Indianapolis & Vincennes Railroad v. McLin

82 Ind. 435
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedMay 15, 1882
DocketNo. 9097
StatusPublished
Cited by28 cases

This text of 82 Ind. 435 (Indianapolis & Vincennes Railroad v. McLin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Indianapolis & Vincennes Railroad v. McLin, 82 Ind. 435 (Ind. 1882).

Opinions

Morris, C.

This suit was brought by the appellee against the appellant to recover damages for an injury, allegedx to have been inflicted upon her minor son, James McLin, by the appellant, through its carelessness and negligence, without any fault or negligence on the part of the appellee or her said son.

The complaint contained three paragraphs, to which the appellant answered by a general denial. The cause was submitted to a jury, and, after the appellee closed her evidence in chief and rested her case, the appellant demurred to the evidence. The jury was directed to return a verdictj assessing the appellee’s damages conditionally, which was done, and the damages assessed at $530.

The court overruled the appellant’s demurrer to the evi[436]*436dence, to which the appellant excepted. The appellant moved the court for a new trial of the issues in the cause, which motion was overruled. It also moved the court for a new trial as to the assessment of damages, which motion was overruled.

The rulings of the court upon the demurrer to the evidence and upon the motions for a new trial are assigned as errors.

The error alleged to have been committed by the court, in overruling the motion for a new trial of the issues, is not pressed by the appellant, and will not be noticed. The evidence is properly in the record.

It appears from the testimony, that, on the 17th day of September, 1878, the appellee’s son, then about sixteen years of age, was seriously injured by a collision of a passenger train on the appellant’s railroad, with a wagon drawn by two horses and driven by one William Sirp, who was a boy some sixteen years old. The collision occurred at a highway crossing of the appellant’s road, about a mile southwest of Edwardsport. The highway crosses the appellant’s road at an angle of about forty-five degrees; the highway runs north and south and the railroad northeast and southwest. At the crossing, the railroad is built upon an. embankment seven to eight feet above the natural level of the ground; this embankment diminishes gradually from the crossing northeast 200 yards to a point where a cut begins; this cut extends northeast through a hill or elevation about .600 feet long, the greatest depth of the cut being eight or ten feet from the rail to the surface on top of the ground. From a point one-half mile northeast of the crossing the railroad runs upon a straight line and a gradually descending grade to and southwest of the crossing.

The highway runs upon a straight line from, a quarter of a mile or more north of the crossing to and south of the crossing. About forty or fifty rods north of the crossing it ascends a hill of the same height as the hill through which the railroad cut is made; the fill in' the highway to make the ascent upon the railroad from the nqrth begins about thirty feet north of the center of the railroad; clumps of bushes, ranging [437]*437in height from fifteen to twenty feet, were growing in a field in the angle north of the railroad and east of the highway, beginning near the highway and running northeast parallel with the railroad about sixty feet, and from thirty to forty feet from it. On the day of the accident, shortly after 12 o’clock m., the train on appellant’s railroad, consisting of a locomotive, one baggage and mail car and two passenger cars, was approaching the crossing from the northeast on time, at about thirty to thirty-five miles per hour. At the same time, appellee’s said son and three other boys of similar age, in full possession of their senses of seeing and hearing, were, in a common two-horse wagon, approaching the crossing from the north, on the highway, at the ordinary walking speed of a team of horses attached to a wagon. Appellee’s son was sitting down in the bed of the wagon and the other boys were sitting on a seat-board just in the rear of the first wheels. As the wagon got upon the crossing, the engine struck it in the front wheels, demolishing it, injuring the horses slightly, killing one of the boys, and injuring appellee’s son and one of the other boys.

William Shiveley, a witness for the plaintiff, being duly sworn, testified as follows:

“Know the plaintiff and know the boy, but not very long. I live at Edwardsport; I know the place of the accident; the Vincennes and Wheatland road crosses the railroad at that point; it was a public highway, and used by the public generally; knew condition of crossing September 17th, 1878; not in very good condition; the dirt was washed away from the side of the rails; it was bad on both sides, but worse on north side. I owned land near the crossing; at the crossing, the fill of the railroad is seven or eight feet high and a hill to pull up; the dirt is worn away next to the rails; in crossing, it would.check the horses; cross-ties projected outside of the rails and made a raise for horses and wagon to pull up, and, in pulling up, horses and wagon would be checked; there are some willow bushes in the corner of the field near the [438]*438crossing; some o|“ these are fifteen or twenty feet high; they had leaves on them at time of the accident; some near the railroad, smaller ones, and some in my field; there were some dry brushes, also; the railroad, from the crossing in the direction of Edwardsport, is straight for over eighty rods; man on crossing can be seen from eighty rods towards Edwards-port; I heard noise of the collision, but did not see it; I did not hear bell ring or whistle before the collision; the noise of the collision was the first thing that attracted my attention ; the wind was blowing pretty strong from the south; don’t know what effect the blowing of the wind would have oh the hearing of the train; I went to the crossing; did not see James McLin; the hind.part of the wagon and bed were on the north side of the railroad, in field, and forepart of wagon was 200 yards down the railroad on the south side; the horses were going south on the road; the horses were not killed.”

On cross-examination said witness testified as follows:

“The holes in the ground on the side of the railroad were made by wagons passing over the road; planks on outside of each side of the rails; my land is on the north side of the railroad and east of the wagon road, in the angle; the highest willows are inside of my field; my fence, at the crossing, is about forty feet from the center of the railroad, and, as it runs up side of the railroad, it is sometimes closer, and sometimes further off; the fill at the crossing is seven or eight feet high, and is higher than the fence, and runs .on a fill higher than the fence nearly back to the cut; from the crossing to the cut is about twenty-five or thirty rods; the willow bushes are in bunches, some of them fifteen or twenty feet high; I saw the boys first just below Edwardsport, going towards the crossing; my son, Thomas Shiveley, and I were in a wagon, behind them; they were in a wagon; we came up close to them at the top of the hill, about fifty rods from the crossing; I got out of my wagon there and went over into my field on the east side of the wagon road; the boys were justbefore'our wagon there; [439]

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Bluebook (online)
82 Ind. 435, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/indianapolis-vincennes-railroad-v-mclin-ind-1882.