Fremont, Elkhorn & Missouri Valley Railroad v. Root

69 N.W. 397, 49 Neb. 900, 1896 Neb. LEXIS 855
Nebraska Supreme Court·Decided December 16, 1896·No. No. 6734·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinion

Harrison, J.

This action was commenced in the district court of Holt county to recover of the defendant company the damages for personal injuries alleged to have been sustained by plaintiff at Emmet, a station on the line of railway of defendant company. The petition contained allegations that the defendant company was a corporation and a common carrier, and, as such,- operating a line of railroad from Blair to Emmet, Nebraska; “that on the 25th day of March, 1886, the plaintiff purchased from the defendant a ticket entitling him to a safe pas[902] sage over said defendant’s road from Blair, in Nebraska, to Emmet, in Holt county, Nebraska, and thereupon, at said Blair, entered and became a passenger on the cars of said defendant on its said railroad; * * * that said plaintiff, on his said ticket, was conveyed by said defendant on its train of cars run on said road from said Blair to said Emmet; that on account of the gross negligence and willful carelessness of said defendant, the said defendant did not stop its train, on board of which this plaintiff was as aforesaid stated, at said Emmet station for a longer time than ten seconds and not a sufficient length of time for said plaintiff to get off said cars safely, at which place said plaintiff intended to leave said cars; that at said Emmet said plaintiff was about to get off, and endeavoring to get off the car of said train on which he then was, in a careful and reasonable manner, and before this plaintiff had got off of said car, said train was, by the employes of defendant operating said train, started Up, and plaintiff then carefully and reasonably attempted to get fully back into said car, whereupon plaintiff was seized by the defendant’s agent, to-wit, its conductor of said train, and plaintiff was by said defendant’s said agent, wrongfully, unlawfully, negligently, and in a rough and violent manner, pulled off said car and thrown down upon the ground a distance of six feet while said train was in motion, at a speed of five miles an hour, by reason whereof said plaintiff was greatly injured, in that he, plaintiff, received a severe shock in his whole system and particularly in his left side,' hip, knee, and ankle, which.were severely bruised and wounded, and also had two of his front teeth entirely knocked out and lost, and was for a long time confined to his bed, sick, and unable to attend to his business.” There were further statements in regard to the permanent character of the alleged injuries, etc., which need no particular or further notice. The company in its answer admitted its existence as a corporation and denied all other allegations of the petition, and pleaded that if the plaintiff had received [903] any injuries they resulted from his own negligence. There was a reply for the plaintiff, and of the issues joined a trial in which the jury returned a verdict favorable to plaintiff, and judgment was subsequently rendered on the verdict, 'fhe company prosecuted error proceedings to this court.

It appears that on March 25, 1886, the plaintiff purchased a ticket at Omaha which entitled him to be transported to Blair by the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railway Company and thence to Emmet by the defendant. company, and pursuant to the purpose for which he had purchased the ticket, became a passenger to Blair on a train of the first named company and to Emmet by a train operated on the line of the defendant company. On the same day the plaintiff delivered to the Wells-Fargo Express Company, at Omaha, two “stands” or “hives” of bees, which were billed to Atkinson, a station on the defendant’s line of road, beyond and further distant than Emmet, when considered relatively to Blair as the initial point. The bees were consigned to S. Bowers, Emmet, Nebraska, were so marked as to destination and forwarded on the same train as that on which plaintiff was a passenger. Emmet, though styled a station, had no depot; there was no agent for either the express or railway company, and no facilities for receiving express or freight matter, either from trains or for shipment. The following testimony was given by “the general superintendent of the central department of Wells, Fargo & Co.’s express:”

Q. What is the practice of the express company where there is no agent at depots to deliver express goods to?

A. The practice is, if the train stops where we have no agent, and the owner of the goods calls for them, to hand them out to him. If there is no one there to receive them, we leave them at the next office, to be called for by the owner. * * *

Q. What is the express company’s practice where the shipper of express goods is on the train with them?

[904] A. The practice is to deliver the goods at the point to which they are addressed, provided the train stops there and the owner of the goods calls for them if the train stops long enough for us to hand the goods out. * * *

Q. What is done with goods that are carried by or left before if the owner is with them, and he does not receive them and they are not delivered?

A. We usually take them to our office next to the destination of the goods, and generally notify the owner at the place the goods are marked to, that we hold them subject to his order.

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Fremont, Elkhorn & Missouri Valley Railroad v. Root, 69 N.W. 397, 49 Neb. 900, 1896 Neb. LEXIS 855 (Neb. 1896).

69 N.W. 397 (Fremont, Elkhorn & Missouri Valley Railroad v. Root) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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