Lancaster v. Browder

243 S.W. 625, 1922 Tex. App. LEXIS 1161
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedApril 22, 1922
DocketNo. 9958.
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 243 S.W. 625 (Lancaster v. Browder) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lancaster v. Browder, 243 S.W. 625, 1922 Tex. App. LEXIS 1161 (Tex. Ct. App. 1922).

Opinion

DUNKLIN, J.

pn November 24, 1920, Mrs. Julia Browder was struck and killed by a locomotive and train of the Texas & Pacific Railway Company. This suit was instituted by her surviving husband, J. P. Browder, and their children against J. L. Lancaster and Chas. L. Wallace, receivers of the railway company, to recover damages for her death, and, from a judgment in favor of the plaintiffs, the defendants have appealed.

The accident occurred in the town of Gordon, near the railway depot, at a place where one of the public streets or roads crosses the railway track. The time of the accident was approximately 6 or 7 o’clock in the evening, and it was dark. The train that struck Mrs. Browder was a passenger train known as the “Sunshine Special,” and was running late. It was coming from the east and bound west, and Mrs. Browder was walking north over the crossing on the occasion of the accident. The train was not scheduled to stop, and did not stop, in the town of Gordon, but kept on its course west after the accident happened, apparently without knowledge on the part of its operatives that Mrs. Browder had been killed. After the train had passed the station Mrs. Browder’s body was found on the north side of the railway track, some 12 or 14 feet from it, and approximately 60 feet west of the crossing. When found, life was extinct. There was a wound above her right ear, and her skull, right arm, and shoulder and right hip and right leg were all fractured. There were also bruises on her right side. Her hat was found about 30 feet east of her body, and her spectacle frame was lying 10 feet east of her body. At the time of the accident her large Collie dog was with her, and he too was killed, and his body was found on the same side of the railway track, more than 20 feet west of where Mrs. Browder’s body was picked up. Gordon is a town with a population estimated by witnesses to be about 600 or 800 inhabitants, and business houses are built on both sides of the railway track. Mrs. Browder was postmistress, and at the time of the accident was going from her home on' the south of the track to the post office on the north side, for the purpose of making up mail for two expected railway trains, and which was due to be reaay by 8 o’clock that night. There was a mail box on the south side of the railway track, and as she was going to the post office she gath *626 ered up m§.il from It and proceeded on tier way. Letters so. taken up were found scattered along on the north side of the track west of the crossing. The locomotive was equipped with a bright electric headlight, which cast a glaring reflection down the track, and was visible to any one approaching the crossing in question and while on the crossing for a distance of approximately one-half mile down the track; the track being practically a straight track for that distance east of the crossing.

Witnesses for the plaintiff testified that they heard the locomotive sound four whistles, which were answered in a moment with one short blast, all sounded about one-half mile east of the crossing, but further testified that they heard no other whistles and heard no bell rung from that point up to the crossing. They further testified that those whistles were sounded as the train came out of a cut, which was near another public road crossing east of the one in controversy. According to further testimony given by them the residents of the town generally understood those whistles to be given for the Gordon station, and those whistles were sounded at what is commonly known as the whistling post. They iuther testified that the railway track was down grade from a point near the railway cut to the station. Several of the plaintiffs’ witnesses testified to the speed of the train, which they estimated to be from 55 to 50 miles an hour, some of them characterizing the speed as “very rapid” and others as “running fast.” One of plaintiffs’ witnesses, Hugh Siggers, who had lived in Gordon for 17 years and was engaged as a clerk for one of the merchants in that town, testified in part, as follows:

“I know that headlights on engines are very bright. I know that it is very difficult to tell the exact distance a train is away from you when standing directly in front of an electric headlight. A train running down grade at a rapid rate of speed would make less noise except for the steam. I stated I had been in the railway business. I have lived in Gordon several years, and have had occasion to notice trains .passing through Gordon.”

The witness further testified:

“I had known Mrs. Browder right at 17 years. I saw her that evening immediately before she was killed. I saw her at the mail box, and I also walked down the sidewalk with her. She did take the mail out of the mail box. I gave her some letters' to post. She was taking the mail out of the box, or had taken the mail out of the box, and I came out of the restaurant and started down the sidewalk and walked something like 10 or 15 feet with her. The conversation was 'she was going to the office and remarked she would carry the letters for me, unless I had business by the office. I gave her the letters and walked on down 40 or 50 feet to the corner of the bank, and then turned back. I was talking casually with her ‘ during that time. She was in her usual good spirits, pleasant and agreeable.
“After I had walked down the street with her a short ways and left her she continued on north. I turned and started back to the restaurant. I did observe Godwin and Miss Gould and Miss Bhyne near the restaurant. I observed them driving up the street and stopping there. It was dark then. I would estimate it to have been about 7 o’clock in the evening. It was on the 24th day of November, 1020. I did observe Mrs. Browder again. She was crossing the railroad track when I observed her, going onto the railroad track. I saw the train at the instant I saw Mrs. Browder on the track. The headlight was burning very bright. She was in the glare of the headlight at the moment I saw her on the track. She was walking in a peart gait, walking as she usually did; she was a fast-walking woman. She was walking fast at the moment I saw her. I would estimate the train was something about 100 feet away at that time, something like that, moving at a rapid rate of speed. There was something occurring that caused me to take my eyes off of Mrs. Browder. It was Mr. God-win and Miss Gould and Miss Ithyne driving up in the cut-down ‘hoopie,’ and Miss Gould went to step out of the car. Immediately after that I observed the train passing on through the town over the crossing by the station.
“At the moment I saw Mrs. Browder on the track with this train approaching, had it been running at its usual and ordinary rate of speed, considering the rate she was traveling,’ in my opinion, she could have cleared the track. When I saw Mrs. Browder there on the tracks the dog was traveling right at her side.”

Another witness, T. E. Bell, who had been in business in Gordon about 25 years, testified in part as follows:

“I think it is hard to tell the distance a train is away when it is shining in your face. * * * I had known Mrs. Browder about 30 years before she was killed. Her place of business was about 100 feet east of my store. I had seen her frequently passing back and forth over the railroad tracks. I suppose she was perfectly familiar with the tracks and the passing of the trains there. I saw her nearly every morning coming across the tracks.

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Bluebook (online)
243 S.W. 625, 1922 Tex. App. LEXIS 1161, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lancaster-v-browder-texapp-1922.