French v. Boston & M.R.R.
| Citation | 230 Mass. 163,119 N.E. 691 |
| Parties | FRENCH v. BOSTON & M. R. R. |
| Decision Date | 24 May 1918 |
| Court | United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Report from Superior Court, Middlesex County; Marcus Morton, Judge.
Action by Merrill E. French against the Boston & Maine Railroad, resulting in directed verdict for defendant. On report to the Supreme Judicial Court. Judgment ordered for plaintiff.
Arthur T. Johnson, of Boston, for plaintiff.
Trull & Wier and John M. O'Donoghue, all of Lowell, for defendant.
There was evidence that the plaintiff had a contract with the federal government to carry the mail from mail trains, when they arrived at the railroad station in Weston, to the post office in that town. He had rendered this service under similar contracts for about 30 years before January 31, 1914, when he was struck by an engine of the defendant and received the injuries for which this action is brought.
The defendant maintains a single track, in Weston, which runs east and west, the station being located on the southerly side. Opposite the station-north of the main track-there is a long siding with a switch at each end so that approaching trains can pass each other at this point. A platform in front of the station, 8 or 10 feet wide, extends to within about 2 feet of the southerly rail of the main track; and the space between the northerly rail of the main track and the southerly rail of the siding-a distance of approximately 9 feet-is filled in with cinders almost level with the tops of the rails. Ãt the time of the accident there was a mail train from Boston due to arrive at the station about 6:11 o'clock in the evening; and it was the practice to discharge the mail and express matter and to allow passengers to leave and enter the train. There was also a train for Boston due to arrive at Weston at the same time. The train from Boston, as was usual, arrived first, in which event it was the practice for the train bound for Boston to stop near a switch about 375 feet west of the station and wait there until the mail and express matter had been removed and the passengers had alighted. The train from Boston took the siding, and came to a stop with the engine underneath an overhead bridge about 75 feet west of the station and the forward end of the car containing the mail and express matter at about the easterly end of the bridge. When this train arrived the train for Boston was not in sight. The plaintiff testified that he went to the door of the mail car with a wheelbarrow which he used to carry the mail, turned it around, and placed the mail pouches in it; that he then turned around and looked up the main track, and, the train for Boston not being in sight, started to go to the station platform walking between the main track and the siding; that he went 15 or 20 feet with his back towards the west, then turned to cross the main track to go upon the platform when he heard some one shout, and saw the train for Boston coming towards him, and about 10 feet away; that the wheelbarrow was struck by the engine, and he was knocked down and fell between the two trains; that at that time the train from Boston was standing still, or was just starting. There was evidence that the train which struck the wheelbarrow was running at the rate of 30...
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The State ex rel. Iron Mountain & Southern Railway Co. v. Reynolds
...should be quashed. An examination of the cases cited in support of the ruling leads to the conclusion they are inapplicable. In French v. Railroad, 230 Mass. 163, it was shown that trains were due to arrive at the same time at Weston; the one from the east customarily arrived first, took th......
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Kelly v. Boston & Maine R.R.
...211 Mass. 586, 589, 98 N.E. 585;Godfrey v. Old Colony Street Railway Co., 223 Mass. 419, 420, 111 N.E. 878;French v. Boston & Maine Railroad, 230 Mass. 163, 165, 166, 119 N.E. 691;Hanley v. Boston & Maine Railroad, 286 Mass. 390, 398, 190 N.E. 501;Wheeler v. Boston & Maine Railroad, 310 Mas......
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State v. Reynolds
...be quashed. An examination of the cases cited in support of the ruling leads to the conclusion they are inapplicable. In French v. Railroad, 230 Mass. 163, 119 N. E. 691, it was shown that two trains were due to arrive at the same time at Weston; the one from the east customarily arrived fi......
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Fay v. Boston & M.R.R.
...... was careless because he did not look a second time in travelling a distance of 15 or 20 feet * * * to the place where he was injured.' French v. Boston & Maine R. R., 230 Mass. 163, 166, 119 N.E. 691, 693. It is also difficult to say how far the 1940 Hudson would travel until it attained a ......