125 Mass. 75 (Mass. 1878), Johnson v. Boston & Maine Railroad

• Citation: 125 Mass. 75
• Opinion Judge: Soule, J.
• Party Name: Johnson v. Boston & Maine Railroad. Abby Johnson v. Boston and Maine Railroad
• Attorney: N. B. Bryant, for the plaintiff. S. Lincoln, Jr., for the defendant.
• Judge Panel: Soule, J. Colt, J., absent. Lord, J., did not sit.
• Case Date: July 19, 1878
• Court: Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts

Page 75

125 Mass. 75 (Mass. 1878)

Johnson

v.

Boston & Maine Railroad.

Abby Johnson

v.

Boston and Maine Railroad

Supreme Court of Massachusetts

July 19, 1878

Page 76

[Syllabus Material]

Page 77

Suffolk. Tort for personal injuries occasioned to the plaintiff by the alleged negligence of the defendant.

Trial in the Superior Court, before Wilkinson, J., who, after verdict for the defendant, reported the case for the determination of this court in substance as follows:

The plaintiff offered evidence tending to show that on December 4, 1875, she purchased a ticket at the defendant's office in Boston, entitling her to be carried over the defendant's road from Boston to Lawrence, and thence, over the Manchester and Lawrence Railroad, to Manchester, New Hampshire; that the ticket had coupons attached, and contained no limitations as to the time when it was to be used, and was silent as to the right of the party holding it to stip over at any point on the line; that she took the train leaving Boston about noon, and, having occasion to stop at Somerville on the line of the defendant's road, in order to see her son, whom she was expecting by a train upon the Eastern Railroad, at the station of the latter road in Somerville, a few rods distant from the defendant's station, she stepped from the train at the defendant's station in Somerville, intending to resume her journey by another train on the defendant's road, which would leave Boston at five o'clock on the same day; that after leaving the car she proceeded to a house near by the station; that the defendant's station and grounds at Somerville extend the entire distance between Cambridge and Perkins streets, both of which streets the railroad crosses at grade, and both of which are provided with gates; that there are two tracks running north and south, parallel to each other and about four feet apart; that the principal station is on the west side, and there is a platform adjacent to the track, raised about eight inches above the track, and extending the entire distance between Perkins Street on the north and Cambridge Street on the south; that upon the opposite or east side of the track and adjacent to it, a platform similar to that upon the west side extends the entire distance between Perkins and Cambridge streets, and meets each highway at a level; that a narrow planking extends on the west side of the track the whole length of...