Loeffler v. Missouri Pac. Ry. Co.

• Decision Date: 12 November 1888
• Citation: 9 S.W. 580,96 Mo. 267
• Parties: LOEFFLER v. MISSOURI PAC. RY. CO.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

9 S.W. 580

96 Mo. 267

LOEFFLER v. MISSOURI PAC. RY. CO.

Supreme Court of Missouri.

November 12, 1888.

RAILROAD COMPANIES — INJURIES TO PERSON ON TRACK — NEGLIGENCE.

Where one engaged in the construction of a sewer beneath a railroad track, in a tunnel, there being a time specified for the performance of the work when the trains are not running, enters the tunnel while in use for the passage of trains, knowing that it has not yet been turned over to the trackmen, and is injured by defendant's train, he is guilty of negligence, and cannot recover for injuries so received.

Appeal from circuit court, St. Louis county; W. W. EDWARDS, Judge.

Action by John Loeffler against the Missouri Pacific Railway Company, to recover for injuries received by reason of the negligence of defendant's agents and employes in the management of defendant's trains. Judgment was rendered for plaintiff, on demurrer to the evidence, and defendant appeals.

S. M Breckenridge and M. F. Watts, for appellant. A. R. Taylor and W. F. Broadhead, for respondent.

BLACK, J.

The plaintiff received the injuries, on account of which he recovered a judgment for $4,000, while in the tunnel leading from the Union depot, in St. Louis, to the bridge. The tunnel railroad consists of two tracks, separated by a wall of masonry 8 or 10 feet thick, and from which wall the arches are constructed. There are open passage-ways through the wall every 30 or 40 feet. At a point six or eight blocks from the east entrance there is no division wall for a distance of 40 feet, and here the roof is supported by girders, and in the upper part of this open space is located a fan, which exhausts the smoke from the tunnel. The defendant operated the tunnel road at the time in question, and had the plaintiff and others engaged in putting in a sewer under one of the tracks. This work was carried on at night only, and when the tunnel was closed to the passage of trains. About half past 8 o'clock in the evening the plaintiff and three other laborers entered the tunnel at the east entrance, one of them carrying a lantern, and the others following in single file. On the way to the place, where they were to commence work, they passed one train by stepping into one of the passage-ways in the wall. When they reached the open space under the fan a train passed them on the north track, and just as it passed another one came up on the south track going in the opposite direction. The plaintiff, it would seem, did not hear or...