Lake Erie & Western Railroad v. Mays

30 N.E. 1106, 4 Ind. App. 413, 1892 Ind. App. LEXIS 132
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 13, 1892
DocketNo. 478
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 30 N.E. 1106 (Lake Erie & Western Railroad v. Mays) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lake Erie & Western Railroad v. Mays, 30 N.E. 1106, 4 Ind. App. 413, 1892 Ind. App. LEXIS 132 (Ind. Ct. App. 1892).

Opinion

Black, J.

The appellant was sued by the appellee for his expulsion from a passenger train upon the appellant’s railroad.

A jury rendered a general verdict for the appellee for six hundred dollars, and returned answers to interrogatories.

The special findings in answer to interrogatories showed facts substantially as follows:

The appellee entered on a train of passenger cars on the appellant’s road, at Muncie, August 6th, 1890, about 10 o’clock in the forenoon, without having, previous thereto, purchased a ticket. At that time there was in force on the appellant’s railroad a rule requiring its conductors to collect from all passengers who paid cash fares on the train, without the purchase of a ticket, ten cents extra fare more than was required in payment for the purchase of a ticket between the same points. At and prior to the time when the appellee so entered the appellant’s car, the appellant had in force and posted in all its passenger stations and passenger coaches a regulation, of which the following is a copy:

NOTICE.

“ On and after August 1st, 1890, passengers paying fare on train will be charged ten cents in excess of ticket rates. Receipts given by conductors will not be redeemable, and patrons are therefore earnestly requested to purchase tickets before entering the cars. Chas. F. Daly,
“ H. C. Parker, Gen’l Passenger Agent.
“ Gen’l Traffic Manager.
Indianapolis.”

At and prior to the time at which the appellee so entered [415]*415appellant’s car, the appellant had a ticket office at Muncie, supplied with tickets, and an agent in attendance thereat, for the purpose of selling tickets to all persons who desired to pass over its road. At the time the appellee entered the appellant’s train he intended to go from Muncie to New Castle, a station on the appellant’s line of road. At the time the appellee so entered said train the regular fare and charge for one passenger over the appellant’s road from Muncie to New Castle was the sum of fifty-five cents, when a ticket was purchased therefor before entering, and was the sum of sixty-five cents when paid in cash by the passenger on the train and without the previous purchase of a ticket.

At and prior to the time the appellee so entered appellant’s car, the appellant had on hand and exposed to sale at its ticket office, at said station of Muncie, tickets between said stations of Muncie and New Castle, and said office was open in ample time on said date for the sale of such tickets to persons desiring the same between said stations. At the date and time in question the appellee did not have ample time, after reaching the station at Muncie on the appellant’s road, to have purchased a ticket at the ticket office before the departure of the train, had he so desired. He could not have purchased of the’ appellant, at said ticket office at Muncie, before so entering the appellant’s car, a ticket entitling him to passage over the appellant’s road between said stations of Muncie and New Castle, for the reason that he did not have time to purchase a ticket and board the train. For the same reason he could not have informed himself, if he had so desired, by proper inquiry at said ticket office at Muncie, as to the existence of said rule and requirement for the collection of ten cents more for passage, when paid for in cash on the train, than when a ticket was purchased before entering the train.

Upon entering the ear the appellee took a seat near the rear part of the rear coach in said train. The conductor in charge of said train, soon after leaving Muncie, approached [416]*416the appellee, at the place where he sat, for the purpose of receiving a ticket or collecting fare from the appellee. The appellee then handed to said conductor the sum of fifty-five cents. At the same time the appellee informed the conductor that he, the appellee, desired to go to New Castle. The conductor thereupon, or as soon as he had stepped one or two seats further to the rear and returned to where the appellee sat, informed the appellee that if he wished to go to New Castle he would have to pay ten cents more fare than he had paid. The appellee refused to pay said ten cents. The conductor informed the appellee that the rule which required him, the conductor, to collect ten cents extra, in all cases where fares were paid in cash and no ticket purchased, Avas an imperative rule. The appellee still refused to pay said extra ten cents. The conductor, at the time he so returned to where the appellee sat, informed him that he, the conductor, could not carry the appellee to Neiv Castle for said sum of fifty-five cents. The conductor informed the appellee that unless he paid the full cash fare required by the conductor he would have to put the appellee off the train. The conductor informed the appellee at the time that fifty cents Avas the fare, when paid on the train, from Muncie to Mount Summit, a station on appellants line of road located between Muncie and New Castle, distant about six miles from New Castle.

The conductor, at or immediately after the time when the appellee had handed the conductor said fifty-five cents, and lie had informed the appellee that fifty cents was the fare, when paid on the train, from Muncie to Mount Summit, made out a receipt for a cash fare from Muncie to Mount Summit, and delivered, or offered to deliver it, together with five cents, to the appellee. Upon the arrival of appellant’s train at Mount Summit, and while the train Avas standing still, the conductor approached the appellee and asked and demanded of him the payment of fare or the delivery of a ticket therefor, between Mount Summit and New [417]*417Castle. The appellee refused to deliver a ticket or pay any more than he had already paid. Thereupon the conductor informed the appellee that he would have to furnish a ticket or pay fare from Mount Summit to New Castle or leave the train. The appellee refused to furnish a ticket, pay fare or leave the train. The conductor then attempted to remove the appellee from the train, and the appellee braced himself in the seat, and resisted removal from the train with all his power. The appellee was a large, powerful man, weighing about one hundred and ninety pounds, about forty-four years of age, and in strong, vigorous health; and the conductor was compelled to call assistance in order to remove the appellee from the train. The appellee, at all times while on said train, resisted with all his might all attempts to remove him, and continued such resistance, even after the rear platform of the car had been reached, by grasping and holding upon the iron guards or brake wheel of the platform. The resistance offered by the appellee to his removal was so great that one of the seats in appellant’s coach was broken thereby. The conductor and those who were called to his assistance did not use any more force than was necessary in order to remove the appellee from appellant’s car. The appellee rendered necessary the use of such force, by his refusal to leave the car when requested and the resistance he offered to removal. The appellee notified the conductor that he would have to use force to remove the appellee from said car.

The appellee did not purchase or offer to give to said conductor any ticket entitling the appellee to pass over appellant’s road from Muncie to New Castle. The appellee at all times refused to pay more than fifty-five cents for travelling as a passenger on appellant’s road from Muncie to New Castle.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
30 N.E. 1106, 4 Ind. App. 413, 1892 Ind. App. LEXIS 132, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lake-erie-western-railroad-v-mays-indctapp-1892.