Arkansas Cent. R. Co. v. Jackson
| Decision Date | 22 March 1902 |
| Citation | 67 S.W. 757 |
| Parties | ARKANSAS CENT. R. CO. et al. v. JACKSON. |
| Court | Arkansas Supreme Court |
Appeal from circuit court, Sebastian county; Styles T. Rowe, Judge.
Action by W. L. Jackson against the Arkansas Central Railroad Company and William Blair, receiver of said company. Judgment for plaintiff, and defendants appeal. Affirmed.
W. L. Jackson, the appellee, a brakeman on appellants' road, brought this action against the appellants, and recovered damages for the loss of a finger in the sum of $750.50, sustained while coupling cars on a switch or spur track of the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway, near the city of Ft. Smith. The complaint alleged, in substance, that, through an arrangement between the receiver and the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway Company, the receiver had secured the use of the terminal facilities of the latter road in the city of Ft. Smith, and was using the same, under their agreement, at the time the plaintiff was injured; that in the yards was a spur or switch track, which had been negligently constructed and maintained, in that the same was not ballasted, — that is, that the ties of said switch track were laid on the ground, and the iron rails on the ties, without any dirt or other material thrown between the ties so as to fill the spaces between them; that the receiver was using the said unballasted switch track in operating said road, and that while so using the same the plaintiff was directed by the conductor to make a coupling of a certain car standing on said switch track with the train, which plaintiff proceeded to do, the plaintiff never having been engaged in breaking on said switch track before, and not knowing or being informed of its condition or that it was unballasted, and that, in making said coupling, plaintiff, without negligence on his part, stepped on and fell from the edge of one of the ties into the unballasted space between the ties, which caused his left hand to be caught between the drawheads of the cars he was attempting to couple, and terribly mashed, bruised, and lacerated, and part of the thumb and two fingers were cut off, and plaintiff suffered then and for a long time thereafter great agony and pain therefrom, and that the use of his hand had been materially impaired for life; and plaintiff claims $5,000 damages. Defendants answered, and denied the allegations of the complaint, and charged the plaintiff with contributory negligence. The testimony tended to show that the Arkansas Central Railroad was in the hands of Blair, receiver, and being operated by him, and that it was in an unfinished condition, and that plaintiff was a brakeman on that road; that he knew that that road was unballasted, and accepted employment on it as a brakeman with knowledge of its condition; that plaintiff's injury occurred at about 10 o'clock a. m. His statement is that the train stopped at this spur or switch track, before it came into the depot at Ft. Smith, to set out some cars; that the engineer pulled the cars forward, another brakeman opened the switch, and he went back up the spur track to couple the cars onto some other cars which were standing on this spur track; that the cars which were being set out came back slowly, approaching the stationary cars, when he stepped in to make the coupling, and that his foot dropped into a hole between the ties, which caused him to fall, and in falling he threw his hand between the couplers, and his hand was mashed, causing the loss of his fingers; that he did not know and had not been informed of the condition of that track. The space into which he says his foot fell was 16 to 18 inches wide, 6 inches deep, and 8 feet long. He says that weeds...
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