Potts

The action was one brought by a servant against a master on account of personal injuries alleged to. have been occasioned by the negligence of the latter. Plaintiff, a plasterer, was engaged by defendant to perform work as plasterer and to superintend the work of plastering a schoolhouse, for the construction of which defendant had" entered into a contract. The general work of the construction was under the supervision of one Hunter, the foreman employed by defendant. Defendant, when he employed plaintiff, agreed to furnish ladders and scaffolding necessary-in the prosecution of the work. Hunter, as foreman, directed the immediate performance by plaintiff of certain plastering work, and directed him to use a certain ladder then on the-lower floor of the building, and one of the appliances used in the work of construction and the only ladder in use on the lower floor. This ladder had originally been made a month or so before under the direction of the foreman, and had it been properly constructed upon the lines intended would have carried a weight of more than four hundred pounds. The workmen who constructed this ladder used what is known as finishing nails in the supporting part…