A STORY OF THE THREE DEFENSES
A Story of the "Three Defenses" Wherein a Darkey gets Tangled up with Gravitation, a Pulley, and a Loaded Barrel and meets with an Industrial Accident UNDER OUR PRESENT system of dealing with...
...Sambo wasn't sure for a time whether he was going through the barrel or around it, but he finally got by and landed on the ground in a badly bruised heap, nearly unconscious...
...The darkey brought suit against his employer for damages...
...For the purpose of illustrating these three possible defenses, a lecturer told the following story: A white man and a darkey were engaged in removing rubbish from the top floor of a four-story building...
...Was the white man to blame at all for pushing the heavily loaded barrel off the ledge without first shouting to the darkey to get ready...
...He was taken by surprise...
...The darkey became interested in a conversation with a passerby...
...By this time the darkey had loosened his hold on the rope...
...After this last mix-up with the barrel, Sambo bore various marks of mistreatment...
...It was now lighter than the darkey...
...Down came Sambo...
...A Story of the "Three Defenses" Wherein a Darkey gets Tangled up with Gravitation, a Pulley, and a Loaded Barrel and meets with an Industrial Accident UNDER OUR PRESENT system of dealing with indus- trial accidents, an employer, in a suit for damages brought by his injured employee, may resort to three defenses...
...Meanwhile, the white man had loaded the barrel a little heavier than usual...
...Again there was a tussel...
...Again they met...
...But Sambo wasn't...
...When they met in mid-air, it was a question for some moments how they should pass...
...The barrel hit the ground so hard that its head was broken and part of the contents spilled out...
...The darkey was at the end of the rope not occupied by the barrel...
...There was nothing to hold the barrel up in the air...
...The barrel triumphed and went on its way to the ground, Sambo ascending with equal speed to the top of the building...
...He hung fast to the rope, however, thinking doubtless that a little extra exertion would overcome the added weight...
...Did the darkey absolve himself from all claim to damages in case of injury because he took unto himself the hazard of this particular industry...
...The barrel, being heavier than the darkey, lifted him away from the ground...
...And how about the assumption of risk...
...They used a barrel attached to a rope running through a stationary pulley in the gable of the building...
...It was the business of the white man to fill the barrel and then push it out far enough so that the darkey could lower it...
...The jury, however, decided that the employer was "not liable" on account of "contributory negligence...
...It was held that Sambo contributed to his own injuries because he held onto the rope when he should have let go, and let go when he should have held on...
...Then Sambo and the barrel did a see-saw...
...How about the fellow servant defense...
...He put on the last heaping shovelful and pushed the barrel off the ledge, expecting, of course, that Sambo would be "on the job...
...They are "contributory negligence," "fellow servant," and "assumption of risk...
...up went the barrel...
...Down it came, this time with the full force of its own weight, and made its final assault upon the prostrate darkey...
Vol. 3 • April 1911 • No. 16
