ of Stute & Co., at 309 Lynch street, in the city of St. Louis.

There were no eyewitnesses to the accident, and the evidence regarding the cause of Huelsmann's death is largely circumstantial. All parties are agreed that he was doing some cementing inside of a boiler, and that he had an electric light extension cord along with him to furnish the light for his work. At 4:30 o'clock in the afternoon, Frank J. Mueller, the employer's manager, called to Huelsmann, and, receiving no response, he looked inside the boiler, and saw the deceased sitting or lying motionless on the floor, with his head reclining upon his right arm, which rested against the side of the boiler. Mueller thereupon called an employee named Montelbano, and the two of them removed the body of the deceased from the boiler, pending the arrival of a physician who pronounced him dead.

Mueller testified that he saw the extension cord inside the boiler; that the light was not burning; and that the cord was not wrapped around any part of the body of the deceased, although he might have been sitting upon it. Montelbano corroborated the substance of Mueller's testimony, and denied that he had ever told any one that the cord was wrapped around Huelsmann's left wrist. However, Fred Mueller, the brother of Frank Mueller, testified that Montelbano had told him that when they took the deceased out of the boiler the cord was found wrapped around his left hand.

The claimant testified that about 5:30 p. m. Mr. Westermeyer, one of the employer's clerks, came to her home and advised her of her husband's death; and certain of the relatives testified that Westermeyer had informed them on the same occasion that the deceased either had been electrocuted, or had died from a heart attack, and that they had found the cord wrapped around his arm. Westermeyer admitted having told the relatives that the deceased might have been electrocuted, but he denied having informed them that the cord was wrapped around his arm.

The claimant and a number of other witnesses testified that, when they examined the body of the deceased on the day following his death, they found a mark across the back of the left wrist about three-eighths of an inch in width, and indicating by the shriveled and cracked condition of the skin that it had been caused by a burn. The claimant testified further that it was a fresh burn, and had not been present upon her husband's arm when she last saw him alive at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, an hour or so before his death. Opposed to this, there was testimony from certain employees that they saw no burn, although it does not appear that they were looking for marks or wounds of any character; and two police officers testified that they made an examination of the entire body at the morgue, and saw no such mark as the widow and her witnesses testified to. It appears, however, that the sleeves of the garments the deceased was wearing would very likely have hidden the mark from anything except a close inspection, and that even at the morgue, where the body was unclothed, the hands were covered with cement, so that the burn might have been obscured.

After Huelsmann's death, an employee named Rodgers was assigned to complete the repairs to the boiler, and he testified that, when he attempted to screw the globe into the socket of the extension cord, he received a shock which caused him to drop the cord instantly. He stated further that short circuits were frequently to be found around boilers, and that the electric charge attains three times its usual severity when it is grounded through metal such as that of which the boiler was composed. A second employee, Jader, testified that he received a shock through the cord proper; and a third employee, Hamelson, stated that he examined the cord the deceased was using after it had been removed from the boiler, and that he observed that the insulation was frayed, particularly near the socket where the globe was attached.

The widow testified that her husband was in good health when he left home that morning, when he returned for lunch, and again at 2 o'clock when she last saw him; that he was a strong healthy man; and that ...