Shirk v. Chicago & E.I.R. Co.
| Decision Date | 18 June 1908 |
| Citation | 235 Ill. 315,85 N.E. 262 |
| Court | Illinois Supreme Court |
| Parties | SHIRK v. CHICAGO & E. I. R. CO. |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Appeal from Appellate Court, Fourth District, on Appeal from Circuit Court, Massac County; W. W. Duncan, Judge.
Personal injury action by Osro Shirk against the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad Company. From a judgment of the Appellate Court for the Fourth District affirming a judgment for plaintiff, defendant appeals. Affirmed.C. L. V. Mulkey (Homer T. Dick, of counsel), for appellant.
Courtney & Helm, for appellee.
This was an action brought by appellee to recover damages for personal injuries received by him while in the employ of appellant. The declaration contained three counts. The first and second charged that the appellee was injured while assisting in loading piling on a car, that he was inexperienced in that kind of work, and that he was injured in consequence of and while obeying a negligent or wrongful command of appellant. The third count charged that the injury resulted from negligence on the part of appellant in knowingly furnishing unsafe and defective appliances with which the work was required to be done by appellee. The case was tried by a jury, and resulted in a verdict and judgment for $1,250. An appeal was taken to the Appellate Court for the Fourth District, where the judgment of the circuit court was affirmed, and appellant brings the case to this court by further appeal. Appellee was injured June 19, 1906, while working as a member of a bridge crew of appellant in loading bridge piling upon a flat car at a point on appellant's road about a half mile south of St. Elmo, Ill. The piling consisted of about a dozen poles, which were lying at the foot of an embankment near the track and parallel with the car, and were loaded by being rolled over skids which extended from the edge of the top of the embankment to the top of the car. The embankment was about 18 feet high. An inch manila rope about 140 feet long, called ‘the main line,’ was used to raise the poles to the car. One end of it was fastened to a stake on the opposite side of the car and near the center. The other end was passed down the embankment, around the pole, and brought back to the stake in the car, and, passing over a pulley fastened thereto, was attached to a locomotive south of the car. The locomotive was not attached to the car. At signals given to the engineer by the conductor, the engine would move forward and pull the pole up the embankment and over the skids to the top of the car, and the pole would be placed in position by members of the crew at each end of the car. One end of the pole was larger than the other, and in order to keep the pole straight while going over the skids, so that both ends would reach the car at the same time, what is known as a ‘tag line’ was used. This was a smaller rope about 75 feet long, one end of which was attached to the north end of the car and the other passed under and around the big end of the pole and back to the deck of the car and was held by the men on the north end of the car. As the pole approached the car, the loose end of the tag line passed through the hands of the men holding it and fell in a coil upon the deck of the car. There was no particular strain on the tag line, as it was used only for the purpose of keeping the pole straight. The appellee and another employé were directed to take charge of the tag line. As the last pole was being loaded, and while it was being rolled up the skids, near the top the main line broke and the pole rolled back to the ground. The weight of the pole being thrown on the tag line, it ran out rapidly, and in doing so appellee's left foot and leg became entangled in the line, and he was jerked off the car and injured.
FARMER, J. (after...
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