216 Pa. 385 | Pa. | 1907
Opinion by
The plaintiff was injured while at work in the coal mine of the defendant company, under the following circumstances. He was engaged in moving coal from the room in which it had been mined to the open shaft, by "means of cars drawn by mules. When the cars reached a certain point on the track, they entered upon a descending grade, and it then became necessary to apply the brakes to control the speed. There was a brake at the rear end of each car. On this particular occasion plaintiff had in charge three cars loaded with coal. When the incline was reached, he applied the brake on the first car ; he was somewhat delayed in applying that on the second, but accomplished it, and then stepped down to be in position to apply the brake on the third car as it passed. He stepped down on the right-hand side, where there was a rapidly dimishing clearance, as the cars progressed, between the cars and the rib or wall of the entry, with the result that he was carried or pressed into a clearance of only about twelve inches, and seriously injured in consequence. On the opposite side of the track there was a clear space of a width of three feet.
The plaintiff sought to'charge defendant with negligence, first, in that the clearance on the side he stepped down did not conform to the requirements of the act of May 15, 1893, relating to bituminous coal mines, providing .for the .lives, health, safety and welfare of persons employed therein, and, second, in that defendant failed to acquaint plaintiff with the danger of alighting on the right-hand side of the car at that point. The questions here suggested were argued at length, but do not call for present consideration, since whatever defendant’s negligence may have been, — and we make no expression on this subject, — it so clearly appears from the evidence that plaintiff would not have been injured by such negligence but for his own' want of care, that no recovery could have been allowed. It is admitted that on the left-hand- side of the track, immediately opposite the place where the accident occurred, there was a clearance of three feet; that this was provided as
Judgment affirmed.