Manlove v. Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Co.

65 N.E. 212, 29 Ind. App. 694, 1902 Ind. App. LEXIS 207
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedNovember 6, 1902
DocketNo. 4,091
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 65 N.E. 212 (Manlove v. Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Co.) 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
Manlove v. Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Co., 65 N.E. 212, 29 Ind. App. 694, 1902 Ind. App. LEXIS 207 (Ind. Ct. App. 1902).

Opinion

Robinson, J.

Suit for personal injuries resulting in the death of appellant’s decedent. A jury returned a general verdict in appellant’s favor, and also returned answers to interrogatories upon which judgment was rendered in [695]*695appellee’s favor notwithstanding the general verdict. That paragraph of complaint upon which the jury stated it based its verdict avers that appellee’s road extends through the city of Alexandria, and for a long time had been used by the general public for travel as a footway, by and with the knowledge, consent, and license of appellee; that it was very generally so used as a footway and a great number of people passed back and forth along that portion of the track on foot each day, and that there was seldom a moment’s time when there were not some foot passengers on the track,, and nearly all the time there were a great many persons traveling upon the track, all of which facts were well known to appellee; that while the track was being and long had been so used, and at a time and hour when “it was likely and probable and practically certain that one or more people would be traveling upon said track, and while rain was falb ing and making a noise such as to prevent a traveler upon said l’ailroad track from hearing an engine thereon at any great distance, and rendering it necessary that such person or persons should and would be carrying umbrellas to protect themselves from the rain, which umbrellas would to an extent exclude the view of and interfere with a person’s hearing an approaching engine, and at a time when it was probable and likely and practically certain that one or more persons would be traveling upon said part of said track in a southerly direction, and at a time when no train was scheduled to pass over said portion of said railroad, and when the public would not expect an engine or train to pass over the same, and at a time when it would be extremely hazardous and dangerous to the life and safety of some person to run an engine over said part of said track at a high and dangerous rate of speed without carefully watching for such foot passengers, and giving proper signals and warning of the approach thereof by ringing the bell or sounding the whistle, the defendant then and there at said time with full notice and knowledge of all of said facts, and with [696]*696full notice and knowledge that by so doing it greatly and needlessly endangered the life and safety of one or more human beings, and in total disregard of the life and safety of those who would probably and certainly be upon said track, did needlessly, wantonly, purposely, wrongfully, and wilfully blind and shade the windows of the cab of a locomotive engine in such a way as to exclude the view ahead along said track from the agents and servants of the defendant in charge of said engine, and prevent them from seeing said track in front of said engine, and any person walking thereon, and did then and there wilfully, wrongfully, and wantonly, without any regard for the consequences and in total and reckless disregard for the life and safety of those upon said track as aforesaid, run said engine in said condition over said part of said track in a southerly direction at a high and dangerous rate of speed of thirty miles an hour, and so operated as to make a very slight noise, and without ringing any bell, sounding any whistle, or giving any signal, notice, or warning whatever of the presence, approach, or passing of said engine, and at a time when no engine or train was scheduled to run on said track, the said defendant then and there well knowing that by so doing it greatly imperiled and endangered the life and safety of one or more human beings whom the said defendant’s said agents and servants knew and were reasonably certain were walking upon said track; that plaintiff’s said decedent was at said time walking upon and along said track in a southerly direction in front of said engine, and carrying an umbrella to protect herself from said rain; that she did not see or hear or have any notice or knowledge of the presence or approach of said engine; that said engine while being run and operated as aforesaid” ran against and over appellant’s decedent causing her death;' that her death was caused solely by reason of the “defendant’s so wilfully, wantonly, and purposely neglecting and failing to ring any bell or sound any’ whistle or give any signal or warning of its ap>[697]*697proach, all as aforesaid, and so wilfully, wrongfully, and purposely running said engine under the conditions and circumstances above stated, and in the condition, form, and manner above stated and set forth.”

In answering interrogatories the jury stated that decedent was struck by the engine about four o’clock p. m., August 24, 1897; that at the time she was fifty-four years old, was of ordinary bodily activity, and in full possession of the sense of sight and hearing usual in one of her age. The railroad track ran south from the depot at Alexandria to the Lake Erie crossing in the southwest part of the city and thence on south to and beyond where decedent was struck. There was no evidence as to the point she entered on the track, or whether she left it after entering and before being struck. The engine stopped at a point 300 to 600 feet north of the Lake Erie crossing, and about the time it started on south the whistle was sounded so as to 'be heard along the track still further south than where the decedent then was. It was about 2,200 feet from the crossing to the place where decedent was injured. Had decedent looked she could at any point between where she was struck and 100 feet north thereof have seen the engine a half mile. When decedent was thirty to two hundred feet north of the point where she was struck she could have looked north and have seen the engine in time to have left the track and avoided being struck and injured, but could not have done so at points twenty and ten feet north. When the train was 300 yards north of where decedent was struck it was running eighteen miles per hour. There was no evidence as to the rate of speed decedent was walking. She did not know a train was due. She did know the track was used as a footpath for pedestrians. There were three persons on and in charge of the engine and there was no evidence that any of them saw decedent or knew she was on the track, or that they had knowledge that it was practically certain that she was on the track. There was no evidence that the employes [698]*698knew that decedent was on the track carrying an umbrella in such a position that she could not see the engine in time to pass from the track before the engine reached her. The wind was from the southwest. Decedent was carrying an umbrella in front of and over her face. Of the persons who had walked along the track prior to this time three were women. There was no evidence that persons who had walked along the track prior to that time had done so while a heavy rain was falling or that they had carried umbrellas. The bell was last rung and the whistle last sounded at the Lake Erie crossing. There were two glass windows on the engine through which a view could be had of the track in front of the engine, one of which at the time was broken and was blinded by a coat or cloth; there was no evidence when this blinding was put on. An unobstructed view could be had through the other window. The employes knew the track was used by.others than employes as a way of travel. The employes knew it was practically certain that at the time one or more persons would be on the track and would be injured by the engine; that they knew this from constant travel on the track.

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Related

Dierickx v. Davis
137 N.E. 685 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1922)
Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Co. v. Means
104 N.E. 785 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1914)
Asche v. Harmon
101 N.E. 515 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1913)
Freitag v. Chicago Junction Railway Co.
89 N.E. 501 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1909)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
65 N.E. 212, 29 Ind. App. 694, 1902 Ind. App. LEXIS 207, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/manlove-v-cleveland-cincinnati-chicago-st-louis-railway-co-indctapp-1902.