Baltimore v. Fifth Baptist Church

Citation2 S.Ct. 719,108 U.S. 317,27 L.Ed. 739
PartiesBALTIMORE & P. R. Co. v. FIFTH BAPTIST CHURCH
Decision Date23 April 1883
CourtUnited States Supreme Court

The Fifth Baptist Church, the plaintiff in the court below is a religious corporation, created under the general incorporation act of congress in force in the District of Columbia. It owns a building in the city of Washington, situated on D street, between Four-and-a-half and Sixth streets, which was erected and has been used by it as a church for many years. The defendant in the court below, the Baltimore & Potomac Railroad Company, is a corporation created under the laws of Maryland, and is authorized by act of congress to lay its track within the limits of the city, and construct other works necessary and expedient to the proper completion and maintenance of its road.

The plaintiff alleges that the defendant, in 1874, erected an enginehouse and machine-shop on a parcel of land immediately adjoining its church edifice, and has since used them in such a way as to disturb, on Sundays and other days, the congregation assembled in the church, to interfere with religious exercises therein, break up its Sunday-schools, and destroy the value of the building as a place of public worship. It therefore brought the present suit in the supreme court of the district for the damages it had sustained. The defendant pleaded the general issue.

On the trial, evidence was given to show——

That the Fifth Baptist Church has owned and used the premises described as a place of worship since 1857; that the present church building was begun in 1867, and since 1868 or 1869 has been continuously occupied by the church as its house of worship; that in 1872 the defendant erected upon a parcel of ground immediately adjoining the premises on the west, and from April, 1874, till the commencement of this suit, maintained an engine-house and machine-shop, where a large number of locomotives and steam-engines were housed and their fires made, and to and from which the engines were propelled, and in which they were coaled, watered, repaired, and otherwise used; that when the ground was first broken for the erection of these works the plaintiff advised the company that if put there they would prove to be a nuisance and ruinous to the plaintiff's interests, and protested against their erection; that the company, however, paid no heed to this protest, but proceeded to erect the works upon the building line of its own premises within five and a half feet of the church edifice, and constructed upon the enginehouse 16 smoke-stacks, lower in height than the windows of the main room of the church; that the nearest of the smoke-stacks was less than 60 feet from the windows, and the others were in a semi-circular curve. at gradually increasing distances; that during this period—from April, 1874, to commencement of the present suit—the plaintiff was accustomed to have on every Sabbath day Sunday-school exercises in the morning, preaching in the forenoon, and preaching in the evening; and that religious services were also held in it on Wednesday evening of every week, and on the first Tuesday and Friday evenings of every month, and at intervals protracted religious meetings were held in it every night in the week except Saturday night; that during this period these services were habitually interrupted and disturbed by the hammering noises made in the workshops of the company, the rumbling of its engines passing in and out of them, and the blowing off of steam; that these noises were at times so great as to prevent members of the congregation sitting in parts of the church furthest from the shops from hearing what was said; that the act of blowing off steam occupied from five to fifteen minutes, and frequently compelled the pastor of the church to suspend his remarks; that this was of habitual occurrence, during the day and at night, and on Sundays as well as other days; and that in the summer-time, when the windows of the church were opened for air, smoke, cinders, and dust were blown from the smoke-stacks through the windows of the church, settling upon the pews and furniture, and soiling the clothes of the occupants, accompanied by an offensive odor, which greatly annoyed the congregation.

Evidence was also given to show——

That the railroad company, which was authorized to lay its track only along Virginia avenue in the city, had constructed a side track from the avenue to its workshops, crossing a part of D street and its sidewalk at a distance of about 100 feet from the door of the church; that the locomotives were allowed to stand at the entrance of its premises with their cow-catchers protruding several feet beyond the inclosure, and sometimes to stand across the sidewalk along which two-thirds of the congregation are obliged to pass in going to and from the church; that the access to the church was thereby obstructed and rendered dangerous, and on several occasions members had barely escaped being run over by the sudden starting of the locomotives without note or warning; that the congregation had been thereby diminished, and the attendance upon the Sunday-school decreased by about one-fourth; that the Sunday-school was a source of revenue to the plaintiff, having contributed to the construction and improvement of the church building, and this revenue was proportioned to the attendance thereon; that the property of the plaintiff was nearly ruined for church purposes by the proximity of the works of the defendant, and the noise, smoke, cinders, and dust which they created; that the rental value was ordinarily from $1,200 to $1,600 per annum, but that with the defendant's works adjoining it could hardly be rented at all; and that those works had depreciated the value of the property fifty per cent.

To meet the facts thus established, and as a defense to the action, the railroad company gave evidence to show——That it ran about 60 trains a day over its road in the city of Washington during week-days, and about 10 trains on Sundays; that its locomotives were the best known in the business; that it employed about 200 men, who were all skillful in their particular branches of the work, and well behaved; that in the engine and repair shop no more noise was made than was necessary; that every precaution was taken on Sundays to preserve quiet in the neighborhood of the church; that the main shop of the company was in the city of Baltimore, and the shop and engine-house in Washington were used only for making casual and temporary repairs in order to keep the machinery and engines in operation; that the smoke-stacks were higher than required by the building regulations in force in Washington; that the engine-house and workshops were skillfully and carefully constructed with suitable appointments and appliances; that the bells of the locomotives were not rung, not the whistle sounded, except when an accident was liable to occur; and that when the engines were brought into the house the steam ordinarily was not blown off, but allowed to go down.

The main reliance, however, of the railroad company to defeat the action was the authority conferred upon it by the act of congress of February 5, 1867, to exercise the same powers, rights, and privileges in the construction of a road in the District of Columbia, the line of which was afterwards designated, which it could exercise under its charter in the construction of a road in Maryland, with some exceptions, not material here. By its charter it was empowered to make and construct all works whatever, which might 'be necessary and expedient,' in order to the proper completion and maintenance of the road.

The act of congress provided that the road which the company was authorized to construct should enter the city at such a place and pass along such public street or alley to such terminus as might be allowed by congress, upon the presentation of a survey and map of its proposed location. Subsequently congress allowed the company to enter the city with its railroad by one of two routes, as it might select. It selected the one by which the road is brought along Virginia avenue, in front of the church of the plaintiff, to the intersection of South C and West Ninth streets.

The testimony of the parties being closed, the plaintiff prayed three instructions to the jury, which were given by the court, with additions to each. They are as follows:

FIRST INSTRUCTION PRAYED.

'If the jury find from the evidence that the engine-house of the defendant is used for receiving its engines when they come into the city after a trip; that after coming into said engine-house such engines more or less frequently blow off their steam, and that such blowing off of steam makes a loud and disagreeable noise, and that such engines are put in the stalls in said house, and omit the smoke from their fires through the chimneys of said house, and that the said engine-house is used for the purpose of a shop in which to make a certain class of repairs upon the engines and cars of the defendant, and that a loud noise of hammering is created in making such repairs, and that said engine-house is also used to receive coal for coaling the engines of defendant before going out, and that they are all coaled therein, and also get up their fire and steam therein, and further find that said house is located so near the church of the plaintiff that the noises from said engine-house can be distinctly heard inside of the said church, and also that the chimneys of said engine-house are so constructed that the tops thereof are not as high as the tops of the windows of said church, and shall further find that the smoke from said chimneys is thrown through said windows into said church in such quantities and so generally as to be a common annoyance and inconvenience to the congregation worshipping therein, and that said noises in said yard of blowing off steam are of daily and nightly occurrence, and are so distinctly heard in said church on Sundays,...

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