McDonald v. Rockhill Iron & Coal Co.

Citations

• 135 Pa. 1
• 19 A. 797
• 1890 Pa. LEXIS 1146

Syllabus

<p>1. It is the legal duty of a person about to stop into the bottom of a shaft in a coal mine, in which, as he knows, heavy cages are constantly moving up and down with very great l-apidity, to stop, look up the shaft and listen, for the purpose of ascertaining whether a cage is descending or about to descend therein.</p> <p>(a) An employee in a mine, who was familiar with the workings of a shaft used for hoisting coal, stepped into the bottom of it, intending to cross the same on his way to his work, and was immediately struck and injured by a descending cage. The place was one of manifest and conspicuous danger.</p> <p>(&) Before stepping into the shaft ho looked up, from a position where the upward range of his vision was limited to ten feet, but did not do so at the instant of entering, when he would have had an unobstructed view; and he could have ascertained from men close by that the cage was about to descend, but made no inquiry:</p> <p>2. In an action against the mine owner for such injury, when the 'facts above stated have been shown by the plaintiff’s testimony and are undisputed, the necessary legal conclusion is that the plaintiff was guilty of contributory negligence, and the court should therefore direct a verdict for the defendant.</p>