Case Name: RIGGS v. NEW YORK TUNNEL CO.
Court: New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division
Jurisdiction: New York
Decision Date: 1909-11-24
Citations: 119 N.Y.S. 548
Docket Number: 
Parties: RIGGS v. NEW YORK TUNNEL CO.
Judges: 
Reporter: West's New York Supplement
Volume: 119
Pages: 548–554

Head Matter:
RIGGS v. NEW YORK TUNNEL CO.
(Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Second Department..
November 24, 1909.)
1. Explosives (§ 12*)—Injuries from Blasting—Contributory Negligence —Question fob Jury.
In an action against a contractor, constructing a subway, for the death of a city inspector by a delayed explosion of dynamite in blasting, where the evidence showed that defendant’s workmen had been ordered back to work after the explosion of a blast, whether decedent was in the exercise of reasonable care for his safety in returning to his duties with the workmen, while the place was dark and filled with smoke, was a question for the jury.
. [Ed. Note.—For other cases, see Explosives, Cent. Dig. §§ 9, 10; Dec. Dig. § 12*]
2. Explosives (§ 12*) — Injuries from Blasting — Presumptions from Accident.
Such facts did not present a case for the application of the doctrine of res ipsa loquittir.
[Ed. Note.—For other cases, see Explosives, Cent. Dig. §§ 9, 10; Dec. Dig. § 12.*]
3. ExpLosives (§ 12*)—Injuries from Blasting—Evidence of Negligence.
As blasting cartridges generally explode when properly placed and connected with the electric current, the fact that one or more of them explode some minutes after others indicates some defect in the cartridges or in the electrical connection, and, unexplained, justify a finding that the person doing the blasting was guilty of negligence, constituting the proximate cause of the injury resulting from the delayed explosion.
•For other cases see same topic & § number in Dec. & Am. Digs^ 1907 to date, & Rep’r Indexes
[Ed. Note.—For other cases, see Explosives, Cent. Dig. §§ 9, 10; Dec. Dig. § 12.*]
4. Explosives (§ 12*)—Blasting—Duty to Use Cabe.
The contractor owed, such inspector the duty of not misleading him into danger from a delayed explosion of a blast, by directing the workmen to return to their work after a previous explosion.
[Ed. Note.—For other cases, see Explosives, Cent. Dig. §§ 9, 10; Dec. Dig. § 12.*]
5. Explosives (§ 12*)—Blasting—Contbibutory Negligence—Assumption oe Risk.
Such inspector did not assume the risk of defendant’s negligence.
[Ed. Note.—For other cases, see Explosives, Cent Dig. §§ 9, 10; Dec. Dig. § 12.*]
Jenks, J., dissenting.
♦For other cases see same topic & § number in Dec. & Am. Digs. 1907 to date, & Rep’r Indexes.
Appeal from Trial Term, Kings County.
Action by Mary Hatch Riggs, as administratrix, against the New York Tunnel Company. From a j'udgment for plaintiff, and an order denying a new trial, defendant appeals.
Affirmed.
Argued before HIRSCHBERG, P. J., and WOODWARD, JENKS, RICH, and MIDLER, JJ.
Franklin Nevius (Abram J. Rose and John S. Keith, on the brief), for appellant.
Don R. Almy, for respondent.

Opinion:
WOODWARD, J.
The plaintiff has entered a judgment in an action for negligence on the verdict óf a'jury, and the defendant appeals from such judgment, and from an order denying defendant's motion for a new trial.
The defendant was a subcontractor for the construction of the subways under the East River, and at the time of the accident, resulting in the death of plaintiff's intestate, was engaged in excavating the tunnel through the rock bed of the river. The work was being done by "shifts" of workmen operating night and day, and the plaintiff's intestate was an inspector appointed by the Board of Rapid Transit Commissioners to ascertain and report to his superiors at the end of each shift the progress of the work, and to measure the amount of the excavation, The excavating was done by drilling holes in the rock and blasting out the same, one-half of the heading at a time, above and below alternately. On the afternoon of the 30th of September, 1906, certain holes had been drilled in the heading. These holes were about 10 feet deep, in the lower half of the face, in two rows 6 feet apart, five holes in a row, converging until they almost met at their ends. These were termed "cut holes." On either side of these two rows was a row of holes known as "rib holes," or "helpers," parallel to the axis of the tunnel. Outside of these "rib holes" were two rows of five holes each, known as "side holes"; the holes being about 2% or 3 inches in diameter. In these holes dynamite cartridges were placed, and imbedded in the dynamite were exploders, to which were attached wires connnected together in chain, connected with a firing wire attached to an electric dynamo by means of a switch. It was not the custom or intention to explode all of the dynamite at* once, and no connection for explosive purposes had been made with the "rib holes" or the "side holes." The cartridges in the "cut holes" were discharged before the workmen' went to supper, and when they returned at about 8 o'clock in the evening an examination showed that some of the "cut holes" had not been blown out entirely, but that the "butts" of the'"cut holes" remained. These places were reloaded, and the charges were again fired; the wires connecting with the cartridges in the "side holes" and the "rib holes" remaining detached from the exploding mechanism. At the time of the second discharge the plaintiff's intestate was in the tunnel, waiting to make his inspection; it being near the time for the change of "shifts." After the "butts" had been thus exploded, the foreman in charge of the "shift" of workmen waited for a period variously estimated from half a minute to five or six minutes, and then called out: "All over; go in, boys, and blow out the smoke." The defendant's employés started to obey this order or direction of their foreman, and the plaintiff's intestate, who was there in behalf of the city, started to go with them. He had moved forward about 35 feet when a second explosion occurred, and he was fatally injured by the flying rock, and the question presented by this appeal is whether the verdict, resting upon the defendant's negligence, can stand.
