Edward Douglass White

“ A short distance off the line of the Texas Pacific there was a cotton seed oil mill, which was united by a spur track with the main line of railroad as it ran through a railway yard. The Cotton Belt delivered to the Texas Pacific two oil-tank cars, in order that they might be by the latter delivered to the oil mill, where they were to be filled, and then redelivered by the Texas & Pacific to the Cotton Belt to be carried to their point of destination over its line. The tank cars were placed by the Texas Pacific near the oil mill, on the spur track leading thereto. ”

“ Cornell, 132 N. Y. 228, 30 N. E. 573, the court said:
'It is, as a general rule, true that a servant entering into employment which is hazardous assumes the usual risks of the service, and those which are apparent to ordinary observation, and when he accepts or continues in the service with knowledge of the character of structures from which injury may be apprehended he also assumes the hazards incident to the situation. ”

“ He has a right to assume that the employer will use reasonable care to make the appliances safe, and to deal with those furnished relying on this fact, subject, of course, to the exception which we have already stated, by which, where an appliance is furnished an employ e, in which there exists a defect known to him, or plainly observable by him, he canno recover for an injury caused by such defective appliance, if, with the knowledge above stated, he negligently continues to use it. ”

“ As he was making this movement, his feet became entangled, and he was thereby suddenly exposed to the risk of being thrown between the cars, and to the danger of being crushed to death. The entanglement of the feet of the switchman was caused by a broken brake rod, with links of chain attached to it and a hook at its end, which was hanging down under one of the cars; and which, in the movement of the car, was projected out into the space between the two cars, and caught the feet and legs of the switchman as he leaned between the cars for the purpose of doing the uncoupling. ”

“ In assuming the risks of the particular service in which he engages, the employ e may legally assume that the employer, by whatever rule he elects to conduct his business, will fulfill his legal duty by making reasonable efforts to furnish appliances reasonably safe for the purposes for which they are intended ”

“ The errors assigned are based entirely on the theory that the trial court erred in refusing to give to the jury certain instructions asked by the defendant, and that the court of appeals also fell into error in affirming the action of the trial court. To clearly understand the contentions of the plaintiff in error, it becomes essential to outline the facts.
The Texas Pacific and the Cotton Belt Railway Companies both had tracks entering the city of Shreveport. These tracks of the two companies were connected. ”