Chicago City Railway Co. v. Hagenback

131 Ill. App. 537, 1907 Ill. App. LEXIS 76
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedFebruary 19, 1907
DocketGen. No. 12,962
StatusPublished

This text of 131 Ill. App. 537 (Chicago City Railway Co. v. Hagenback) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Chicago City Railway Co. v. Hagenback, 131 Ill. App. 537, 1907 Ill. App. LEXIS 76 (Ill. Ct. App. 1907).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Smith

delivered the opinion of the court.

It is urged on behalf of appellant that the verdict is against the overwhelming weight of the evidence.

The negligence averred in the original declaration is that appellant carelessly and improperly propelled and managed its car which was moving in a southerly direction along Halsted street, by reason whereof it ran into and struck with great force and violence appellee and his wagon, while he was driving with due care in a southerly direction, whereby appellee was thrown with great force and violence upon the ground.

Subsequently séven additional counts were filed. A special demurrer was sustained to the fourth and sixth additional counts. At the conclusion of the evidence, and at the request of appellant, the court gave to the jury peremptory instructions to find the defendant not guilty as to the second and seventh additional counts, writing upon the instructions ‘6 given, this count was dismissed.” The second, fourth, sixth and seventh additional counts, therefore, are out of the case.

The negligence averred in the first additional count is that the defendant carelessly, negligently and improperly propelled, operated and managed its car at a high and dangerous rate of speed, to wit, fifteen miles an hour, by reason whereof plaintiff was injured. The third additional count alleged negligence in operating the car at a high and dangerous rate of speed, to wit, fifteen miles an hour in the night time, whereby, etc. The fifth additional count averred that appellant’s servants propelled, operated and managed the car without knowledge of the presence of plaintiff in front of the car, and that by the exercise of due care and caution they should have known he was there. The negligence avered in the sixth additional count is the failure to ring a bell or otherwise notify the plaintiff of the approach of the car.

The evidence shows without controversy that as appellee was driving the team which he had charge of south on Halsted street in the westerly track of appellant’s street car line, appellant’s car going in the same direction approached rapidly from the north and collided with the wagon with such violence as to throw appellee forward off his wagon and down between the horses upon the pavement. The violence of the collision was such as to break in the front part of the car, and the controller was bent over against the front door of the car, breaking in the door. One of the horses which appellee was driving was thrown down and the horses and wagon were pushed along the pavement after the first collision a distance of several feet. Appellee, although thrown forward by the collision, was discovered, after the car was stopped, lying by the step of the front platform of the car.

It is a conceded fact that the accident happened about eight o ’clock in the evening, and that it was misting and wet. The collision took place at or near Thirtieth street. There was a street light within fifteen or twenty feet of the team at the time of the collision. The accident was observed by a number of witnesses standing on the southeast corner of Thirtieth and Halsted streets. No one of these witnesses heard any bell or other warning as the ear approached; nor did they notice the approach of the car until it was within thirty or forty feet of the wagon. From the testimony of these bystanders it appears that there was little, if any, decrease in the speed of the car from the point where they first noticed it until it struck the wagon.

The plaintiff testified that when he turned into Halsted street after leaving Lime street he looked north and did not see any car, and that he lookéd over his shoulder now and then, probably once or twice in each block; that he did not hear or see any car approaching and did not know what struck his wagon at the time. He had a light on the front of his wagon and his load of barrels was covered by a white tarpaulin.

For the defense several witnesses testified to the character of the weather on the evening in question. The witness Sweeney was riding on the front platform of the car, and says he did not see the wagon until the car was within twenty or thirty feet of it; he did not see any light on the wagon; the motorman pulled on his lever. The witness Hall testified that he was the motorman on the car in question; that he had his window down and was looking straight ahead. He had his controller on the ninth or tenth point; that when he first discovered the wagon ahead of him it was about forty feet or a little more away from him. He applied the brakes and sanded the track, but the car seemed to slide; that he then applied the reverse key, and in his opinion he checked the speed of the car about one-half, so that when it collided with the wagon it was going about three and one-half miles an hour. The witness testified that he rang his gong twice as he approached Thirtieth street. He gave it as his opinion that on a good rail, not slippery, a car going at the rate of seven miles an hour can be stopped in about seventy feet, and with a slippery rail it would require thirty to thirty-five feet moré. The witnesses Covert, Jeffry and Halsted, motormen, corroborated Hall in his opinion as to the distance in which a car can be stopped.

Appellant also offered evidence tending to show that in the locality of the accident Halsted street was poorly lighted. .

It is the contention of appellant upon the evidence that the plaintiff was guilty of contributory negligence and that appellant was not guilty of negligence. Taking all the circumstances into, consideration and the testimony offered bearing upon the question of negligence, we are not of the opinion that the verdict is against the weight of the evidence upon the question of contributory negligence, or upon the question of appellant’s negligence.

Errors are assigned upon the admission and exclusion of evidence, and we have considered the points made by appellant’s counsel. They relate mainly to the distance the- witnesses could see on the evening of the accident, and as to the speed the car was going just prior to the collision. While some of the rulings were not, perhaps, strictly accurate, we do not think appellant was injured by them, or that the verdict and judgment should be disturbed on account thereof.

It is urged that the court permitted an improper examination of Dr. Schroeder, who was one of appellee’s attending physicians, and who testified to having treated him while he was in the hospital. The witness was asked whether or not in his opinion from his examination of appellee’s wound, which he had made the day before he testified, it was possible or probable that pieces of bone were constantly discharged. The answer of the witness was: “There is a definite reason for the sinus remaining; that reason is usually dead bone; there may be other reasons.”

The evidence tended to show that at the time of the trial there was an opening in plaintiff’s leg which had never healed and that there was some discharge of matter from it. We think it was proper to inquire into the cause of this, how long it would continue, and its effect upon Ms health and strength. The foregoing inquiry, and some of the examination of this witness following it, was directed to that object, and we find no reversible error in the rulings of the court during the examination.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Illinois Central Railroad v. Cole
46 N.E. 275 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1896)
North Chicago Street Railroad v. Hutchinson
60 N.E. 850 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1901)
North Chicago Street Railroad v. Polkey
67 N.E. 793 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1903)
Illinois Central Railroad v. Cole
62 Ill. App. 480 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1896)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
131 Ill. App. 537, 1907 Ill. App. LEXIS 76, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/chicago-city-railway-co-v-hagenback-illappct-1907.