Booth v. Keystone Spinning Mills Co.
Booth v. Keystone Spinning Mills Co.
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
In this action plaintiff sought to recover damages for the loss of an eye. He was employed by the defendant company as a spinner. It appears that in connection with the spinning machinery, a wire was used, known as a faller wire, which was fastened at one end of the spinning mule and ran through fingers placed about three feet apart. The plaintiff testified that on the day of the accident he went to the third floor to assist a machinist and the boss spinner to make some repairs. His statement as to the manner in which the accident occurred is as follows: “I was down on my knees reaming out collars, and the machinist was standing along side of me, and he was helping me — he was telling me what to do, and so just as he looked around and said ‘This wire is in my way — cut it and get it out of the road.’ Mr. Gilbert said, ‘I will soon fix that’; and he said, ‘Booth grab the wire.’ I dropped the reamer and was just about to grab the wire, when it flew up and hit me in the eye.” He also testified that the machinist was the particular boss of the job in which they were engaged, at the time of the accident. The right to recover here, was based upon the proposition that the wire furnished was not the kind in general use. Fault was found with it upon the ground that it was too hard, and was more dangerous on that account in case of a break owing to its greater tendency to fly. It was suggested that a softer wire would not be so apt to cause injury by flying in case of a break. The court below in entering judgment non obstante veredicto, admitted that it might be, that defendant should be held to have foreseen that the use of a hard wire might entail injury when in the ordinary course of the work it became necessary to cut it, but that in this case the injury did not result from an ordinary or usual succession of events. The facts were not in dispute, and but one conclusion as to the cause of the injury could reasonably be drawn from .them; it therefore became the duty of the court to determine whether or not the injury was a nat
The assignment of error is overruled and the judgment is affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.