Potter v. Flint & P.M.R. Co.
| Decision Date | 17 June 1886 |
| Citation | 62 Mich. 22,28 N.W. 714 |
| Parties | POTTER v. FLINT & P.M.R. CO. |
| Court | Michigan Supreme Court |
Error to Bay.
A. McDonald, for plaintiff.
Wisner & Draper, for appellee.
Plaintiff sued for damages as resulting from an injury at a crossing on the morning of February 27, 1883. Plaintiff and two other persons who had been working at a lumber camp near Farwell left the camp that morning about day-break, and reached Farwell not far from 8 o'clock. After a short stop they started again in two sleighs, and went down the highway between one and two miles before reaching the place of the accident. The front sleigh belonged to one Graham, and two horses, belonging to plaintiff, were hitched to it behind. Plaintiff followed in another sleigh driven by one Martindale, with a team of two horses. They drove at an easy trot or fast walk. The road ran parallel with the defendants' railway, and not many rods distant from it until within about 48 rods of the crossing, when it made an angle, and continued south-eastwardly to and over the track. Between the crossing and the beginning of the turn the ground is clear of any obstructions beyond some low bushes, and the railroad track was several feet higher, and generally visible. Beyond the bend there were woods between the highway and track. Fourteen rods west of the crossing a small stream crosses the railway under a bridge or culvert, and the same stream crosses the highway at the same distance from the crossing; the highway and its bridge being some feet lower than the crossing level. The day was clear and there was snow on the road to some depth. When the two sleighs, which were near together, had come near the crossing, the train was approaching, and the foremost one was driven across in advance of it, getting over clear, with the led horses behind it. The second sleigh, driven by Martindale, came after, and, according to plaintiff and Martindale, was about three or four rods off, when a blast of the whistle startled the horses, and Martindale let them go forward without checking them, thinking it safer, and that he might get over. One horse and the sleigh came in contact with some part of the train, and were struck, the horse killed and the sleigh broken. Plaintiff and Martindale were thrown out and plaintiff's arm was dislocated. He went on in the train, but suffered for some time from the injury, which left some permanent effects.
The...
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