The Federal Reporter. Volume 63 Cases Argued and Determined in the Circuit Courts of Appeals and Circuit and District Courts of the United States. October-December, 1894. Page: 47
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NORTHERN PAC R. CO. V. BLAK'.
The fact that railroad companies are now very generally re-
quired by statutory enactments to receive and transport cars which
are tendered to them by connecting carriers has led several courts
to decide, after a very full and careful consideration of the question,
that it is the right and duty of a railway company to receive and trans-
port double-deadwood cars, such as are at the time in use on other
railroads, if they are in good condition and free from defects, even
though the use of such cars may enhance the risk to which a brake-
man is exposed in the act of making couplings. It has been held,
4n effect, that the necessities of commerce and public policy alike de-
mand that such cars should be received and transported by a rail-
way company, even though it does not make use of such coupling
appliances on cars of its own construction, so long as such cars
are in general use on other leading lines of railroad, and so long
as many competent persons justify the use of such coupling ap-
pliances on the ground that they are not unnecessarily dangerous,
and that certain advantages result from that method of construc-
tion. In line with these views it is also very generally held that
the risk of getting hurt while coupling cars having double dead-
woods is one of those ordinary risks of the employment which a
brakeman assumes on taking service, especially if, as in the case
at bar, he is an old and experienced railroad operative. Railroad
Co. v. Smithson, 45 Mich. 212, 7 N. W. 791; Baldwin v. Railway
Co., 50 Iowa, 680; Railroad Co. v. Flanigan, 77 Ill. 365; Hatha-
way v. Railroad Co., 51 Mich. 253, 16 N. W. 634; Thomas v. Railway
Co., 109'Mo. 187, 18 S. W. 980. The doctrine of these cases has
been recently cited and approved by the supreme court of the United
States in Kohn v. McNulta, 147 U. S. 238, 241, 13 Sup. Ct. 298. It
is proper to note in this connection that our attention has been
directed by counsel for the defendant in error to certain cases,
notably Reynolds v. Railroad Co. (Vt.) 24 Atl. 135; Railway Co.
v. Frawley (Ind.) 9 N. E. 594; Railway Co. v. Callbreath, 66 Tex.
528, 1 S. W. 622; and Hungerford v. Railway Co., 41 Minn. 444,
43 N. W. 324,-in support of the contention that it was the duty
of the defendant company to have given the plaintiff special notice
to be on the lookout for cars having double deadwoods, and that
it was guilty of culpable negligence in failing to give such notice.
The cases last referred to do indeed support the proposition that
it is the duty of a railway company to give special warning to
young and inexperienced persons in its employ, when it proposes
to make use of cars that are not in general use on its road, and that
are more than ordinarily dangerous. They also show that it is like-
wise the duty of a railway company to give like notice when it
proposes to make some special and unusual use of a peculiar form
of coupling appliance, especially if such unusual use of a peculiar
form of coupling appliance renders the act of coupling more dan-
gerous. These cases merely illustrate the general doctrine that
where an employed is young and inexperienced, or the risk is a
latent or unusual one, and for either reason there is more than
ordinary danger of getting hurt, the employ should be specially
warned. In such cases the employed should not be left to rely upon
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The Federal Reporter. Volume 63 Cases Argued and Determined in the Circuit Courts of Appeals and Circuit and District Courts of the United States. October-December, 1894., legislative document, 1895; Saint Paul, Minnesota. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc36388/m1/58/: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.