east of the runway, for the purpose of enabling the men at work on the runway to step on it in case they lost their balance and fell from the runway. In going to and returning from the place where the masons were at work on the north wall the wheelers would be required to pass one another at various places on this runway. At the time of his injury appellee was about thirty-five years of age and had had about two years' experience in such work, having at various times worked for appellant and other contractors at this kind of work. At the time he was injured appellee was engaged in wheeling a wheelbarrow load of mortar to the masons at work on the north wall of the building. The hoist was so constructed that when a loaded wheelbarrow came up an empty one would go down. The loaded wheelbarrows, as they came up, would be taken from the hoist by the men in rotation as they returned from their trip, so that on each trip the wheelers would have a different wheelbarrow. When the wheelbarrow came off the hoist its handles would be to the south, and the wheeler would take hold of the handles, back the wheelbarrow off, turn to the west and wheel his load to the end of the runway leading to the west wall, and thence north along the runway on the east side of the west wall to the place where the masons were at work. At this time seven or eight men were engaged in wheeling materials in iron wheelbarrows, some being filled with brick and others with mortar. About twenty-five wheelbarrows were employed altogether on the work. In taking the wheelbarrow from the hoist to the place where the masons were at work the men wheeling the loaded wheelbarrows would pass those returning with the empty wheelbarrows at various places on the runway. Appellee commenced work at about eight o'clock that morning and was directed by the superintendent to go to work on the second floor, wheeling brick and mortar to the masons. The first trip he made he noticed the width between the brick piles and the east edge of the runway or

scaffold and the piles of brick but had no trouble in passing prior to the last trip. At about 10:30 o'clock in the morning he received a load of mortar as it came up the hoist and proceeded to the west runway or scaffold and north on it about twenty feet, where he met another one of the laborers, Donato Magliano, returning on the westerly side of the runway with an empty wheelbarrow. Magliano stopped with his wheelbarrow as close to the brick pile on the west as he could, and appellee, with his wheelbarrow on the second plank from the east edge of the runway, attempted to pass Magliano. The trays or hoppers on the wheelbarrows were about two and a half feet in width, so that a space of about two inches, only, was left between the trays of the wheelbarrows in passing when the wheeler walked on the second plank or fifteen inches from the unguarded edge of the platform, with the outside edge of the tray of the heavily loaded wheelbarrow even with the edge of the runway. In attempting to pass Magliano a wire in the rim of the tray of the wheelbarrow used by appellee touched the other wheelbarrow and unbalanced him, and his wheelbarrow dumped over on the east edge of the scaffold, throwing most of the mortar on the lower floor and appellee off the runway and over the single plank east of the runway to the first floor and seriously injured him. Appellee did not know of the wire projecting from his wheelbarrow, as each trip he made he had a different wheelbarrow. As a result of the accident he was removed to the hospital in a dazed condition, where he was confined to his bed for a period of two or three weeks as a result of injuries to his head, shoulders, chest and ankle, the injury to the ankle being the most serious, as some of the ligaments were torn, necessitating the putting of the foot in a plaster cast. As a result of his injuries he was unable to work for a period of about thirty weeks and required to receive occasional treatments from his physician for a period of about a year and a half. It was stipulated on the trial

that appellee had none of the injuries of which he now complains before this accident.

Appellant introduced no evidence, and at the close of plaintiff's case moved the court to instruct the jury to find. the defendant not guilty, and submitted the proper instruction therefor in writing. The court denied the motion, and the jury returned a verdict of guilty and assessed plaintiff's damages at $1000, upon which the court entered judgment, after overruling motions for a new trial and in arrest of judgment.

