Bevard v. Skidmore-Patterson Coal Co.

The opinion of the court was delivered by

BURCH, J.:

The action was one for compensation for the death of a workman. A demurrer was sustained to the plaintiff’s petition and she appeals.

The petition disclosed that the defendant operates two open-pit coal mines, referred to as the east mine and the west mine, which are a quarter of a mile apart. Between the two mines and about thirty yards east of the west mine lies the interurban railway track of the Joplin & Pittsburg Railway Company. The railway had been in operation about ten years before the mines were opened, and cars passed the west mine…