West Virginia to amount to more than a maximum of twenty dollars per month. 66 '(6) If there be no widow, widower, or child under the age at which he or she may be lawfully employed in any industry, or dependent persons, but there are partly dependent persons at the time of death, the payment shall be fifty per cent of the average monthly support actually received from the employé during the preceding twelve months, and to continue for such portion of the period of six years after the date of injury as the commission in case may determine, and not to amount to more than a maximum of twenty dollars per month. "§ 34. The benefits, in case of death, shall be paid to such one or more dependents of the decedent, or to such other person, for the benefit of all of the dependents, as may be determined by the commission which may apportion the benefits among the dependents in such manner as it may deem just and equitable. Payment to a dependent subsequent in right may be made if the commission deem proper, and shall operate to discharge all other claims therefor. "§ 35. The dependent or person to whom benefits are paid shall apply the same to the use of the several beneficiaries thereof according to their respective claims upon the decedent for support, in compliance with the finding and direction of the commission. "§ 36. Notwithstanding anything herein contained, no sum shall be paid to a widow or widower who shall have been living separate and apart from, or have been abandoned by the employé for twelve months next preceding the injury, and who shall not have been supported by him or her during such time. But in the event a chancery suit or other action be pending concerning the relations of said widow, or widower to said employé, then payment shall be made subject to the final adjudication of said suit or action." "§ 39. * * * No person shall be excluded as a dependent by reason of being a non-resident alien, and non-resident aliens may be officially represented by the consular officers of the country of which such aliens may be citizens or subjects." Wisconsin WISCONSIN 1 "§ 2394-9. (3) Where death proximately results from the injury and the deceased leaves a person or persons wholly 1 See Wisconsin cases cited in Article B of this Chapter. The husband of the applicant was employed as a night fireman in a saw mill, his duty being to fire a set of four boilers. In an adjoining room there were three boilers tended by one Beckman. Sometime after one o'clock on a rainy morning Beckman missed the deceased and started a search for him. Twenty feet from the boiler room door he found the deceased lying on the wet ground at the foot of the platform on which was an electric transformer. An iron poker nine feet long, used for stoking fires, was twisted in the electric wires fourteen feet above the body. The deceased lay at the end of the poker and it was admitted, that he met death by electrocution. There was nothing in the evidence to show any duty required the presence of the deceased at the spot where he met death. It was contended by the employer that death was not proximately caused by accident and that at the time of the death of the deceased he was not performing the duties incidental to his employment. The commission refused compensation on the ground that "compensation is rightly charged against the employer-the industry where the employee is injured by reason of some hazard incidental to his employment. True, the purpose of the law is to relieve not only the injured employee but the family-those dependent upon the employee-and also to prevent a burden falling upon the public. But the law now here indicates that this burden should be placed upon the employer, representing the industry, except where the industry is in some degree responsible for the injury." Anna Schroeder v. Barker & Stewart Lumber Co., Wis. Indus. Com., Nov. 20, 1912. The husband of the applicant was an engineer at the almshouse. He was found dead in a manhole where he had been sent by the chief engineer, with instructions to turn off a valve in a steam pipe. His body was found with the chin and both hands resting upon a conduit and electric wires heavily charged with electricity, indicating that he was electrocuted. The employer alleged that the workman had been guilty of wilful misconduct. The Commission decided, from the testimony, that the accident proximately caused death, and that there was no wilful misconduct. As the deceased was earning more than $750 a year at the time of his death, compensation was awarded in the sum of $3,000 to be paid in weekly instalments. Mary Hunt v. Milwaukee County, Wis. Indus. Com., Oct. 21, 1912. Wisconsin dependent upon him for support, the death benefit shall be as follows: "(a) In case the injured employee was permanently totally disabled, a sum equal to four times his average annual earnings, but which, when added to the disability indemnity paid and due at the time of death, shall not exceed six times his average annual earnings. "(b) In case the injured employee was not permanently totally disabled, such sum which, when added to the disability indemnity paid and due at the time of his death, shall equal four times his average annual earnings. "(4) If death occurs to an injured employee other than as a proximate result of the accident, before disability indemnity ceases, death benefit shall be as follows: "(a) Where the accident proximately causes permanent total disability, it shall be the same as if the accident had caused death. "(b) Where the accident proximately causes permanent partial disability, liability shall exist for such benefit as shall fairly represent the proportionate extent of the impairment of earning capacity in the employment in which the deceased was working at the time of the accident or other suitable employment, caused by such disability. "(c) In case the deceased employee leaves no one