Woodruff v. Kellyville Coal Co.

• Citation: 55 N.E. 550,182 Ill. 480
• Parties: WOODRUFF et al. v. KELLYVILLE COAL CO.
• Decision Date: 16 October 1899
• Court: Supreme Court of Illinois

182 Ill. 480

55 N.E. 550

WOODRUFF et al.

v.KELLYVILLE COAL CO.¹

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Oct. 16, 1899.

Error to circuit court, Vermilion county; Ferdinand Bookwalter, Judge.

Action of debt by Clara Bell Woodruff and others against the Kellyville Coal Company. Defendant's demurrer to the declaration was sustained, and judgment was entered in its favor. Plaintiffs bring error. Affirmed.

Magruder. J., dissenting.

William R. Blackburn, for plaintiffs in error.

W. J. Calhoun and H. M. Steely, for defendant in error.

PHILLIPS, J.

Plaintiffs in error, as the heirs of Ira B. Woodruff (who was killed by a fall of clod, while employed in defendant's mine, on the 18th day of January, 1893), brought their action of debt, substantially averring that the defendant is a corporation, and was on January 18, 1893, the owner, possessed of, and using and operating a certain coal mine known as ‘Kelly's Mine No. 1’; that said mine was on that day regularly equipped for mining coal and shipping it by rail, its capacity and daily output being more than 25 tons; that the said company on said date willfully and wrongfully employed as its servant a certain person, to superintend and manage the Kelly Mine No. 1, who was then and there known and designated as ‘mine boss,’ ‘foreman,’ or ‘pit boss,’ and who was charged with the general direction of the underground work of said mine as defendant's servant, and did not then and there hold a certificate of competency or a certificate of service as a legally qualified mine boss, foreman, or pit boss, as required by the statute of the state of Illinois in reference to mines and miners; that, while the said defendant was then and there willfully and wrongfully employing said unqualified person to superintend and direct the underground working of said mine, the said Ira B. Woodruff, who was then and there employed as a coal miner, and engaged in working in said mine, at a place under the superintendence of the said pit boss, foreman, or mine boss, by a fall of clod from the roof, was injured, in consequence of which he died; that he left surviving him his mother, brother, and sisters as next of kin, who, by reason of his death, were deprived of their means of support. To the declaration a plea of the general issue was filed, which, by leave of the court, was subsequently withdrawn, and a general and special demurrer filed. The demurrer was that the said amended declaration was not sufficient in law, and for a special cause of demurrer alleged that the declaration is in debt when it should be in case. The demurrer was sustained by the circuit court. The plaintiffs stood by their declaration, and judgment was entered for the defendant. The plaintiffs sued out a writ of error to this court. The theory on which the case is brought to this court is that the constitutionality of the act with reference to mines and mine owners was involved in the case.

The act under which this suit is brought is entitled ‘An act to provide for the examination of mine managers and to regulate their employment,’ approved June 18, 1891, in force July 1, 1891; and the sections of the act necessary to refer to, with reference to the discussion of the questions presented on this record, are the first, second, and fifth, which are as follows:

‘Section 1. That in order to secure greater efficiency in the management of coal mines and a higher standard of qualifications in those who have immediate responsibility for the health and safety of persons employed in coal mines, it shall be unlawful, except as hereinafter provided, after the first day of January, 1892, for any person to assume or attempt to discharge the duties of mine manager at any coal mine equipped for shipping coal by rail or water, or any mine whose output may be twenty-five or more tons per day, unless he shall hold such a certificate as to his qualification for that position as may be required by this act, from the state board of mine examiners: provided, that the term ‘mine manager’ is here intended to mean any person who is charged with the general direction of the underground work, or of both the underground and top work, of any coal mine, and who is commonly known and designated as mine boss, or foreman, or pit boss.

‘Sec. 2. The certificates provided for in the first section of this act may be either certificates of competency or certificates of service, and any person may acquire such certificate by appearing before the state board of examiners, appointed by the commissioners of labor for the examination and inspection of mines, and submitting to such an examination as to his...