Arkansas Central Power Co. v. Hildreth

296 S.W. 33, 174 Ark. 529, 1927 Ark. LEXIS 401
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedJune 27, 1927
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 296 S.W. 33 (Arkansas Central Power Co. v. Hildreth) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Arkansas Central Power Co. v. Hildreth, 296 S.W. 33, 174 Ark. 529, 1927 Ark. LEXIS 401 (Ark. 1927).

Opinion

"Wood, J.

This action was instituted by Roberta Hil-dreth, plaintrfty against the. Arkansas Central Power Company,, defendant. The plaintiff alleged, in substance, that the defendant is ah Arkansas Corporation engaged as a common carrier in the operation of a street railway transporting passengers in the city of Little Rock, Arkansas; that, on September 28, 1925, plaintiff was a passenger on one of defendant’s cars, known as the South Main car, which was being operated by- one man, the. conductor-motorman; that she paid her fare and took hex-seat in the car; that the conductor-motorman claimed that she had not placed the proper fare in the box; that, he caused the plaintiff to be unlawfully arrested and falsely imprisoned and to suffer other humiliations and indignities, to her damage in the sum of $5,000, for which she prayed judgment. - ■ ■ ■

The defendant denied all the material allegations of the complaint, and alleged that, if the plaintiff was arrested, it was because of her own misconduct, and that, if tlie conductor-motorman caused the plaintiff tó be arrested, such action on liis part was not within the scope of his authority. .

The plaintiff testified, in substance, that she and her little daughter and one Ruby Corley entered one .'of defendant's cars at 23rd and Main streets; that she:paid ■the fare. She had twenty cents in her hand and offered same to the conductor-motorman, who told her to drop it in the,, box, which she did, and then went, to her seat. The conductor-motorman hollered to,her,“You owe me three pennies,” and she replied,'“Well I dropped twenty .cents in the box.” Ruby Corley said, “Instead-of owing him three pennies, he owes us two;” and she asked him for the two pennies. The conductor-motorman said to her “If you don’t sit down, I will put you off the car.” She insisted, and said, “Well,, I want my two pennies— they are mine; they are not .yours,” and he told her-again “If you don’t sit down I will put you off the car.” When the car got to 5th and Main the conduetor-motor-man would not let us off the car. He held us until he called the policeman, and arrested us and, carried us down to headquarters, where we were held until bond was made for ms. Witness went back to court, the jiewt morning.

Over the objection of appellant, witness was-permitted to testify that she and her little girl were arrested, and that they were turned loose...On crossrexami-nation she stated, among other things, that they were going,to. get off at 5th and Main. When, they got off there,', .the officer told them to come with him, and witness,asked the officer why he had arrested her., and stated that she had. not said anything, and the officer told her to tell Judge Lewis that. The officer held them at the. drug store. until he called the patrol. They walked over to the comer, in front of the drugstore. Plaintiff-, testified that the. officer came on the. car at 5th and Main and took them .off the car. The motorman would not open the -door of the car. They were still there at the door, waiting to get off, when the officer came. He made them get off. The policeman stepped off tlie car in front of them and told them to come and go with him. He did not take witness off. iHe told them, before the car door was opened, that they were under arrest for disturbing the peace. ■Witness talked with him after they were off the car on the ground, because she wanted to know why he had arrested witness, for she had not said anything to the motorman.

G-. C. Self testified, in substance, that he boarded the car at the same time plaintiff did. Witness corroborated the testimony of plaintiff as to the payment of the fare. After the plaintiff took her seat, she stated that she was due two cents in change; that was the only word witness heard pass between plaintiff and the motorman. Plaintiff and her companion got off the car at 5th and Main. They were taken off by the policeman, who- was directed to do so by the motorman and another gentleman who was on the car. Witness stated: “When the car stopped at 5th and Main, a gentleman came from the rear of the car and spoke to the motorman. Just in a minute or two they beckoned to the officer, and the officer came forward while the girls were getting off, and took charge. The motorman did not abuse the plaintiff in any way. The officer came to the front of the ear, and the women were pointed out at the rear as they were getting off. As well as witness remembered, the officer went down on the outside of the car. Witness would not be positive about that. The women were fixing to get off. Witness did not remember whether the officer took charge of them before they got off or after they got off. Witness could not say that he heard the policeman say anything to them in the car. He did not hear the policeman say anything, but knew that the policeman arrested them from the fact that they were pointed out to him and he took charge of them. Witness could not say whether the policeman got on the. car of not, but he heard the motorman calf the policeman, and saw him point out the plaintiff and her companion to the officer, and heard the motorman say, “Take charge of them.” Witness didn’t know whether the motonnan held the door until the policeman came. He thought the door did not open before the policeman got there because they had not got off the car at that time. The car stood there two or three minutes. Witness looked hack, and they were getting off the car, and at the* same time the policeman came forward.

Over the objection of defendant the court permitted the plaintiff to prove that she was acquitted by the municipal court on the charge of disturbing the peace.

D. P. Poole, a witness for the defendant, testified that he was an operator in the employ of the defendant, and was operating the car at the time the plaintiff was arrested. When the plaintiff and her companions boarded the car, théy dropped a dime and a slick nickel in the box, and plaintiff said, “I am paying for three.” Plaintiff got about five or six feet back in the car and witness called her and told her she had only put fifteen cents in the box. Witness thought that she had made an honest mistake. They went back in the car and the young yellow negro girl with plaintiff got to cursing and raising quite a disturbance all the way down town. The passengers complained to witness, and when witness got to 5th and Main he called the policeman and told him that this colored girl was raising quite a disturbance, and asked him to go back there and quiet her down or cool her off, or something like that. At that time plaintiff and her companions were going back towards the back end of the car to get off. Witixess let them off of the car. After the officer came and witness talked with him, he went back through the car to where they, were. Witness didn’t hear the officer say anything to them on the car. Witness did not instruct the officer to arrest them. After the officer went back to the back end of the car, the woman got off the- car. The officer got off too. Witness did not curse or abuse the plaintiff in any way. Witness did not hear the plaintiff say anything. Witness told the policeman to go back and “quiet them down or cool them off” — that they were raising a disturbance on the car. They were' still fussing when witness called the policeman and told him to go back- and quiet-them down or cool them off. Witness pointed out the other woman who was doing the fussing. The car witness was operating was one of the old cars, and the doors are slow releasing. As soon as witness got to the proper stopping place, he released the door.

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Bluebook (online)
296 S.W. 33, 174 Ark. 529, 1927 Ark. LEXIS 401, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/arkansas-central-power-co-v-hildreth-ark-1927.