Richards v. Abts

This is an appeal by the defendant, Mathias Abts, in a workmen’s compensation case, from an award entered in the district court in favor of Rose Richards, administratrix, for $15 a week for a period of 325 weeks, with burial expense of $150, and hospital and medical bills of $72. The defendant charged wilful negligence on the part of William Richards, deceased. From the award the defendant appeals.

On October 12, 1937, William Richards, an employee in the defendant’s blacksmith shop, was engaged in welding a small leak in a 500-gallon molasses tank with an oxyacetylene torch. The tank…