Milton v. Biesanz Stone Company
| Decision Date | 07 December 1906 |
| Docket Number | 14,898 - (74) |
| Citation | 109 N.W. 999,99 Minn. 439 |
| Parties | MIRIAM MILTON v. BIESANZ STONE COMPANY |
| Court | Minnesota Supreme Court |
Action in the district court for Winona county by the plaintiff, as administratrix of the estate of Sylvester A. Milton deceased, to recover $5,000 for his death. The case was tried before Snow, J., and a jury which returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff for $1,700. From an order denying a motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict or for a new trial defendant appealed. Affirmed.
Master and Servant -- Verdict.
In an action to recover for the death of plaintiff's intestate, a boy sixteen years of age, whose death was alleged to have been caused by the negligence of defendant, the evidence is considered, and held sufficient to support the verdict of the jury.
Appeal -- Harmless Errors.
It appearing from a special finding of the jury, in answer to a specific question submitted to them, the ground upon which the general verdict was founded, errors of the court in reference to other theories of the case held not reversible.
Assignments of Error.
Certain assignments of error considered, and held to present no reversible error.
Morton Barrows, for appellant.
Webber & Lees, for respondent.
The facts in this case are as follows: Plaintiff's intestate was a young man sixteen years of age, and at the time of the accident resulting in his death was in the employ of defendant near the city of Winona. Defendant owned a stone quarry, in connection with which it operated machinery for crushing stone to be used in the manufacture of macadam. The crusher was located in a pit, or deep excavation in the ground, nine feet deep, nineteen feet long, and nine feet wide, which was covered with a substantial plank roof or floor on a level with the ground. At one side near the crusher stood a derrick of the ordinary kind, consisting of a mast and boom, with pulleys and cable used for handling rock either in small or large pieces. The derrick as well as the stone crusher was operated by a steam engine located near the pit, on the side opposite the derrick. The engine was supplied with a drum, around which the cable used in connection with the derrick was wound when raising stone. The cable passed from the drum, on a level with the ground, across the crusher pit, to the derrick mast, and was suitably covered, to protect from injury employees coming in contact with it, up to and beyond the pit to the mast; but it was not so protected as it extended across the pit. It passed underneath the boards covering the same, but no provision was made to prevent it from falling to the bottom of the pit when loosened from the drum, unless the slack was taken up at the other end as fast as unwound. It extended from the ground to the top of the mast, thence to the end of the boom, where it was attached to hooks used to fasten upon stone when lifted and lowered to the crusher. The outer surface of the cable was steel; its center being rope. The distance from the engine to the mast was forty eight feet, and in the neighborhood of thirty feet from there to the end of the boom. At the time of the accident complained of, deceased was attempting to pull down the hooks attached to the cable for the purpose of attaching them to a load of stone to be raised and lowered into the crusher. He had some difficulty in doing this, and the president of defendant company, who was there in charge of and superintending the work, took hold of the cable at the point where it left the drum, pulled it therefrom, and pushed it through its covering toward the pit. At the bottom of the pit was located a shaft, which operated the crusher and which revolved at a speed of about two hundred fifty revolutions per minute. Upon the hub of the belt wheel, which operated the shaft, projecting an inch or more, was a set screw or safety pin, revolving with the shaft and wheel. As the cable was loosened from the drum by the president of the company, it fell into the pit, and in some way caught upon this set screw and was instantly would about the shaft, with the result that deceased, who had hold of the hooks at the other end, was drawn suddenly into the air to the top of the boom, about thirty feet, where his hold was loosened, and he was thrown to the ground, striking his head on a pile of rock, and killing him.
The negligence charged in the complaint, and upon which plaintiff relied for recovery, consisted in the failure of defendant to take proper measures to support the cable as it extended over the pit, to prevent it, when loosened from the drum, from falling into the...
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