Stecher Cooperage Works v. Steadman

Riddick, J., (after stating the facts.) This is an appeal by the Stecher Cooperage Company from a judgment rendered against it for damages on account of the injury and death of J. W. Steadman, one of its employees. At the time of his injury Steadman was working at a machine called an edger. This machine had a wheel some four or five feet in diameter made of cast iron, with a steel rim around it to strengthen and hold it together, somewhat after the manner that the tire of a wagon wheel strengthens the wheel. Attached to this wheel were knives, the edges of the blades protruding about one sixteenth of an inch beyond the face of the wheel, and set so that a stave pressed against the side of the revolving wheel would be cut and trimmed into the proper shape by the knives. While Steadman was at work pushing staves against the wheel to cut them into shape it burst into fragments, which were thrown with great violence, some of them going through the top of the shed and falling several hundred yards away. Steadman was struck by a fragment of the wheel, and severely injured, so that he died about 24 hours afterwards from the effects of his injuries. There is nothing beyond the fact that the wheel, while the machine was being operated, suddenly flew into fragments to show that the wheel was cracked or defective in any respect. The allegation in the complaint that the wheel was cracked and otherwise defective is therefore not supported by the evidence. The evidence does not clearly show what was the cause of this accident. There was some evidence tending to show that it was caused by running the machine at too high a speed. It is also possible that the wheel may have been slightly out of balance, but this is by no means clear. If the accident was due to the fact that the machinery was through the carelessness of the foreman of defendant run at great and unusual speed, or to the fact that through the carelessness of the foreman the wheel was being operated while it was out of balance, then the company would be liable, for we see nothing.in the evidence tending to show that Steadman was guilty of contributory negligence, and he did not assume any risk due to the negligence of the foreman of the company, who was not his fellow-servant. But, while the verdict is moderate, and while there may be evidence tp sustain it, yet we are of the opinion that the court during the course of the trial admitted incompetent evidence. In the first place, the testimony of Mrs. Steadman concerning the statement of the manager, Otto Stecher, to her, about 24 hours after the accident, in which he said that he was very sorry, that he did not feel clear himself, and offered to pay the funeral expenses, was in our opinion incompetent. If Otto Stecher had been himself the defendant, his statement would have been competent evidence; for one’s admissions are competent evidence against himself. But it is not shown that he was the owner, or even that he had any interest in this company. So far as the evidence shows, he had no more right to make admissions affecting its rights than aiiy other employee of the company. The fact that one is in the employ of a corporation does not make all his acts and declarations competent evidence against the company. Only those made by its agents while acting for it.in the line of their duty are thus competent. But there is nothing to show that Stecher was acting for the company at the time he made this statement. It is said that this testimony was introduced for the purpose of contradicting and impeaching the testimony of Stecher. But this testimony was introduced as part of the evidence to make out the case for plaintiff, and was heard before Stecher was put on the stand. Besides, counsel for defendant afterwards expressly asked the court to tell the jury not to consider this evidence in determining whether defendant was guilty of negligence, but the court refused to do so, thus showing that this evidence was allowed by the court to go to the jury as evidence tending to make out the case for plaintiff. These declarations of the foreman 24 hours after the accident can not be treated as a part of the res gestae. They were not made by any officer of the defendant company having the right to speak for it and bind it by declarations of that kind, and were therefore improperly admitted and prejudicial to defendant. Fort Smith Oil Co. v. Slover, 58 Ark. 168. The testimony of several witnesses that the old machine could be heard a mile or two distant, and much further than such machines can ordinarily be heard, was probably not entitled to much weight, for the increased noise might have been caused by the lack of oil on the bearings or by the condition of the machine, as well as by high speed at which the machine was operated. But it would have been competent, had it been confined to the time of the accident. The witnesses do not fix a time at or near the time of the accident, and for that' reason we think that this testimony was incompetent. The object of showing that the noise made by the edger before the accident could be heard much further than such machines could ordinarily be heard was to prove that it was the custom of the company before the accident to operate the machine at great and unusual speed. But the fact that' the company may have on several occasions some months or years be’fore the accident operated the edger at great speed does not show that they did so at the time of the accident; and, as before stated, this testimony should have been confined to the time of the accident. The instructions given to the jury are much longer and more voluminous than necessary; but, as most of them were asked by defendant, it has no right to complain. Some of the instructions given at the request of plaintiff do not correctly state the law, for they, in effect, make the company an insurer against accidents to its employees through defects in its machinery. For instance, in instruction number one given at the request of plaintiff it is said that “if the injuries received by the deceased were caused by the defective condition of defendant’s machinery, the plaintiff is entitled to recover,” etc. But this is not correct, for the law makes the company liable only, when such defects are due to its negligence. As this matter has been so frequently discussed by this court in recent cases, we deem it unnecessary to do more than call attention to it here. We see nothing prejudicial in the argument of counsel for plaintiff set out in the transcript. His appeal to the jury to remember, if “they had any little girls,” that when the “finger of scorn” should be pointed at them they would be there to defend them with their “strong right arms,” and so act that they would be able “to look into this woman’s countenance” and say to her that their duty had been discharged, was a species of perfervid eloquence quite common in perorations of counsel for plaintiff in actions of this kind. From time immemorial such oratorical appeals to juries have been heard. Great latitude is allowed counsel in making arguments; and where there is no misrepresentation of the law or facts and no abuse of this privilege, they furnish no grounds for reversal on appeal. Miller v. Nuckolls, 77 Ark. 64. For the reasons stated the judgment is reversed, and the cause remanded for a new trial.