The substance of the statement of claim filed by appellee, in so far as it is material to be considered here, is, that it is for injuries sustained June 21, 1909, while in the employ of appellant as a common laborer, by reason of its failure to furnish him a proper, safe and sufficient scaffold upon which to work, etc., to the damage of appellee in the sum of $1000. Appellant insists that these allegations of the statement of claim are insufficient to sustain an action under the statute, for the reason that no reference is made to the statute in the statement of claim. Section 3 of the Municipal Court act (Hurd's Stat. 1913, p. 723,) provides that in all cases of the fourth and fifth classes the issues shall be determined without other forms of written pleading than those expressly prescribed and provided for. Section 40 of the same act provides that suits of the fourth class shall be commenced by filing a præcipe for a summons and a statement of plaintiff's claim, and "if the suit be for a tort, it shall consist of a brief statement of the nature of the tort and such further information as will reasonably inform the defendant of the nature of the case he is called upon to defend, but nothing herein contained shall be construed to require the statement of claim in any action for a tort to set forth the cause of action with the particularity required in a declaration at common law." In Edgerton v. Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway Co. 240 Ill. 311, we had occasion to consider the nature and effect of a

statement of a plaintiff's claim or cause of action in suits of this class. It was there said: "As to this class of cases under the Municipal Court act, where no written pleadings are required, the same rule will govern as controls the form of actions before justices of the peace. We have held that it is the well settled practice that in such courts * * *the party suing need not even name his action, or if misnamed, that will not affect his rights, if upon hearing the evidence he appears to be entitled to recover and the court has jurisdiction of the defendant and of the subject matter of the litigation." In Houren v. Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Co. 236 Ill. 620, we affirmed a judgment against the railroad company for obstructing a public highway by stopping a train thereon for more than ten minutes, in violation of section 77 of chapter 114, in which the statement of claim made no reference whatever to the statute. The holding in each of those cases is in accordance with both the letter and the spirit of the Municipal Court act and is decisive of the objections urged against the statement of claim in this case.

Neither do we think the statement of claim filed was insufficient to reasonably inform appellant of the nature of the case appellant was called upon to defend when it charged that appellee was injured by reason of the failure to furnish him a proper, safe and sufficient scaffold upon which to work. The charge is almost in the language of the statute, with the provisions of which the appellant is charged with knowledge as a matter of law.

Whether or not appellee established a case of common law negligence against appellant is wholly immaterial, inasmuch as we are of the opinion that appellee made a prima facie case, under the statute, for a failure to furnish and maintain a safe, suitable and proper scaffold upon which he should work. The statute (Hurd's Stat. 1913, chap. 48, par. 79,) provides as follows: "That all scaffolds, hoists, cranes, stays, ladders, supports, or other mechanical con

trivances, erected or constructed by any person, firm or corporation, in this State, for the use in the erection, repairing, alteration, removal or painting of any house, building, bridge, viaduct, or other structure, shall be erected and constructed in a safe, suitable and proper manner, and shall be so erected and constructed, placed and operated, as to give proper and adequate protection to the life and limb of any person or persons employed or engaged thereon, or passing under or by the same, and in such manner as to prevent the falling of any material that may be used or deposited thereon." Paragraph 82 of the same act authorizes the State factory inspector to inspect any such scaffold and prohibit its use when found to be dangerous to life or limb, etc.; and by paragraph 88 a penalty of not less than $25 nor more than $500, or imprisonment for not less than three months or more than two years, or both, is provided for a violation of the provisions of the act. It further provides that "for any injury to person or property, occasioned by any willful violations of this act, or willful failure to comply with any of its provisions, a right of action shall accrue to the party injured, for any direct damages sustained thereby," etc.

Appellant insists that in order to recover under this statute it must be shown that the employer knew, or had good reason to suppose, that the scaffold in use was not erected and constructed in a safe, suitable and proper manner, and so constructed, placed and operated as to give adequate protection to the lives and limbs of those employed thereon, and that notice of such fact must be brought home to the employer by complaint from the employee or otherwise, or he will not be liable. With this contention we are unable to agree. Notice of the conditions is notice of the dangerous conditions, if the conditions are, in fact, danger

ous.

(Piazzi v. Kerens-Donnewald Coal Co. 262 Ill. 30.) This much is, in effect, conceded by counsel for appellant, who insist that appellee is barred from his common law