Shore v. Spokane & I.E.R. Co.
| Decision Date | 04 February 1910 |
| Citation | 106 P. 753,57 Wash. 212 |
| Court | Washington Supreme Court |
| Parties | SHORE v. SPOKANE & I. E. R. CO. |
Department 1. Appeal from Superior Court, Spokane County; Wm. A. Huneke Judge.
Action by Walter E. Shore against the Spokane & Inland Empire Railroad Company. From a judgment for defendant, plaintiff appeals. Affirmed.
Samuel R. Stern, for appellant.
Graves, Kizer & Graves, for respondent.
This action was instituted to recover damages for personal injuries sustained by the plaintiff while in the employ of the defendant. The court granted a nonsuit at the close of the plaintiff's testimony, and from the judgment of nonsuit this appeal is prosecuted.
The following statement will sufficiently disclose the nature of the work in which the appellant was engaged, and the manner in which the injury was inflicted: At the time of receiving the injury complained of the appellant was engaged with other employés of the respondent in constructing the overhead trolley system for the electric railroad owned and operated by the respondent. The poles which supported the wires stood at one side of the road, with iron arms, called 'must arms,' projecting from the poles over the track, to which the wires were fastened. A messenger wire was first attached to the mast arm, and a few inches below this depended the trolley wire, which was fastened to the messenger wire by iron clasps. In stringing the wires a tower of sufficient height to bring the workmen in proper working proximity to the mast arm was constructed on one end of a flat car, and the spools containing the messenger and trolley wires were placed at the other end, near the floor of the car, with an iron rod or bar through the holes in the spools so as to permit the spools to revolve. Each of these spools would weight close to a ton when filled with wire. A couple of reels were placed at or near the top of the tower over which the wires were drawn as they came from the spools below. The spool end of the car was placed in front, or toward the track to be strung. The wires were drawn from the spools over the reels at the top of the tower and festened to a pole or mast arm. The car was then pulled forward by an engine in the direction in which the work was progressing, and, as the car advanced, the wires unrolled from the spools and passed over the reels at the top of the tower. The end of a board or plank was placed under each spool, and a man pressed down on the other end. This acted as a brake to prevent the wires from unrolling too freely. As the spools grew lighter, the brake would not work so effectively, and the spools would sometimes slip. The poles supporting the mast arms were set 100 feet apart, and, as each mast arm was reached, the wires were attached to it temporarily until another crew could follow after and put the wires in place fastening them permanently. It was customary for three men to handle each wire, so that, if both wires were strung at the same time, there would be six men at work on the tower, but when the wires were strung singly, as was the case at the time of this accident, only three men were employed. The gang to which the appellant was assigned was engaged in stringing wires on the siding at Blackwell Station. The tower car and engine blocked the main line, and the gang was in a hurry to get out of the way of an approaching passenger train. For that reason, instead of fastening the wires to each mast arm, they skipped two and were about to fasten the wires to a third. There was thus 300 feet of 1/2 or 5/8 inch wire hanging over the tower without a tie. The appellant raised the wire over his shoulder to the mast arm for the purpose of tying it. As he did so the wire or spool slipped, the appellant lost his balance, and in an effort to save himself involuntarily seized a live wire carrying 6,600 volts about three feet distant from him. At the same instant the wire he was stringing sagged to the ground behind the car, thus forming a circuit which burned and injured ...
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