Edward Douglass White

“ The use and enjoyment of mining property being subject to the reasonable exercise of the police power of the state, certainly the rights, privileges, and immunities of a mine owner as a citizen of the United States were not invaded by the regulations in question, and the imposition of liability upon the owner for the violation of such regulations, being an appropriate exercise of the police power, was not wanting in due process. ”

“ We think it is extremely doubtful whether there was any evidence in the record even tending to establish that, in a long-wall mine of the character of the one here in question, crosscuts and stoppings thereof were essential. But be this as it may, certain is it that there is no evidence whatever in the record tending to support the claim that the absence of crosscuts and stoppings in the mine in question was in any wise the cause of the accumulations of gas or the retention of the accumulated gas from the explosion of which Fulton was killed. ”

“ We next consider two contentions: a. That the trial court erred in refusing to instruct the jury to return a verdict for the defendant if they found that Fulton, at the time he was killed, was engaged in a violation of the statute which contributed to his death; that is, the doing of a wilful act which endangered his life and the lives or health of persons working in the mine with him, and which jeopardized the security of the mine or its machinery ”

“ In count 6 it was charged that the mining company, on the morning of the accident, had knowledge that a valve attachment of a certain steam pipe used to conduct steam generated for the purpose of running a ventilating fan in the mine had become accidentally broken or lost, whereby the air currents in the mine became obstructed and stopped, and a large quantity of dangerous gas was permitted to accumulate in the mine at the place where Fulton was required to pass and to work. ”

“ This statute, of course, lends no support to the contention here made that where a jury is wrongfully permitted, over the objection of the opposing party, to take into consideration, in reaching a verdict, counts of a declaration which have not been supported by any evidence, and where it is impossible from the record to say upon which of the counts of the declaration the verdict was based, that the judgment entered under such circumstances can be sustained upon the theory that substantial rights of the objecting party had not been invaded. ”

“ The requested charge was based upon the last paragraph of that portion of § 18 (b) of the Illinois mining act, dealing with the duties of mine examiners, reading as follows:
'To post danger notices. (b) When working places are discovered in which accumulations of gas, or recent falls, or any dangerous conditions exist, he shall place a conspicuous mark thereat as notice to all men to keep out, and at once report his finding to the mine manager. ”