Kelley v. Boston Lead Co.
| Decision Date | 05 March 1880 |
| Citation | 128 Mass. 456 |
| Parties | Catherine Kelley, administratrix, v. Boston Lead Company |
| Court | United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court |
Suffolk. Tort for a personal injury occasioned to the plaintiff's intestate by the alleged negligence of the defendant corporation. Trial in the Superior Court, before Wilkinson, J., who ordered a verdict for the defendant, and reported the case for the determination of this court, in substance as follows:
The defendant used in its business a building one story and a half in height, through which ran a driveway; on each side of the driveway were bins, into which the workmen were obliged to go to place the materials used in making white lead. Opposite to each bin was a platform elevator, projecting into the driveway, which was raised up and down by a rope running from the top of the elevator and fastened to and coiled around a revolving drum near the top of the building. There were grooves in the side timbers of the openings of each bin into which each elevator fitted, and there were cleats to keep the elevator in place; but there were no appliances to keep the elevator from falling in case the rope which suspended it should break, or any other accident happen. The machinery which caused the drum to revolve was brought into gearing with a main shaft, and set in motion by pulling a wire rope which passed by the side of the elevator to the driveway. By pulling another rope, the elevator could be stopped.
These elevators were constructed and used for the purpose of taking the materials used in making white lead to the bins, and there was no evidence that they were constructed or used for any other purpose, although there was evidence that the workmen sometimes went up and down on them.
On the morning of the accident, the plaintiff's intestate, who had been in the employ of the defendant for about five weeks was on his way to his work in one of the bins, when he was injured by one of the elevators falling from above. There was no evidence whether the elevator had been used before on that day or not, or that the rope was broken when the elevator came down, or that it was unfastened from the drum, or that the platform came out of place in coming down, or that there was anything out of order in any part of the machinery. The only evidence given in explanation of the sudden descent of the elevator was that the rope was loose or uncoiled from the drum, when a workman, who had gone into the...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Kappes v. Brown Shoe Company
...Edison, etc., Co., 159 Mass. 379, 382; Headford v. McClary Mfg. Co., 23 On. 335; Pettigrew v. Ore & Steel Co., 14 Mo.App. 441; Kelly v. Lead Co., 128 Mass. 456; 10 Am. & Eng. Enc. Law (2 Ed.), 952. The death of plaintiff's son was caused by his own negligence. The evidence was clear and und......
-
Doughty v. Penobscot Log Driving Co.
... ... v. St. S. Refinery, 122 Mass. 400; Summersell v. v ... Fish, 117 Mass. 312; Johnson v. Boston, 118 ... Mass. 114; Albro v. Agawam Co. 6 Cush. 75; Hard ... v. Vt. C. R. Co. 32 Vt. 473; Redf ... Rackliff, 71 Me. 345; Noyes v. Smith, 28 Vt ... 59; Ormand v. Holland, 96 E. C. L. 102; Kelley ... v. Boston Lead Co. 128 Mass. 456; Walker v. B. & ... M. R. Co. 128 Mass. 8; Holden v ... ...
-
Holden v. Fitchburg Railroad Co.
...Mass. 152. Colton v. Richards, 123 Mass. 484. Smith v. Lowell Manuf. Co. 124 Mass. 114. Morse v. Glendon Co. 125 Mass. 282. Kelley v. Boston Lead Co. 128 Mass. 456. See also Tarrant v. Webb, 18 C. B. Hall v. Johnson, 3 H. & C. 589; Wilson v. Merry, above cited. The reasons and the limits of......
-
Mulvey v. Rhode Island Locomotive Works
... ... Hoffnagle v. New York Cent. & H. River R. R. Co ... 55 N.Y. 608. See, also, Kelly v. Boston Lead Co. 128 ... Mass. 456; O'Connor v. Roberts, 120 Mass. 227; ... Thayer v. St. Louis, Alton & ... he knew the danger, must be held to have assumed the risk ... Kelley v. Silver Spring Co. 12 R.I. 112. But we do ... not think that he must have known the danger ... ...