the defendant negligent on this account. Nor can it be said that the risk attending the use of such short draw-bars-particularly their use in connection with each other-was one of the ordinary risks of the employment, in the usual sense of that phrase. The evidence discloses that they were so short that when their ends came together there was only about 10 inches between the end of the car and of the locomotive, whereas the usual space, according to the evidence, is from about 24 to 30 inches. To so diminish this usual standing room that an employe is almost sure to be caught when in the discharge of his duty between a heavy standing car and an engine whose momentum, because of its weight, is tremendous, however slow its speed, would seem to be some evidence of negligence. If thespace is too narrow for the body, serious injary is almost inevitable in case the servant is caught. There is respectable authority for the proposition that these facts warrant a finding of negligence. Railroad Co., v. Fredericks, 71 Ill. 294; Greenleaf v. Railroad Co., 29 Iowa, 14; Belair v. Railroad Co., 43 Iowa, 662; Crutchfield v. Railroad Co., 78 N. C. 300; Railroad Co. v. Callbreath, 66 Tex. 526, 1 S. W. Rep. 622.
Assuming that the jury were justified in finding the defendant guilty of negligence, it remains to be considered whether the plaintiff was not guilty of contributory negligence as a matter of law. The question arises not under ordinary circumstances. The defendant appears expressly to have imposed upon plaintiff duties in addition to those which the law would imply from an ordinary contract of employment of a switchman. At the time the plaintiff entered into the service of the defendant, the latter presented to plaintiff for signature certain regulations, and plaintiff, in answer to the question printed thereon, "Have you read and do you understand the following extract from the book of rules of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company?" replied in his own handwriting: "I have read and understand them." So far as they are here material, these rules are as follows: "Great care must be exercised by all persons when coupling cars. Inasmuch as the coupling apparatus of cars and engines cannot be uniform in style, size or strength, and is liable to be broken, and as from various causes it is dan-
