Speaks v. Southern Ry. Co., Carolina Division

• Decision Date: 14 February 1912
• Citation: 73 S.E. 625,90 S.C. 358
• Parties: SPEAKS et al. v. SOUTHERN RY. CO., CAROLINA DIVISION.
• Court: South Carolina Supreme Court

73 S.E. 625

90 S.C. 358

SPEAKS et al. v. SOUTHERN RY. CO., CAROLINA DIVISION.

Supreme Court of South Carolina

February 14, 1912

Appeal from Common Pleas Circuit Court of Bamberg County; George E Prince, Judge.

Action by Mrs. Nettie Speaks and another against the Southern Railway Company, Carolina Division. From a judgment for plaintiffs, defendant appeals. Affirmed.

Harley & Best, for appellant. S. G. Mayfield and H. M. Graham, for respondents.

GARY C.J.

This is an action for damages, alleged to have been sustained by the plaintiff Mrs. Nettie Speaks on account of the defendant's refusal to provide for her a lower berth in a Pullman car, in accordance with the terms of the contract entered into by them. The allegations of the complaint material to the questions presented by the exceptions, are as follows: "That the plaintiffs, being desirous of going from the city of Bamberg, on defendant's trains, to the city of Baltimore, bought a ticket from defendant's said agent, and paid the price asked therefor by the defendant. That before buying the said ticket, and being desirous of securing sleeping accommodations, the plaintiffs applied to the agent of defendant at the city of Bamberg for said accommodations to be reserved, and the agent of the said defendant, on said application, applied to the traveling passenger agent of the defendant to make said reservation and, when informed by the said traveling passenger agent that said reservation had been made for the plaintiffs, thereupon the plaintiffs purchased a ticket from the said agent at Bamberg, to the city of Baltimore, over the roads of the defendant herein and its connecting lines, and tendered the full pay for the said ticket, together with the reservation of sleeping apartments, as aforesaid, but the agent of the defendant at Bamberg declined to receive the amount of the reservation, which had been allotted to the plaintiffs, and directed them to pay for the said reservation aboard the cars at Columbia, which connecting railway arranged with the railway of defendants. That these plaintiffs relying upon the good faith of the defendant, its agent servants, and employés, as aforesaid, bought the ticket, as aforesaid, from the county of Bamberg to the city of Baltimore, over the lines of the defendant and its connecting lines, and paid the price asked therefor in the city of Columbia, according to the arrangements agreed upon with the agent, servant, and employé of the defendant, and these plaintiffs arranged to take the train, and to occupy the sleeping apartments which had been so assigned unto them, but before taking said train inquired of the agent, servant, and employé of the defendant in the city of Columbia as to the pay for said reservation, and was directed by him to pay the same aboard the train, and that said reservation had been made, as was evidenced by the telegram sent by the traveling passenger agent of the defendant to the agent of the defendant at Bamberg, S.C. That these plaintiffs boarded the said train, believing that said reservation was made, and upon the assurance of the officer, agent, servant, and employé of the said defendant herein, to the person in charge of the said sleeping reservations connected with said train, assuring them that the reservations were made, and that they would be furnished with the same aboard said train. That the plaintiffs boarded the train, as aforesaid, with the said assurance of the agent, servant, and employés of the defendant herein, of its agents in charge...