81 Iowa 1 | Iowa | 1890
The defendants are copartners, under the firm-name of S. & J. C. Atlee ; and at the time the injury in question was received they were engaged in operating a sawmill and lumber-yard at Fort Madison, employing in that business over two hundred men and boys. The plaintiff, Don D. Sprague, was thirteen years old on the twenty-second day of March, 1888 ; and, in the month of June of that year, he was employed by defendants to assist one Yan Buskirk in running a saw. He continued in that employment until the eighth day of September, 1888, when he received an injury from the saw, which resulted in the amputation of his right hand at the wrist. The plaintiff claims that he was employed for the sole purpose of taking laths, pickets and binders from the machine after they were sawed, and assorting and piling them, and that such employment was without danger; that, at the time he was injured, he was
Upon the trial of challenges in civil as well as in criminal cases, other evidence than the testimony of the person challenged may be heard, and the court is
There is much conflict in the evidence as to most of these matters, but some of the evidence tends to show, and the jury were authorized to find, substantially as follows: The plaintiff was employed to assist Yan Bus-kirk in running the saw. His duties required him to stand back of the saw, and take care of the material as sawed. He frequently changed work with Yan Buskirk, and fed the saw. Occasionally he changed the gauge, but not often, as that was done by Yan Buskirk, when he was present. Plaintiff received no instructions as to the proper manner of operating the saw and changing the gauge, excepting what he learned from Yan Bus-kirk. He had not sufficient strength to move the table on the slides, and thus put the saw out of gear; and he was not large enough to see that part of the saw back of the hood when he was setting the gauge. He had been instructed by Yan Buskirk to set the gauge without stopping the saw in the manner he adopted when injured. The foreman of the mill was Joseph Atlee. He sometimes employed hands, and had authority to change them from one kind of work to another. On the morning of the injury, one McMurphy was acting as foreman in the absence of Atlee. He sent Yan Buskirk outside
VIII. The sufficiency of the evidence to sustain the verdict of the jury is discussed by counsel for appellant at great length, and in connection with different questions presented by the record. It is not necessary to mention each point discussed, nor to review the evidence more fully than we have already done. It was for the jury to determine from the evidence submitted whether the machine at which plaintiff was employed was dangerous; whether plaintiff was properly instructed in regard to using it, and was fully apprised of the danger involved in its use; whether he used due care, in view of his age, capacity and experience, in operating the machine ; and whether defendants were negligent in not instructing him properly in regard to it in ordering him to do the work at which he was engaged when injured, and in not providing a safer machine. It is sufficient for us to say that we are of the opinion that the findings and verdict of the jury are sustained by the evidence. See Nadau v. White River Lumber Co., 43 N. W. Rep. 1135.