Gillingham v. Ohio River Railroad

14 L.R.A. 798, 14 S.E. 243, 35 W. Va. 588, 1891 W. Va. LEXIS 93
CourtWest Virginia Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 12, 1891
StatusPublished
Cited by47 cases

This text of 14 L.R.A. 798 (Gillingham v. Ohio River Railroad) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering West Virginia Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gillingham v. Ohio River Railroad, 14 L.R.A. 798, 14 S.E. 243, 35 W. Va. 588, 1891 W. Va. LEXIS 93 (W. Va. 1891).

Opinion

Holt, Judge :

This was an action of trespass on the case brought on the 15th day of October, 1889, in the Circuit Court of Cabell county by Elmer Gillingham against the Ohio Eiver E. E. Co., averring in substance that at the station in the town of Huntington, he was on defendant’s passenger train with the proper ticket for Ben Lomond, a station on defendant’s line, and that defendant through its agent the conductor, unlawfully, falsely, maliciously and without reasonably probable cause, caused plaintiff to be arrested handcuffed, and led and driven in the daytime through the principal street of Huntington, a long distance, to the office of a justice, on an unfounded charge, before whom he was tried on the merits, found innoceutand discharged; all of which was done by defendant, to plaintiff’s great mental anguish, humiliation and distress, loss of time, inconvenience and expense, to his damage, etc. Defendant appeared and demurred to the amended declaration, and the court overruled the demurrer, and thereupon defendant pleaded not guilty. The cause was tried by a jury, who brought in a verdict for one thousand dollars damages; defendant moved the court to set the same'aside and award a new trial and made various other motions, all which the court overruled and rendered judgment; and defendant brings the case here on writ of error.

On behalf of plaintiff four witnesses were examined, [590]*590himself, the officer who made the arrest and W. A. Thorn-ley and William Bell, who were present at the arrest and during the transactions which led to it. On behalf of defendant one witness was examined, viz.: the conductor of the passenger train who caused the arrest to be made.

The record sets out in full the evideuce, not the facts proved; as to a large part of it, however, there is no substantial conflict, so that it can be safely said for the present purpose, that the facts are as follows :

The plaintiff, twenty four years old, was a farmer living in Ohio, nine miles from Gallipolis, but for a short time preceding 17th September, 1889, had been working for Thornley at a saw-mill in Cabell county, W. Va. On that day he came into Huntington and bought a railway ticket from defendant for Greenbottom depot. He had an uncle living in Huntington, and before starting received a letter from home stating that his mother was sick; thereupon he decided to go on up to Ben Lomond station, and bought from defendant a ticket for that place. He then went back to the depot, some forty minutes before the schedule time for his train to start, Thornley being with him. The train was standing on the sidetrack about thirty five yards above the depot. It was raining very hard, and they walked across the track and got on a coach; but finding it locked, they stood on the platform until it was unlocked, when they went in and sat down in the smoking car, as Thornley was smoking. The conductor and brakeman were on the train when the plaintiff got on. ‘When Gillingham, the plaintiff, and Thornley got' on the platform, they were followed onto it by one Coffer, a young man very perceptibly intoxicated at the time. Plaintiff' was entirely sober, not having drunk anything intoxicating that day, being orderly and well behaved as -well as sober, making no disturbance of any kind during the whole transaction. But Coffer commenced kicking or pounding on the door, when the conductor went to the door, saw Coffer standing at the far side. Coffer looked and acted as if very drunk.

Therefore the conductor put his hand on Coffer’s shoul-[591]*591dev and said, “Young man yon ought not to go on the cars this way, you might get hurt or killed and then I would be responsible for it.” Coffer then put his hand down into his pocket and drew out an open knife, with a blade three or four inches long. The conductor stepped back into the car, picked up a coupling pin, went to shut the door, when Coffer raised the knife a second time. The conductor hit him on the knuckles with the pin and he Coffer threw the knife “down like.” The conductor told him to get off' the train or he would throw the pin at him, and picked it up for that purpose but refrained, but at the depot, sent the baggage master for a police officer. Witness Beatty, the policeman, came, when the conductor told him to arrest a man who was in the smoking car, who he was afraid would do him some harm. The policeman, conductor and.another, passed out of the baggage car into the smoking car and there they found plaintiff Gillingham seated, Thornley smoking sitting behind him on the same seat with Coffer, Coffer having his head leaning on the back of plaintiff’s seat. The conductor pointed out plaintiff and directed the policeman to arrest him. The policeman asked the conductor, “are you sure that is the man ?” The conductor said he was, and that he had a knife. The policeman then ordered plaintiff' to stand up and take out his knife, and the conductor came up and said he recognized the knife, and plaintiff handed it to policeman and pointing to Coffer on the nextgseat behind, said: “It was not me but that man.” The policeman raising Coffer’s head off the seat, asked Coffer what was the matter with him. Thornley also then said Coffer was the man ; and Beatty, the officer, thinking there must be something wrong and that the conductor was mistaken, again asked him if plaintiff' was the man, and the conductor told him he was sure he was the man, and to take him and hold him until he came back; tnen the policeman put handcuffs on plaintiff'and started with him. Thornley went out on the platform and again told them plaintiff was not the man. The policeman led plaintiff' through the street with the handcuff's on, first to his uncle’s James Gillingham, and then to the office of the justice; and the conductor moved out with the train. The [592]*592justice tried tlie case on tlie merits, acquitted the prisoner and discharged him.

Plaintiff did not look like Coffer, in dress, size or otherwise. Plaintiff’ was sober, quiet and well behaved. Defendant asked the conductor as its witness: “Was the act of your pointing out the man as the one who had committed the assault upon you a personal one.” He answered: “It was personally done.” He further said: “Plaintiff had done nothing that he knew of in violation of the rules of the defendant company, had done nothing against its property, and that he himself was off duty as conductor, when the arrest was made, he thought; and that he honestly believed that plaintiff was the man who cut at him with the knife.”

The defendant as a common carrier of passengers was bound to treat the plaintiff’ as one of its passengers respectfully, and carry him safely to Ben Lomond, the point his ticket called for. “Among the obligations which such a contract imposes are ‘to protect the passenger against any injury from negligence or willful misconduct of its servants, while perfonning the contract, and of his fellow passengers and strangers, so far as practicable; to treat him respectfully, and to provide him with the usual accommodations, and any information and facilities necessary for the full performance of the contract on the part of the carrier,’ and these obligations continue to rest upon the carrier, its servants and employes, while suchj^pntract continues and is in process of performance.” Dwinelle, v. New York Cent. &c. R. Co., 44 Am. & Eng. R. R. Cases, 384-86 (1890) and cases cited on p. 386.

In Harris v. Nicholas, 5 Munf.

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Bluebook (online)
14 L.R.A. 798, 14 S.E. 243, 35 W. Va. 588, 1891 W. Va. LEXIS 93, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gillingham-v-ohio-river-railroad-wva-1891.