The plaintiff's intestate clearly had a right to be in the tunnel at all times when his duties as an inspector required his presence. The •contract under which the work was being performed expressly provided for this, and the discharge of his duties of inspection, and of measuring up the amount of excavation accomplished, required that he should be, at some time, at the immediate point where the explosion occurred. At the time that the "butts" explosion was set off, the plaintiff's intestate, with the employés of the defendant, was at a safe point. Neither he nor the other persons present moved from this position until the foreman announced: "All over; go in, boys, and blow out the smoke." If it was proper for the defendant's employés to be ordered forward into the tunnel where the explosion had just taken place, a question was fairly presented to the jury to determine whether the plaintiff's intestate was in the exercise of reasonable care in going with them to the point where his duties called him, even though the place was filled with smoke, rendering it dark and unwholesome; and the only question remaining is whether the defendant was guilty of negligence in exposing the plaintiff's intestate to the danger which he encountered by reason of the second explosion in the "butts," for it seems to be conceded that none of the disconnected cartridges in the "rib holes" and "side holes" were exploded.
It is probably true, as held by the learned court at the trial, that this was not a case for the application of the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur. It was not a case where the mere happening of the accident imposed upon the defendant the duty of explaining it and showing freedom from negligence; but it was a case where, all the known facts being placed before the jury, inferences were to be drawn, and one of the inferences which a jury might properly have drawn was .that there was negligence in the adjustment of the firing apparatus, which prevented the explosion at the time it was intended to be exploded, and deferred it until after a period of several minutes. The evidence shows that, generally speaking, these cartridges all exploded. They were expected to explode, when properly fitted up and connected with the electric current; and the fact that one or more of these cartridges ^ did not explode at the time the current was applied, and that one or' more of them did explode some minutes after the others, indicates some defect in the cartridges, or in the electrical connection, and, as the facts were peculiarly within the knowledge of the defendant, unexplained they would justify the jury in finding that the defendant, in handling a high explosive, had been guilty of neglect constituting the' proximate cause of the accident. If this was a matter of common occurrence, if, in fact, it was something to be expected, after the exercise of due care in preparing for the blast, then the jury would have the right to draw the inference of negligence from the fact that the foreman announced, "All over," and directed the employes to go in and blow out the smoke, before a proper inspection or the lapse of sufficient time.
It is true, of course, that the plaintiff's intestate was not an employe of the defendant, and he was not subject to the orders of the defendant's foreman; but he was lawfully there, and his duties required him to be present for the purpose of measuring up the work accomplished, and the defendant owed him the duty o.f not misleading him through the assurances of its foreman, who tells us in his testimony that he was an experienced blaster, and held a certificate of competency for such work from the New York fire department. This is not the case of one who is lawfully upon the premises of one in the employment of another, who leaves the place where he is expected to perform his services and goes to some other part of the premises for his own purposes, as in the case of Flanagan v. Atlantic Asphalt Co., 37 App. Div. 476, 56 N. Y. Supp. 18, and analogous cases, but is the case of one who is on the premises for the purpose of inspecting the work being there performed for his employer, and who is lured into an unknown danger by the assurance that the special danger is over. The declaration of the foreman cannot be properly confined to the men actually employed. It was made generally to the "boys," and the plaintiff's intestate was there in connection with the work actually under way, and he was not at some remote point where he was not expected to be, or engaged in anything on his own account, but was going forward to -the point of inspection because the foreman had declared that it was all over, and he had no reason to expect any other dangers than those which were obvious to him through his experience in the work. He took the risks of fall over debris, or of detached rocks falling upon him; bpt he did not assume the risks of the defendant's negligence in failing to properly explode the dynamite, which had been placed for the purpose of making the excavation which he was there to inspect.
These were matters which the jury Was peculiarly qualified to pass upon, taking the evidence in connection with their varied experiences and their common knowledge of practical work, and the evidence is sufficient to support the necessary findings of fact involved in the proposition.
The judgment and order appealed from should be affirmed, with costs.
' HIRSCHBERG, P. J., and WOODWARD, RICH, and MILLER, JJ., concur.