Innes v. City of Milwaukee

• Decision Date: 03 July 1899
• Citation: 103 Wis. 582,79 N.W. 783
• Parties: INNES v. CITY OF MILWAUKEE.
• Court: Wisconsin Supreme Court

103 Wis. 582

79 N.W. 783

INNES

v.CITY OF MILWAUKEE.

Supreme Court of Wisconsin.

July 3, 1899.

Appeal from circuit court, Milwaukee county; George Clementson, Judge.

Action by Jane Innes, as administratrix, against the city of Milwaukee. From a judgment in favor of plaintiff, defendant appealed. Modified and affirmed.

This action was commenced May 24, 1893, to recover damages for the death of the plaintiff's intestate, caused by the alleged negligence of the defendant under circumstances to the effect that prior to July, 1891, the defendant, being desirous of increasing the capacity of North Point pumping station, where there is a large intake which receives the water from Lake Michigan, and by means of large engines is pumped into the reservoir and mains and pipes throughout the city for the purpose of distributing such water, contracted for and purchased from the E. P. Allis Company, a large pumping engine and a battery of five boilers, to be placed and used in the North Point pumping station; that these boilers were each connected in the rear with a common main steam pipe, so that the steam from all of them passed into it; that from the rear end of each boiler a wrought-iron pipe, 3 inches in diameter, projected down a distance of about 18 inches, and was there screwed into a 3-inch cast-iron elbow, one-fourth of an inch in thickness, into the other end of which elbow a wrought-iron pipe about 5 feet and 3 inches in diameter was screwed; that this latter pipe ran in a nearly horizontal direction back from the boiler through an opening in a brick wall about 6 inches in diameter, over which was a loose iron plate, to a T, and then dropped 3 feet to a drain pipe running into the sewer; that the lower end of this pipe did not rest upon anything, but was to a certain extent flexible; that there was a stop cock and valve in the pipe after it left the T, to prevent the escape of water and steam into the sewer; that this pipe and elbow were known as the “blow-off pipe,” and were used for the purpose of blowing off and cleaning the boiler; that, from the time they left the boiler until they passed through the brick wall, both of the wrought-iron pipes above mentioned and the elbow were exposed, to a greater or less extent, to the heat and flames from the fire under the forward end of the boiler; that there was no circulation in this pipe; that it had what is called a “dead end”; that the blow-off pipe and cast-iron elbow were furnished by the E. P. Allis Company; that the boilers were put into use in July, 1891, and used nearly continuously until January 6, 1892, when the accident occurred; that the plaintiff's intestate was a coal passer in the employ of the defendant at the North Point pumping station; that his duties were to wheel coal to the firemen in the boiler room, to dust off the ends of the boilers, and wheel out ashes; that January 6, 1892, the cast-iron elbow of boiler No. 6 (one of the battery of five boilers referred to) suddenly and without warning burst, and the steam and hot water from the entire battery was forced into the boiler room, and the plaintiff's intestate was so badly scalded by the escaping steam and hot water that he died within a few hours thereafter. Issue being joined, and trial had, the jury returned a special verdict to the effect (1) that Alexander Innes, the son of the plaintiff, was killed January 6, 1892, while in the employment of the defendant as a coal passer in the boiler room of the North Point pumping works, by reason of the bursting of the cast-iron bend in the blow-off pipe connected with a boiler in such works; (2) that such cast-iron bend, considering the material of which it was made, its thickness, the manner of its attachment to the blow-off pipe, and its location, was not such a bend as was generally used by reputable builders of boilers which were intended to be used with the same steam pressure as was used in boilers of such works in blow-off pipes constructed by them at the time the boilers of such pumping works were constructed; (3) that by reason of the material of which it was made, and...