Munn v. Industrial Board (274 Ill. 70, 1916)

Mr. Justice Farmer

delivered the opinion of the court:

Carrie L. Munn was the owner of a building located at 172 West Washington street, in the city of Chicago. F. S. Oliver and Andrew Kuby, doing business under the firm name of Oliver & Co., were employed by her, as her agents, to take charge of the rent, management and up-lceep of the building. There was an elevator in the building operated for the accommodation of tenants. Conrad Casparson was employed to operate the elevator, fire the boilers in the building and keep the hall and stairways in the building swept clean. The hours of his employment were from seven in the morning to six in the evening. On November •10, 1914, about seven o’clock in the evening, a fire occurred in the basement of the building, where the boilers were located a'nd the coal stored for firing them. Casparson had not left the premises and he attempted to extinguish the fire. In doing so he was overcome by fumes or smoke, or both, collapsed and was carried out of the building, where in a short time he recovered sufficiently to re-enter the basement and move or adjust some boxes therein, after which he went to his home, where he died early the next morning from the effects of inhaling poisonous gases in the boiler room. A committee of arbitration, selected under the provisions of the Workmen’s Compensation act, heard the case and awarded the administratrix, Alma M. Casparson, $3500, to be paid in installments of $36.84 per month, beginning the tenth day of November, 1914. On petition of the owner of the building and her agents the award of the committee of arbitration was reviewed by the Industrial Board and it was there affirmed. The case was then removed, on the petition of Carrie L. Munn and Oliver & Co., to the circuit court of Cook county by writ of certiorari. That court affirmed the decision and award of the Industrial Board, and the case is brought to this court for review by writ of error.

It is the contention of plaintiffs in error that the fire occurred in the boiler room from film scraps of a highly inflammable character, which accumulated in the rooms of the Standard Film Exchange, one of the tenants in the building, and that said film scraps were placed at the door of the film company’s rooms for removal by Casparson, who received fifty cents per week from the film company for that service. It is contended Casparson removed the film scraps in bags to the boiler room in the basement, and that after his hours of employment for the day had ended they in some way were ignited, and that in attempting to extinguish the fire thus caused, Casparson received the injury from which he died. On these grounds it is insisted the accident did not arise out of and in the course of Caspar-son’s employment, and the Industrial Board was therefore without jurisdiction to make the award and the circuit court erred in confirming it.

Plaintiffs in error contend that upon the facts found by the Industrial Board the injury to the deceased did not arise out of and was not received in the course of his employment. It is conceded this court is bound by the finding of facts made by the Industrial Board and can only review its decision for errors of law. Paragraph (