Wible v. Burlington, C. R. & N. Ry. Co.

• Decision Date: 26 October 1899
• Citation: 80 N.W. 679,109 Iowa 557
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court
• Parties: WIBLE v. BURLINGTON, C. R. & N. RY. CO.

109 Iowa 557

80 N.W. 679

WIBLE

v.BURLINGTON, C. R. & N. RY. CO.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Oct. 26, 1899.

Appeal from district court, Linn county; William G. Thompson, Judge.

Action for damages. Judgment for the plaintiff, and defendant appeals. Affirmed.J. C. Leonard and S. K. Tracy, for appellant.

Smith, Kirk & Smith, for appellee.

LADD, J.

The only question raised on this appeal is the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain the verdict. The accident occurred at Ellsworth, Minn., a division station of the defendant, where its road branches to Sioux Falls, S. D., and to Watertown, of the same state. A roundhouse with five stalls was located there, and a master mechanic had supervision of the repairs. An engine with what is called a “tub pilot” in front and a tank with the same kind of a pilot behind was used for switching, and required the services of a day and a night crew, each composed of five men. The engine was also frequently used to haul cars to Sibley, Iowa, a distance of about 16 miles, and to Luverne, Minn., 14 miles distant. Iron handholds about 18 or 20 inches long, and standing out about 3 inches, were attached to each end of a timber 8 feet long, forming the base of the pilot. This left a space of about 3 1/2 feet over the main part of the pilot without a handhold. The particular negligence charged is that of failing to have a continuous handhold or bar entirely across the end of the tank. Just previous to the accident, the engine was backing with the rear of the tank towards cars to which the coupling was about to be made. The plaintiff, having stepped on the board, about 5 inches wide, at the foot of the pilot, in order to get in position to adjust the link and pin, moved his right foot between the left and the pilot, and, in so doing, struck or stepped on a part of the air hose lying on the footboard. In his own words: “The handhold being behind me, I had to put my hand on the drawbar to sustain myself, but I lost my balance. My foot slipping off threw me off my balance. I saw that I was going to fall. My foot went down, and struck the ground, and I grabbed the drawbar (it was just a square bumper). I went to sustain myself by catching the drawbar, but my hand slipped off, and my foot went down again, and I jumped up, and my foot struck the slats of the pilot, and I went down, and as the pilot went across the west rail of the main line it caught my knee between the bottom of the pilot and the top of the rail, and ground my leg, and cut it off right in the knee. I was at the time going to catch the north end of the engine to the cars to be coupled onto, and it was, of course, at that end where the coupling was to be done that I got on. I was, at the time of the accident, standing near the end of the pilot, on the footboard, with my face fronting towards the cars I was going to couple onto, which threw the handhold on that side right behind me.” The witnesses agree...