after stating the case, delivered the opinion of the court.
1. At the close of the' plaintiff’s evidence, the defendant moved to. dismiss the complaint, which motion was dénied, and defendant excepted. Thereupon the defendant proceeded
*688
with its case and adduced evidence on its part. This waived the exception, and the action of the court in overruling the motion to dismiss cannot be assigned for error.
Columbia & Puget Sound Railroad
v.
Hawthorne,
2. The’ evidence tended to show that Daniels was a brakeman in the employment of the company, and in the discharge of his duties as such, April 3, 1887, on a freight train made up < at Green River, and running thence westward; that he was ordered on top of the train to set the brakes at different points going down a long hill, and was so engaged when the train was suddenly wrecked, and he was severely injured; that a wheel on one of the cars of the train had an old crack in it, some twelve inches long, which rendered it unsafe; that the wheel gave way by reason of the fracture and thus the disaster occurred; and that, although the crack, being old, was filled with greasy dirt and rust, it could have been detected without difficulty if the wheel had been properly examined at Green River, which was an inspecting station, at which trains were made up.
Upon the inferences properly deducible from such evidence, the rule applied, which requires of the master the exercise of reasonable care in furnishing suitable machinery and appliances for carrying on the business for which he employs the servant, and in keeping such machinery and appliances in repair, including the duty of making inspections, tests, and examinations at the proper intervals. As observed in
Hough
v.
Railway Co.,
There can be no doubt that under the circumstances of the case at bar the duty rested upon the company to see to it, at this inspecting station, that the wheels of the cars in • this freight train, which was about to be drawn out upon the road, were in safe and proper condition, and this duty could not be delegated so as to exonerate the company from liability to its servants for injuries resulting from the omission to perform that duty or through its negligent performance.
*690 The rulings of the court in giving the eighth and ninth instructions for plaintiff, and in refusing to give the sixth and seventh instructions requested on the part of defendant, were not, therefore, open to the exceptions taken. The sufficiency of the number of inspectors and their competency furnished no defence, nor the contrary, the ground of recovery, though some of the averments of the complaint may have indicated that cause of action.
The trial court charged the jury, among other things, that the defendant was required to “use a reasonable care, consistent with the nature and extent of the business, and provide proper machinery; but it is not responsible for hidden defects, which could not have been discovered by a careful inspection;” that “ the burden of proof is in this case, as in all other cases like it, upon the plaintiff, to make out his case to your satisfaction. The law is well settled, both here and in England, our mother country, that the employer should adopt such suitable implements and means to car-ry on the business as are proper for that purpose; and where there are injuries to its servants, or its workmen, and they happen by reason of improper or defective machinery or appliances in the prosecution or carrying on the work which they are employed to render, the employer is liable, provided he knew, or might have known, by the exercise of reasonable skill, that the apparatus was unsafe and defective. If, by reasonable and ordinary care and prudence, the master may know of the defect in the machinery which he operates, it is his duty to keep advised of its condition, and not needlessly expose his servants to peril or danger; ” that “ in employing the plaintiff, the corporation defendant did not become an insurer of his life or his safety. The servant takes the ordinary risks of his employment. The duty of the defendant towards him was the exercise of reasonable.care in furnishing and keeping its machinery’and appliances, about which he is required to perform his work, in a reasonably safe condition. It was the defendant’s duty also to use like ordinary care in selecting competent fellow-servants, and in a sufficient number, to insure that the work would be safely done; and this duty was discharged by the defendant *691 if the care disclosed by it in these several matters accorded with that reasonable skill and prudence and care which careful, prudent men, engaged in the same kind of business, ordinarily exercise.”
And that, “as between employer and employé, between master and servant, as in this case, negligence on the part of the former is not proven, or to be inferred, simply from the existence or occurrence of the accident which caused the injury complained of.”
The defendant had no reason to complain because the fourth and fifth instructions, which it asked, were not otherwise given than as contained in the views thus expressed by the court. ' ' Judgment affirmed.
