Gardner v. St. Louis & San Francisco Railway Co.

36 S.W. 214, 135 Mo. 90, 1896 Mo. LEXIS 236
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedJune 16, 1896
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 36 S.W. 214 (Gardner v. St. Louis & San Francisco Railway Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gardner v. St. Louis & San Francisco Railway Co., 36 S.W. 214, 135 Mo. 90, 1896 Mo. LEXIS 236 (Mo. 1896).

Opinion

Burgess, J.

Action instituted in the circuit court of Barry county, for damages for personal injuries sustained by plaintiff, while in the employ of defendant in the capacity of fireman on one of its locomotives on its railroad. The venue was changed- to the circuit court of Lawrence county, where a trial was had resulting in a verdict and judgment for defendant, and plaintiff appealed.

At the time of the accident plaintiff was standing upon the apron which covered the opening between the engine and tender, attending to his duties; they separated and he fell beneath the tender, which passed partially over him, bruising and injuring him on and about the head, body, shoulders, spine, and loins, permanently disabling him, and rendering him unable to work.

With respect to the negligence of defendant the petition alleges, “that said injuries were caused by the carelessness and negligence of defendant company, its [94]*94agents and servants, in failing and neglecting to keep its roadbed properly ballasted, tied, lined, and leveled, and by allowing and permitting the ends of the rails on said railway where the same connected to get out of level, by reason of which at the point of connection one rail would stand several inches higher than the other, thereby jolting and jerking the engines and trains moving on said road when they would strike said joint so elevated above the level of the connecting rail and tearing the coupling, which united said cars, apart. And also by the negligence and carelessness of the defendant company, its agents and servants, in using insufficient safety chains and eye bolts to connect said chains to engine and tender and insufficient draw-bar and kingbolts to connect said engine, upon which plaintiff was firing, with the tender thereof, which drawbolt had upon the kingbolts passing through the same too much play by several inches, thereby weakening said kingbolts and coupling and making it more liable to break.”

The answer was a general denial.

The separation of the tender from the engine was caused by the breaking in two of the kingbolt, which fastened the coupling between them. The evidence was conflicting as to whether this bolt was cracked before the accident, and by reason thereof defective, or whether it was in perfect condition.' The evidence was also conflicting as to the condition of the track at the place of the accident, plaintiff’s witnesses testifying that it was in very bad condition, while defendant’s witnesses testified to the contrary. The safety chains also parted and there was some evidence tending to show that they were insufficient.

Plaintiff asked the court to instruct the jury as follows:

“It was the duty of the defendant to furnish and [95]*95supply to its employees, or those engaged in running and operating its train of ears,- machinery and appliances, such as locomotive engines and tenders, and the various appliances thereto belonging, that were reasonably safe, secure and sufficient for the transaction of its business, and that it was the duty of defendant to keep its track in a reasonably safe condition for the passage of its trains, át the point where the accideüt in evidence occurred, and in the absence of notice to the contrary, the employees of defendant had the right to assume that the locomotive engines and tenders and appliances furnished to them with which to work were so safe, secure and sufficient and that said track was in a reasonably safe condition.
“If you find, therefore, that defendant neglected its duty as above defined, and that on the day specified in the petition plaintiff, Robert A. Gardner, was in the employ of defendant as a fireman, and was at said time engaged in the prudent and careful discharge of his duties under such employment, and that there was a defective or insufficient or cracked coupling pin or kingbolt in the engine through the drawbar connecting the engine and tender on which he was. working, or that the drawbar or safety chains or coupling apparatus of said engine and tender were defective or insufficient and not reasonably safe,.or if the track at the point where the accident occurred was not in a reasonably safe condition, or if the track was so rough or the joints so uneven or the ties broken or rotten or the track was swinging so as to render the same not reasonably sate, and that the defendant knew, or by the exercise of ordinary care and diligence, might have known of such defects, and by reason or in consequence of such defective or insufficient kingbolt or coupling pin, or insufficient drawbar, safety chains or •coupling apparatus, or by reason or in consequence [96]*96of such defective, rough or uneven track, said engine and tender separated, and plaintiff, while engaged in the prudent and careful discharge of his duty, was thrown or fell from said engine and tender and was run over and injured by said tender, then the verdict of the jury must be for the plaintiff.”

This instruction was refused, and instead thereof the court gave the following instructions:

“It was the duty of defendant to furnish and supply to its employees, or those engaged in running and operating its trains of cars, machinery and appliances vSuch as locomotive engines and tenders and the various appliances thereto belonging, that were reasonably safe, secure and sufficient for the transaction of its. business (so far as the same could be secured by the-exercise of reasonable care and diligence), and that it was the duty of defendant to keep its track in a reasonably safe condition for the passage of its engines and trains at the point where the accident in evidence occurred; and, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, the employees of defendant had a right to presume that the locomotive engines, and tenders, and appliances furnished to them with which to work, were reasonably safe, secure and sufficient, and that said track was in a reasonably safe condition.
“The court instructs you, that if you believe from the evidence that the plaintiff was in the employ of the defendant as fireman on one of her trains, and that such train broke apart by the breaking of the ‘kingbolt/ and defendant was thrown from such train and run over by the tender and injured thereby, and that there was a crack or fracture in such kingbolt, and that the same-was rendered unsafe and insufficient thereby, and that such unsafe and insufficient condition of the kingbolt could have been discovered by the defendant by the-exercise of reasonable care and diligence, and that such [97]*97breaking apart of the train was caused by such insufficiency of the kingbolt; or, if you believe from the evidence that the track of the defendant at the point where the accident occurred was in an unsafe condition at that time, and that such breaking of the kingbolt was caused by such unsafe condition of the track, then your verdict should be for the plaintiff.”

On the trial Asa Baxler testified as a witness on behalf of plaintiff, and for the purpose of discrediting him, defendant was permitted, over the objection of plaintiff, to introduce in evidence the docket of the mayor of the city of G-arfield, Arkansas, showing that said witness had been fined in August, 1890, for. disturbing the peace, and again, in 1893, for some other misdemeanor. It is insisted that this evidence was incompetent for the purpose of impeachment, the offense not being infamous, and that the court committed error in admitting it.

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

Related

Hightower v. Edwards
445 S.W.2d 273 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1969)
State v. Kile
218 P. 347 (New Mexico Supreme Court, 1923)
Meredith v. Whillock
158 S.W. 1061 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1913)
Summers v. Keller
133 S.W. 1180 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1911)
H. A. Johnson & Co. v. Springfield Ice & Refrigerating Co.
127 S.W. 692 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1910)
Kapiolani Estate, Ltd. v. Thurston
17 Haw. 312 (Hawaii Supreme Court, 1906)
O'Connor v. St. Louis Transit Co.
80 S.W. 304 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1904)
State v. Manning
87 Mo. App. 78 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1901)
Salt Lake City v. Smith
104 F. 457 (Eighth Circuit, 1900)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
36 S.W. 214, 135 Mo. 90, 1896 Mo. LEXIS 236, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gardner-v-st-louis-san-francisco-railway-co-mo-1896.