Pfeferle v. Lyon County

• Decision Date: 09 June 1888
• Parties: OSWALD PFEFERLE v. THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS OF LYON COUNTY
• Court: Kansas Supreme Court

18 P. 506

39 Kan. 432

OSWALD PFEFERLE v. THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS OF LYON COUNTY

Supreme Court of Kansas

June 9, 1888

Error from Lyon District Court.

OSWALD PFEFERLE commenced an action in the district court of Lyon county against the board of county commissioners of that county, and in such action filed the following petition (omitting title and signature,) to wit:

"The plaintiff in the above-entitled cause, for his cause of action against the said defendant, states that the said defendant was, is and for more than five years last past has been, a duly organized county of' the state of Kansas for judicial purposes under the name of Lyon county, situate in the fifth judicial district of the state of Kansas; and that the said defendant now has and during all the aforesaid time has had and owned a jail, situate at the county seat of said county, provided for it by the county commissioners of said Lyon county.

"That the said jail now is, and during all of the aforesaid time has been, of sufficient strength and tightness to safely hold and retain all prisoners confined therein. That the said jail now is, and during all of the aforesaid time has been, dug out of and situate in and under and below the surface of the ground and level of the earth, in which the same is constructed; and the walls of the same now are, and during all the aforesaid time have been, so loose and open that the water falling on the ground adjoining said walls from rains dews and other purposes, oozes and percolates through said walls into said jail, and has so done during all the aforesaid time, and now does and during all of the aforesaid time has kept the inside walls and the entire interior of said jail in a sweat and state of moisture and dampness; and the said jail being under ground as aforesaid, has no means of permitting the sun to shine into the same, or of letting any reasonable quantity of light therein, and has not had during all the aforesaid time; and the interior of the said jail now is, and during all of the aforesaid time has been without ventilation and ingress and egress to the air either for breathing or for carrying off the poisonous gases emitted from the lungs of the inmates, or generated from any and all other means; and by reason thereof the said jail now is, and during all the aforesaid time has been, in a dark, damp unhealthy, malarious, miasmatic and poisonous condition for persons to inhabit.

"That at the September term of the district court of said county, 1884, a grand jury was duly called, summoned, impaneled and sworn, and held sessions for said term of court; that said term extended into November of said year, and during said term, and while the said grand jury were still in session and a part of said court, the said grand jury filed in the office of the county clerk of Lyon county, Kansas, its report to the county commissioners of said county, in writing, of which said report the following is a copy, to wit:

"'GRAND JURY ROOM, LYON CO., KAS., NOVEMBER 19, 1884.--Commissioners of Lyon County, Kansas: The grand jury this day adopted the following:

"'Whereas, It was made the duty of the grand jury to inspect the county jail, and make report in writing to the county commissioners of the same, and having this 19th day of November, 1884, inspected the same, and found it damp, not properly ventilated, badly infested with vermin, and deficient in light; therefore, be it

"'Resolved, That, we, the grand jury, recommend the building of a new county jail above-ground, properly ventilated, and divided into cells, for the purpose of keeping the county prisoners, and also, in connection therewith, adequate accommodations for the county jailer.

N. WHITTLESEY, Foreman.

"That no other report of a grand jury has been made to said board since that time; that, pursuant to said report, no alterations have been made in said jail since said report but that it now is, and ever since the making of the said report has been, in the same condition that it then was, except that since said time more poisonous gases have been generated inside of said jail, and remained therein for want of sufficient ventilation to carry them off.

"That at the regular June term, 1886, of ...