Hildonen v. Rockport Granite Co.
Hildonen v. Rockport Granite Co.
Opinion of the Court
There appears to be no substantial conflict in the evidence as to the following facts: The defendant operated a stone quarry comprising two pits, the old or large one being about six hundred feet long, four hundred feet wide and one hundred and fifty feet deep, and the new or small one, which was northeast of the other, being about two hundred feet long, one hundred and twenty-five feet wide and sixty-five feet deep. These pits were separated by a granite wall, varying in height from one hundred to one hundred and fifty feet from the bottom of the old pit, and from twenty to sixty-five feet above the bottom of the new one. In the northwest corner of the new pit there was a stone about eight feet long, four and a half feet wide and sixteen feet deep, that had been entirely disconnected from the ledge. It was separated from the surrounding ledge by seams on its northern and western sides, and the rock had been entirely removed on the eastern and southern sides, except a “toe” that lapped over the western end of the southerly side of the stone, but was free from it.
This large stone had been moved some six or seven inches before the day of the accident, and the defendant’s foreman, one Johnson, undertook to push it farther down the slanting bed of the pit. Powder to the amount of a keg and a half, or about thirty-seven pounds, was lowered into the seam on the western side of the stone, the blast was prepared and covered with earth in the usual manner; the steam whistle then was sounded three times, and after the lapse of a minute or more the charge was fired. The plaintiff had been working in the old pit, about thirty feet from its eastern wall, and when the warning whistle sounded he stopped his work and walked about twenty feet toward the centre of the pit. While he was looking up at the stones thrown by the blast that were coming through the air, he was struck by one of them and injured.
Blasts were made in one pit or the other a number of times every day, and there were three different kinds of warning used.
Upon the main question in controversy, whether at the time of this accident the third method of warning should have been given instead of the second, there was evidence introduced by the plaintiff that a seam blast was not generally considered a very heavy blast, such as to call for ordering the employees out of an adjoining pit, unless five or more kegs of powder were used; and that for the blast in question, where only a keg and a half were used, it was Johnson’s duty to see that a warning whistle was blown, and that sufficient time was given for employees to protect themselves if they saw fit; and further that ample time was given for this at the time of the accident. It is true that this evidence came from answers filed by the defendant to the plaintiff’s written interrogatories, but the plaintiff, with ample knowledge thereof, produced no witness who contradicted or controlled it. The only other testimony bearing upon the question whether the third method of warning should have been used was that of the plaintiff and some others to the effect that it was customarily given when they put the powder in a place from which they knew or thought a great many stones would fly. But no evidence was introduced to show that Johnson, when he fired the charge, had
Without considering the issues of the plaintiff’s due care and assumption of risk, we are of opinion that the trial court was right in ruling that the jury would not be warranted in finding the defendant liable upon the evidence presented.
Exceptions overruled.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Matt Hildonen v. Rockport Granite Company
- Status
- Published