108 Iowa 748 | Iowa | 1899
Ties were being loaded on a car by first placing them on a dolly, on which they were carried to the door. The plaintiff, with a pick, threw them in, and they were then properly placed by two others'. While doing this, he stepped into a hole in the car floor, about six inches wide and ten inches long, fourteen inches from the door jamb, and five or six inches from the south wall, and sustained injury. According to his testimony, there were snow and straw on the floor and a number of pieces of bark about the hole when he pulled his leg out, and, though he looked, he did not see or know of the hole until he stepped into it. Other witnesses ■say the hole was in plain sight and had been mentioned on the car. He entered the car at 3:80 p. m. of February 10th, and the accident occurred about twenty minutes later. The plaintiff was directed to do this work, and, in the absence of knowledge, had the right to assume the floor to be in a safe