Larson v. Knapp, Stout & Co.
| Decision Date | 11 January 1898 |
| Citation | 98 Wis. 178,73 N.W. 992 |
| Court | Wisconsin Supreme Court |
| Parties | LARSON v. KNAPP, STOUT & CO. COMPANY. |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Appeal from circuit court, Dunn county; A. J. Vinje, Judge.
Action by Christ Larson, by guardian ad litem, against the Knapp, Stout & Co. Company. Judgment for defendant, and plaintiff appeals. Affirmed.
Personal injuries. The plaintiff, in June, 1895, was a minor, 17 years and 4 months old, and was employed by the defendant in its sawmill at Cedar Falls, operating a lath machine. He had worked for the defendant company four summers in the same mill; the first two summers being employed in laying up bolts or slabs on one side of the lath table for the bolters, and the last two summers in sawing lath at the lath machine. This machine consisted of a long platform or table extending from north to south, at the north end being a circular saw known as the “bolting saw,” and at the south end, where the plaintiff stood, were two 10-inch circular saws, three-eighths of an inch apart, extending up above the table two or three inches, which the plaintiff fed, and thus made laths. The power was transmitted to both the bolting saw and the lath saws by belt from below at about the middle of the table; and at a point midway between the place where the feeder of the bolting saw stood and the plaintiff's place was a lever which operated a clutch pulley which would stop the entire machine at any time. The plaintiff knew of this lever and its use, and had frequently used it, and had a right to use it when necessary. These machines were stopped several times every day by reason of running out of material. Under the table, and immediately beneath the lath saws, was a rectangular spout inclosing the saws, and which tapered down to a hole in the floor, and was designed to carry off the refuse sawdust and splinters from the lath saws. The north side of this spout, as it tapered towards the floor, came within about three-eighths of an inch of the most northerly lath saw, and the evidence shows that this space frequently became clogged with sawdust and splinters, causing the saw to become hot, and to cut unevenly. Just south of the two saws, a portion of the top of the table, extending clear across the table, could be removed. It appears that some two weeks before the 25th of June Mr. Fletcher, who was in charge of the mill, saw that the machine was clogged, and the laths were being cut unevenly, and told the plaintiff to clean out the accumulation of débris, and keep it clean. The saw was then running, and the plaintiff, without stopping the saw, removed the movable portion of the table, took a piece of lath in his hand, and put his hand down into the spout, and reached around the saws, and poked out the obstruction from the three-eighths inch space. The plaintiff...
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