Alabama & Vicksburg Ry. Co. v. McCoy

Decision Date20 October 1913
Citation63 So. 221,105 Miss. 737
PartiesALABAMA & VICKSBURG RY. CO. v. MRS. PEARL MCCOY et al
CourtMississippi Supreme Court

October 1913

APPEAL from the circuit court of Scott county, HON. C. L. DOBBS Judge.

Suit by Mrs. Pearl McCoy and others against the Alabama and Vicksburg Railway Company. From a judgment for plaintiff, defendant appeals.

The facts are fully stated in the opinion of the court.

Reversed.

R. H and J. H. Thompson, attorneys for appellant.

Cooper & Cooper and W. C. Eastland and Flowers, Alexander & Brown, attorneys for appellees.

OPINION

REED, J.

D. S. Odom was run over and killed by a westbound passenger train of appellant, on February 12, 1912, at Merrill's Mill, or Muskogen. His three children, appellees here, all adults of mature age, brought suit and obtained judgment for three thousand dollars. Merrill's Mill is about three- quarters of a mile west of Lake, on appellant's railroad, and it is not a stop for passenger trains. The Mill Company's office is on the south side of the railroad, and the store on the north side. There is a walkway between the two buildings, which crosses the railroad track.

Mr. Odom was sixty-seven years old and addicted to the excessive use of morphine and laudanum. He was employed as a private mail carrier for the mill. At the time of the accident he was going from the office to the store along this way for pedestrians. When he drew near to the track, he had mail in his hands, looking through or assorting it. He appeared entirely unconscious of his surroundings and of any danger from crossing a railroad. He did not look up or around, but walked slowly on the track just in front of a fast-approaching train. The engine was within one hundred feet of the crossing when the unfortunate man stepped on the track. It was impossible for the engineer to have brought the train to a stand in that distance. The fireman, according to his testimony, was on the running board of the engine at the time, and saw Mr. Odom step on the track. The fireman endeavored to notify the engineer, but was unable to do so before the train struck the deceased, because it was so near him.

Several witnesses for appellees stated that they did not hear the sounding of the whistle or the ringing of the whistle or the ringing of the bell as the train approached. It was shown however, that this was only a private crossing for pedestrians to go over, and was not a...

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10 cases
  • Columbus & Greenville R. Co. v. Lee
    • United States
    • Mississippi Supreme Court
    • February 27, 1928
    ... ... Peremptory ... instructions should have been granted. A. & V. R. R. Co ... v. McCoy, 105 Miss. 737, is in point. The court there ... said: "The entire occurrence has been shown. We ... This court so held forty-one years ago, in Vicksburg & M ... R. Co. v. Phillips, 64 Miss. 693, 2 So. 537, ... since the decision of which case the ... ...
  • Stapleton v. Louisville & Nashville Railroad Co.
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit
    • May 22, 1959
    ...owed her no duty except that of not inflicting upon her a willful or wanton wrong. * * *" Emphasis added. Alabama & V. R. Co. v. McCoy, 1913, 105 Miss. 737, 63 So. 221, involved the death of an employee of a lumber mill at a small town near Lake, Mississippi. The railroad permitted the mill......
  • Columbus & G. Ry. Co. v. Duease
    • United States
    • Mississippi Supreme Court
    • March 8, 1926
    ... ... a certain point not at a public crossing, as was the case in ... that of the McCoy case, in 63 So. 221, 105 Miss ... 737. On account of the obstructions, above set forth, to one ... ...
  • Edward Hines Yellow Pine Trustees v. Holley
    • United States
    • Mississippi Supreme Court
    • February 1, 1926
    ... ... 482, 40 So. 258; Murdock v. R. R ... Co., 77 Miss. 487, 29 So. 25; R. R. Co. v ... McCoy, 105 Miss. 737, 63 So. 221; R. R. Co. v ... Cooper, 68 Miss. 368, 8 So. 747; Billingsley v. R ... ...
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