wholly dependent upon him for support, but one or more persons partially dependent therefor, the death benefit shall not exceed four times the amount devoted by deceased, during the year immediately preceding his death, to the support of such dependents and shall be apportioned according to the percentage that the amount devoted by the deceased to the support of such person or persons, for the year immediately prior to the accident, bears to the average annual earnings of the deceased. "(d) If the deceased employee leaves no person dependent upon him for support, and the accident proximately causes death, the death benefit shall consist of the reasonable expense of his burial, not exceeding one hundred dollars. "(e) Death benefit shall be paid in weekly instalments corresponding in amount to sixty-five per cent of the weekly Wisconsin earnings of the employee, until otherwise ordered by the commission. "§ 2394-10, subd. 3. The following shall be conclusively presumed to be solely and wholly dependent for support upon a deceased employee: "(a) A wife upon a husband with whom she is living at the time of his death.1 1 A workman was killed by a car which was accidentally dumped upon him by fellow employees. The widow and son lived in Hungary. The employer contended that the applicant was not living with her husband within the meaning of the compensation act. It appeared that the deceased came to this country about 31⁄2 years before his death. He did not return to his wife but kept up a desultory correspondence through friends, neither being able to write. He also sent her money. It appeared that he sent her $21 shortly before his death. It was held that the husband and wife were to be considered as living together even though they might be separated by a great distance; that they were living together and not living apart when there was neither legal nor actual separation in the bonds of matrimony. The Commission, therefore, awarded the widow four times the annual earnings of the deceased to be paid in monthly instalments. Jelena Nevadjic v. Northwestern Iron Co., Dec. Wis. Indus. Com., June 14, 1912; aff'd by the Supreme Court of Wisconsin; Northwestern Iron Co. v. Industrial Commission of Wis., 000 Wis. 000; 142 N. W. Rep. 271. The respondent's husband was killed. The widow resided in Hungary. Under a stipulation it was directed that the employer pay $2100 in monthly instalments corresponding to the monthly wages of the deceased. Marthias Mueller v. Milwaukee Electric Ry. Co., Wis. Indus. Com., Feb. 15, 1913. The husband of the applicant was employed as an electrician's helper. He fell through a hole in a floor and was killed. He left a widow and two children. His average annual wage exceeded $750. Under a stipulation the employer was directed to pay $3,000 in instalments of $31.25 every two weeks. Christine Race v. Mitchell Lewis Motor Co., Wis. Indus. Com., Nov. 25, 1912. The applicant's husband was killed while employed as a miner under a stipulation. The employer was directed to pay $2566. in monthly instalments corresponding to the monthly wages of the deceased. Sofia Cokrala v. Montreal Mining Co., Wis. Indus. Com., Jan 30, 1913. The husband of an applicant fell from a purifying box and died from his injuries. Without dispute the employer consented to an order to pay Wisconsin ‘(b) A husband upon a wife with whom he is living at the time of her death. "(c) A child or children under the age of eighteen years (or over said age, but physically or mentally incapacitated from earning), upon the parent with whom he or they are living at the time of the death of such parent, there being no surviving dependent parent. In case there is more than one child thus dependent, the death benefit shall be divided between such dependents in such proportion as may be determined by the commission after considering the ages of such dependents and other facts bearing on such dependency. "In all other cases questions of entire or partial dependency shall be determined in accordance with the fact,1 as the fact $3,000 in semi-monthly payments of $31.25. Jane Tanner v. Milwaukee Gas Light Co., Wis. Indus. Com., Feb. 19, 1912. The applicant's husband while building a barn fell from the roof and was killed. The only question involved related to the annual wage, which the evidence showed as amounting to $525. The employer was therefore directed to pay to the widow the sum of $2115, in quarterly payments. Millie Nelson v. LaCrosse County, Wis. Indus. Com., Feb. 13, 1912. In the case of another employee killed in the same accident it was found that his annual earnings were $650, and an award of $2600 in quarterly payments was made. Katherine G. Mackey v. LaCrosse County, Wis. Indus. Com., Feb. 13, 1912. 1 The applicant's son, a forest ranger, was killed by a falling tree. It was shown that the applicant owned considerable property, conducted a little curio store and received a Government pension of $12. a month. It was customary for her son to turn over to her his monthly salary of $75. Her annual income from all other sources was $259. a year. The Commission determined that it cost the applicant $500 a year to live and that the son's contribution to this cost was the difference between $500 and $259 or in other words, the sum of $241. The award was that the employer pay $960 in monthly instalments. Alvina Dougherty v. State of Wisconsin, Wis. Indus. Com., June 14, 1912. The applicant's son, who was twenty years of age at the time of his death, was killed by a falling tree. He had been employed as a sawyer at $30 a month and board. It appeared that the father, who was an applicant for compensation, owned a farm and that of the sum of $550 a year earned by the deceased, he had contributed $100 a year to the applicant's support. The Commission made an award that the employer should pay four times $100 in weekly instalments of $10.58 and an addi |