Indianapolis & St. Louis Railroad v. Miller

Citations

• 71 Ill. 463

Syllabus

<p>1. Railroad contractors — the company promising the laborers employed to see them, paid if they will work. Where the laborers employed by contractors and sub-contractors in the construction of a railroad quit work, from an apprehension that they will not be paid, and are about to mob one of the principal contractors, and the president of the railroad compan)- goes to the place where the mob is assembled, and in a speech to them says: “ Go back to your work, and I will see that you arc paid,” and one of the sub-contractors is present and hears the speech, this does not constitute a contract between the railroad company and such subcontractor that the company will pay such sub-contractor for any work he may do on the railroad.</p> <p>3. The most that could be said in such a case, even if the language used by.tlie.president was intended to apply to such sub-contractor, would be that the company should pay such sub-contractor for the work done by him, according to the terms of the contract existing between the railroad company and the principal contractor, and between the principal and the sub-contractor.</p> <p>■ 3. In such a case, the sub-contractor could in no event recover from the railroad company any more than he would be entitled to under his contract with the principal contractor, and if the mode of .measurement of or estimating the work done is fixed in the contract between the company and the principal contractor, the sub-contractor, as against the company, will be bound by it, although his sub-contract may provide for a different mode.</p> <p>4. Same—abandonment of, not established by the fact that the company keeps time of and pays the laborers. Where a contract between a railroad company and a contractor for the construction of the road provided that the contractor should be liable for the payment of the wages of his laborers, and when, in the opinion of the president of the company, it should be necessary to secure the laborers, the president should pay