Carroll v. Western Union Telegraph Co.

This is an action for personal injuries caused by the fall of a telegraph pole upon the plaintiff. The plaintiff and other workmen were engaged in raising the pole. For the purpose of supporting it while partly up they used a tool called a deadman, which was a kind of crutch or pole with a half-moon at the end, presenting its concave edge to the telegraph pole. This broke, whereupon the foreman who was directing the job told the man who held it to throw it away and take a shovel. *153The shovels on hand were long-handled shovels with pointed ends. One of- these was taken, and of course presented…