Atlantic City R. Co. v. Clegg

Citation183 F. 216
Decision Date28 November 1910
Docket Number44.
PartiesATLANTIC CITY R. CO. v. CLEGG.
CourtUnited States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (3rd Circuit)

Thompson & Cole, for plaintiff in error.

Frank S. Katzenbach, Jr., for defendant in error.

Before BUFFINGTON and LANNING, Circuit Judges, and CROSS, District judge.

BUFFINGTON Circuit Judge.

In the court below Mrs. Mary S. Clegg, administratrix and wife of Charles S. Clegg, brought suit against the Atlantic City Railroad Company for its alleged negligence in causing his death. She recovered a verdict, and on entry of judgment thereon in her favor the railroad sued out this writ.

The accident in which the decedent lost his life occurred at the defendant's station at Magnolia, N.J. The ticket office and waiting room are at the side of a platform which runs along the south-bound track, and there is another open platform along the north-bound track. Eversham avenue, a public street, crosses the two tracks at the south end of the station. A picket fence between the two tracks extends from that avenue northward, and prevents passengers crossing from one platform to the other, except by using the avenue. The two platforms and the street are all made of concrete, are on the same level, and there is no dividing or marked line between platforms and street. North-bound trains often stopped at Magnolia station with a car standing on Eversham avenue, and passengers were accustomed to get off the cars on either side, using the street as a disembarking platform. There was an automatic bell, rung by an approaching train and which kept ringing until the train left the station. There was neither watchman or gate at the crossing, and the station agent was the only employe. He was absent at the time of the accident, having gone to the post office to get the mail bag which it was his duty to put on the train. The testimony on plaintiff's behalf tended to show that on the day before the accident the decedent came to Magnolia on a train from Camden, and had a return round-trip ticket to that place. The next morning he went to the station shortly before 9 o'clock, reaching it from the waiting room side. He went into the waiting room, learned from the ticket agent who had not yet gone out for the mail, the time of his return train to Camden, and then sat down to wait. His train came in shortly thereafter, and its last car stopped with its rear platform steps beyond the fence and opposite the Eversham avenue crossing. Its approach set in motion the automatic bell, and it was ringing when the deceased left the waiting room to take his train and crossed the south-bound track on the avenue. Just before he reached the train and while crossing the latter track, he was struck and killed by a scheduled express train which passed the station on the south-bound track without stopping. This train, which was ten minutes behind time and was running at high speed, blew for the crossing, and the deceased, had he looked before he crossed the track, could have seen it.

It will thus be seen the case turns on the...

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3 cases
  • Kansas City Southern Ry. Co. v. Willsie
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit
    • July 7, 1915
    ... ... (3d Ed.) 1006, 1009; Grimes v. Pennsylvania Co ... (C.C.) 36 F. 72; Riley v. Vallejo Ferry Co ... (D.C.) 173 F. 331; Atlantic City Ry. Co. v ... Clegg, 183 F. 216, 105 C.C.A. 478; Railway Co. v ... Hutchinson, 101 Ark. 424, 142 S.W. 527; Railroad Co ... v. Watson, 102 ... ...
  • Hennessey v. Intermountain Transp. Co.
    • United States
    • Montana Supreme Court
    • April 5, 1940
    ...United Electric Rys. Co., 51 R.I. 384, 150 A. 366, 75 A.L.R. 282. Plaintiffs rely upon the case of Atlantic City R. Co. v. Clegg, 3 Cir., 183 F. 216, but that case involved a railroad company which had control of the premises where the injury occurred, and had control also of the train that......
  • Hennessey v. Intermountain Transp. Co.
    • United States
    • Montana Supreme Court
    • April 5, 1940
    ... ... busses from the town of Arlee to the city of Missoula, during ... the forenoon of said day and in broad daylight; that in ... preparing to ... 366, 75 ... A.L.R. 282 ...          Plaintiffs ... rely upon the case of Atlantic City R. Co. v. Clegg, 3 ... Cir., 183 F. 216, but that case involved a railroad ... company which ... ...

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