Galena v. Thomas Griffin.

• Decision Date: 30 April 1863
• Citation: 31 Ill. 303,1863 WL 3111
• Parties: GALENA AND CHICAGO UNION RAILROAD COMPANYv.THOMAS GRIFFIN.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

31 Ill. 303

1863 WL 3111 (Ill.)

GALENA AND CHICAGO UNION RAILROAD COMPANY

v.THOMAS GRIFFIN.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

April Term, 1863.

OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE

APPEAL from the Circuit Court of the county of Whiteside; the Hon. W. W. HEATON, Judge, presiding.

This was an action, originally commenced before a justice of the peace in the county of Whiteside, by Thomas Griffin, against the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad Company, to recover damages for running a train upon, and killing, a colt belonging to the plaintiff. The justice rendered a judgment against the company, who took an appeal therefrom to the Circuit Court.

It appeared from the evidence upon the trial in the Circuit Court, that while a passenger train was approaching the depot building of the company, at its usual rate of speed, running at the rate of about fifteen miles an hour, and on the depot grounds of the company, within the town of Morrison, which is an incorporated town, the colt of the plaintiff ran from behind a building near the track, and in attempting to cross the road in advance of the train, was struck by the locomotive, and killed. The colt was running at large at the time of the accident.

The train was in such position at the time the colt started in the direction of the road, that the engineer could not see it; as soon as he did see it, however, he have the usual signal by the whistle to put down the brakes for the purpose of stopping the train. It was impossible, from the time the engineer first saw the colt, to have checked the speed of the train sufficiently to have enabled the colt to cross the road in safety.

The track crossed two streets in the town; the accident occurred about sixty feet east of the first crossing, and about one hundred and fifty feet west of the second crossing, the train running east at the time. The bell on the engine was rung at least eighty rods west of the west crossing, and until the train reached the station. The depot grounds of the company in the town were not fenced. The colt was proven to be of the value of fifty dollars at the time it was killed, and the jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff for that amount.

The defendants entered their motion for a new trial, which the court below overruled; and judgment was entered in accordance with the verdict, from which the defendants took this appeal. The assignment of errors presents two questions: first, whether it was the duty of the company to have fenced their road at the place...