The Ladder Gave Way: A Conductor’s Leg and the Railroad’s Defense
Michael J. Fitzmaurice was hauling gravel when a caboose ladder threw him under the train. He lost his leg at the knee and sued Great Northern for $29,500.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The trial of Michael J. Fitzmaurice against the Great Northern Railway Company for $29,500 damages for the loss of a leg began in the United States court yesterday. Fitzmaurice was a conductor on a train in March, 1895, engaged in hauling gravel from between Sultan and Index. The plaintiff testified that while he was descending a ladder outside a caboose the ladder gave way and he was thrown under the car, and his right foot was crushed so badly that it had to be amputated at the knee. The ladder was fastened at the bottom and not at the top.
The suit is based on the claim that the accident was caused by the defective construction of the ladder. The theory of the defense, as developed by cross-examination, is that the ladder is of a variety used in the East on a number of railways, and that a conductor who had charge of a train ought to have known all of its peculiarities. Cyrus Wellington, of counsel for the defense, made a motion for a nonsuit late yesterday afternoon, which was not finished when the court adjourned last evening. He held that the conductor should have known of the condition of the ladder, and that when he accepted the position of conductor he did so knowing the danger attending it. Argument on the motion will be resumed this morning.
“The ladder gave way and he was thrown under the car, and his right foot was crushed so badly that it had to be amputated at the knee.”
Workplace injury litigation still turns on whether a hazard was obvious and whether a worker assumed the risk. The case is a reminder of how railroad building and gravel hauling made ordinary workers bear extraordinary danger.
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