Hot Springs Co v. Williamson
Decision Date | 19 May 1890 |
Citation | 10 S.Ct. 955,136 U.S. 121,34 L.Ed. 355 |
Parties | HOT SPRINGS R. CO. v. WILLIAMSON |
Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
J. M. Moore, for plaintiff in error.
A. H. Garland, for defendant in error.
This is an action at law, brought in the circuit court of Garland county, Ark., at its February term, 1883, by Curnel S. Williamson and Fannie G. Williamson, his wife, against the Hot Springs Railroad Company, a corporation organized under the laws of that state, to recover damages for alleged injuries done to certain described real estate belonging to Mrs. Williamson, in the city of Hot Springs, by the defendant company. The declaration alleged that the plaintiff Fannie G. Williamson was the owner in fee of lots 1 and 2, in block No. 78, and lot 9, in block No. 69, in that city; that lots 1 and 2 are separated from lot 9 by Benton street, which is 140 feet wide, and was laid out by the general government and dedicated to the city, with the other streets in the city, before the damages for which suit was brought were committed; that lot 9 lies south of Benton street, lot 1 directly across the street on the north, and lot 2 lies immediately north of lot 1; that the defendant, a railroad company, organized as aforesaid, with its termini at Hot Springs and at Malvern, in Hot Springs county, in that state, by and through its agents and employes, on and prior to the 10th of December, 181 , constructed, threw up, and completed in and along the center of Benton street, between lots 1 and 9, and running the full length of those lots, a permanent embankment of earth and stone 50 feet wide and of great height, to serve as a road-bed for its railroad track, under a fraudulent and unauthorized contract secretly and clandestinely entered into between it and the city, for the purpose of defrauding and injuring plaintiffs; that the defendant also constructed a turning-table at the south-east corner of that embankment and the north-east corner of lot 9, and immediately thereafter proceeded to lay and fix its railroad track permanently on the embankment, which thereby became and thereafter was a part or extension of its railroad; that, by the embankment, extension, and turning-table, plaintiffs and others were cut off from and deprived of the use of that street in connection with said lots, and their egress and ingress therefrom and therein impaired and destroyed; that said lots, which, by reason of their lateral frontage upon Benton street, were of great value, were thereby greatly damaged and decreased in value to the extent of $5,000; and that, since the dedication of Benton street to the city, the defendant had wrongfully appropriated almost the whole of it for its road-bed and other purposes, thereby wantonly injuring plaintiffs, and all other owners of land adjoining that street. The prayer of the petition was for a judgment against the defendant for $5,000, and for other relief.
The defendant answered, pleading ignorance as to whether the plaintiff Fannie G. Williamson was the owner of the lots described in the petition, and averring that those lots were located upon Malvern avenue, one of the original streets of the city of Hot Springs, which was laid off by the city, and opened and continuously used thereafter as a street, and was never vacated by the city. Further answering, it alleged that its railroad was constructed in and upon its right of way granted it by congress under the act of March 3, 1877, entitled 'An act in relation to the Hot Springs reservation, in the state of Arkansas,' and under the alleged ordinance of the city, which it denied had been passed clandestinely or through any fraud on its part; and also alleged that the turning-table complained of was constructed on its right of way, and upon lots 10 and 11, in block 69, in the city, which were defendants' own property. As a further answer, the defendant alleged that Curnel S. Williamson was improperly joined as a plaintiff in the action.
At the trial of the case before the court and a jury, the following agreed statement of facts, together with a map also agreed upon as correct, was filed: The map referred to shows that Benton street and the right of way run almost east and west, the right of way extending south to the south line of Benton street. Immediately east of lot 9, and also adjacent to the right of way, is lot 10 and immediately beyond that is lot 11. The turn-table is located partly on the right of way, and in part on the company's lots 10 and 11, and appears to be about 40 feet east of the east line of lot 9, and nearly the same distance east of the western extremity of the right of way granted by congress. Malvern avenue runs nearly from the south-east to the north-west, and is 130 feet west of the western terminus of the right of way. Considerable testimony was introduced on both sides on the question of damages as presented by the pleadings, and upon that question alone the evidence was conflicting. Evidence was also introduced on the part of the defendant to show that the alleged obstructions erected by it were such as are generally used at terminal stations, and were necessary for the operations of the road. One of its witnesses testified that The embankment was described by the witnesses as being 50 feet wide, and several feet higher than the grade of the street, and is inclosed by a granite wall. It is 25 feet from lot 9 on the south, and 65 feet from lot 1...
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