Brooks v. Philadelphia & R. Ry. Co.

• Citation: 218 Pa. 1,66 A. 872
• Parties: BROOKS v. PHILADELPHIA & R. RY. CO.
• Decision Date: 22 April 1905
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Pennsylvania

66 A. 872
218 Pa. 1

BROOKS
v.
PHILADELPHIA & R. RY. CO.

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

April 22, 1905.

Appeal from Court of Common Pleas, Philadelphia County.

Action by Edward Brooks, Jr., administrator of George W. Hamilton and Clara Amelia Hamilton, against the Philadelphia & Reading Railway Company. From an order refusing to take off a nonsuit, plaintiffs appeal. Reversed.

Argued before MITCHELL, C. J., and FELL, MESTREZAT, POTTER, and STEWART, JJ.

Edward Brooks, Jr., Frederick J. Geiger, and Edgar Dudley Faries, for appellant Gavin W. Hart, for appellee.

MESTREZAT, J. On January 1, 1903, Clara Amelia Hamilton, one of the plaintiffs, was a passenger on the defendant company's train leaving the Reading terminal in the city of Philadelphia about 6 o'clock in the evening. Her destination was Lafayette station, at which the train was due about 6:30 that evening. After the train left the station, the plaintiff surrendered her ticket to the conductor. The train did not stop at Lafayette station, and, as it was passing, the plaintiff stepped to the door of the coach in which she was riding and told the brakeman that she desired to alight at that station. He replied that the train had not yet arrived at the station, which she insisted was not true. While they were talking, the conductor came running through the car and said that he had forgotten to notify the brakeman to stop the train at Lafayette station, and that the train would then stop, which it did, about 100 yards beyond Lafayette station. It was then dark, and plaintiff told the conductor and brakeman that she preferred being let off at the platform; but the brakeman said he would assist her to alight there. She then attempted to alight from the train, and testified that, "when getting down, in some manner my left limb twisted, and caused a rupture, for which I have suffered ever since." At the time of the accident, Mrs. Hamilton was 65 years of age, and was a large woman. The brakeman was a tall, stout man, and stood on the ground, and assisted Mrs. Hamilton to alight. In her testimony she describes the manner in which she left the coach as follows: "Well, his [brakeman's] head, I suppose, was on a level with my knee about, and I had to lean over this way and put my hands on his shoulder to get down. It was all of four feet that I had to jump—four feet and one-half." This action was brought to recover damages for the injuries sustained by Mrs. Hamilton by reason of the alleged negligence of the...