Cent. R. R v. Smith

• Citation: 8 S.E. 311,82 Ga. 236
• Parties: Central R. R. v. Smith.
• Decision Date: 05 December 1888
• Court: Supreme Court of Georgia

8 S.E. 311

(82 Ga. 236)

Central R. R.

v.Smith.

Supreme Court of Georgia

December 5, 1888

Master and Servant—Injury to Servant—Neglect or Vice-Principal.

The action being by a train-hand for a personal injury alleged to have resulted from the carelessness and negligence of the conductor, in ordering the train to leave the station before the plaintiff had time to perform a duty assigned him on top of the train and get down, and the evidence failing to show that the conductor gave the order to start prematurely or improperly, a motion for a nonsuit should have been granted.

(Syllabus by the Court.)

Error from superior court, "Washington county; Hines, Judge.

Action for damages by Smith against Central Railroad Company. Judgment for plaintiff, and defendant brings error.

Lawton & Cunningham, for plaintiff in error. R. W. Carswell, for defendant in error.

Bleckley, C. J. In winter, and at night, the weather being very cold, and the train behind time, an accident occurred at the station, by which the bell-rope was broken, and it became the duty of Smith, the train-hand, to go on top, reunite the rope, carry one end of it to the engine, and have it attached to the bell. The conductor ordered him to do this, but, as it was a part of his duty, he would have undertaken it without an order. The train, at the time, was standing still. The night was dark, the wind was blowing, and the roofs of the cars were covered with ice. Smith, carrying a lantern, climbed up by a ladder connected with one of the cars, and, having repaired the rope, he started forward to pass to the engine. As the train moved off, the conductor spoke to him. He did not reply. He thought he could reach the engine before the train got too fast, and probably would have succeeded had not the rope got fastened. But it did get fastened so that he had to return along the cars to loose it. Finding that he could not do so, he concluded that he would wrap the rope around a brake-handle, and make his way back to the cab; the smoke from the engine being so dense by this time that he could not go forward, and the wind being so high—the speed of the train having become very rapid—that he could not remain on top of the cars without danger of freezing. In his effort to reach the cab, his foot slipped on the ice, and he fell to the ground from the top of the train. He was severely injured by the fall. These, in brief, are the material facts to which he testified on the trial.

In the declaration his injury is...