Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1893-05-02
IMPORTANTDICTUM
Supreme Court Decision Which
Affects Labor.
Co-EMPLoYE LIABILITY ON TRIAL.

Railway Companies Not Responsible for
Injuries Train Men Which Are the
Result OF the Negligence Careless
ness of w-Workmeu-General Law
Superior to Local Law-Chief Justice
Fuller and Justice Field Dissent.
WASHINGTON. May 2.-The question of
the liability of railroad corporation to an
employe for damages received while in the
service of the company is one to be settled,
not by the local law in the state wherein
the cause of action arose, but by the gen
eral law upon the subject. Such is the
substance of a decision by the supreme
court of the United States, the opinion be-
ing read by Justice Brewer. The circum-
stances of the case briefly were these: John
Baugh, a fireman in the employ of the Bal
timo-e and Ohio Railroad company, at Bel
laire, O., was injured in a collision between
the engine upon which he was employed
and local train. The engine was help
err" and at the time of the collision was
running down hill light.
Charged 1t to the Engineer.
Baugh claimed that the injury received
vas due to the negligence of the engineer
and brought suit against the company in
the county court, whence il was trans
ferred to the United States circuit court
for the Southern district of Ohio on petit
ton of the railroad company. Trial of the
case resulted in verdict and Judgment
for the plaintiff in the sum of So 700.
This result was in accordance with the
rule laid down by the supreme court of
the state of Ohio governing the determine
ton of suits Of this character where negli-
gence of an employee of the company in
fallOx- aO1ulnNp i allaCreI
The railroad appealed 20 the United States
supreme court and Judge Brewer, after
lengthy review of the principles applicable
to the case. said that the question upon
what is matter Of local and of general
law and the extent to which in the latter
this court should follow the decision of
the state cou TT had often been presented
knocks Out Co-Employe Laws
The unvarying rule is that in matters of
the latter class this court while leaning
toward an agreement with the rulings of
the state courts always exercises an indie
pendent judgment, and as unyarying has
been the course of the decision in this court
that the question of the responsibility of
a railroad corporation for injuries caused
TO or by its servants is one of general
law. The incidents of the partic-
ular case prese lted were considered, and
Judge Brewer said that under the circum-
stances the court was of the opinion that
the engineer was not acting in the capac-
ity of vice principal of the company, but
as a fellow-employe of the fireman and
that the company was not therefore liable
FOR the injury sustained by the latter.
Fuller and Field Dissent.
The Judgment of the circuit court was
reversed and the cases remanded for a new
trial. Justice Field dissented, presenting his
views in a lengthy opinion couched in most
vigorous language He said that the YER
dict and judgment in the court below were
reached in conformity with the law as set
tied by the decision of the supreme court
of Ohio, and that was the law to control.
Chief Justice Fuller also dissented.
The Lennon-Ann Arbor Case.
The court advanced the case of Lennon.
the engineer imprisoned under the decis-
ion of Justices Kicks and Taft in the Ann
Arbor railroad strike case. 1t also adj
vanced the case of Reagan against the
Farmers Loan and Trust company. involv-
ing the constitutionality of law under
which the Texas railroad commission fixed
an arbitrary and low rate of charges. The
cases were set for argument the second
Monday of next October after the cases
already assigned for that date
On motion of JOSEF Choate the court
announced that it would on Monday the
10th hear argument in a test case to be
made up to raise the issue as to the con-
stitutionality of the Geary Chinese exclu-
sion act.