Gladson v. State of Minnesota

• Decision Date: 12 April 1897
• Docket Number: No. 240,240
• Citation: 41 L.Ed. 1064,166 U.S. 427,17 S.Ct. 627
• Parties: GLADSON v. STATE OF MINNESOTA
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

166 U.S. 427

17 S.Ct. 627

41 L.Ed. 1064

GLADSON

v STATE OF MINNESOTA.

No. 240.

April 12, 1897.

Emerson Hadley, for plaintiff in error.

H. W. Childs, for defendant in error.

Mr. Justice GRAY delivered the opinion of the court.

This was a complaint to a justice of the peace of the county of Pine and state of Minnesota, by a passenger on a regular passenger train of the St. Paul & Duluth Railroad Company, running between the cities of St. Paul and Duluth in the state and not being 'a train entering this state from another state, or going from this state to another state, to a transcontinental train,' against the engineer of the train, for not stopping it on July 22, 1893, at the station the the village of Pine City, the county seat of Pine county, as required by the statute of Minnesota of March 31, 1893, c. 60, by which it was enacted as follows:

'At regular passenger trains, run by any common carrier operating a railway in this state, or by any receiver, agent, lessee or trustee of said common carrier, shall stop a sufficient length of time at its stations at all county seats within this state to take on and discharge passengers from such trains with safety; and any engineer, conductor or other agent, servant or employ e of, or any person acting for such common carrier, or for any receiver, agent, lessee or trustee of such common carrier, who violates any provision of this act, is guilty of a misdemeanor, and is punishable by a fine of not less than twenty-five dollars nor more than one hundred dollars, or by imprisonment in the county jail for not less than ten days nor more than three months: provided, however, that this act shall not apply to through railroad trains entering this state from any other state, or to transcontinental trains of any railroad.' Laws Minn. 1893, p. 173.

The defendant was convicted before the justice of the peace, and appealed to the district court for the county. Upon the trial in that court, the case appeared to be as follows:

The St. Paul & Duluth Railroad Company was a corporation of the state of Minnesota, and had become vested, under the laws of the state, with the lands received by the state under the act of congress of May 5, 1864, c. 79, 'making a grant of lands to the state of Minnesota to aid in the construction of the railroad from St. Paul to Lake Superior,' and providing that 'the said railroad shall be and remain a public highway for the use of the government of the United States, free from all toll or other charge, for the transportation of any rpoperty or troops of the United States'; that 'the United States mail shall be transported over said road, under the direction of the post office department,' at prices to be fixed by congress or by the postmaster general; and that 'any railroad which may hereafter be constructed from any point on the Bay of Superior in the state of Wisconsin shall be permitted to connect with the said railroad.' 13 Stat. 64, 65; Sp. Laws Minn. 1865, p. 19, c. 2; State v. Luther, 56 Minn. 156, 57 N. W. 464.

On the afternoon of Juny 2, 1893, the complainant was a passenger on a train of the company running from St. Paul to Duluch, and held a ticket for a passage from Rush City to Pine City, both being stations on the line between St. Paul and Duluth, and Pine City being a village of 800 inhabitants and the county seat of Pine county; but, although he showed his ticket to the conductor, the train was not stopped at Pine City. The train was a fast express train, known as 'The Limited,' carrying passengers and the United States mail, running daily from St. Paul to Duluth only, stopping for wood and water at Hinckley, and at railroad crossings and junctions at Rush City and elsewhere, but not scheduled to stop nor actually stopping at Pine City, or other stations on the way. The mail and about one-third of the passengers, on the average, were destined for West Superior, and were transferred at West Duluth, in the state of Minnesota, to another train of the same company running thence to the city of West Superior, in the state of Wisconsin, just across the line between the two states. To have stopped the train at Pine City would have caused a loss of time of from five to seven minutes, and an expense of from $1.20 to $1.60. Two passenger trains and a mixed train passed daily each way over the road from St. Paul to Duluth, stopping at Pine City.

The defendant, as stated in his bill of exceptions, 'moved the court for his discharge on the ground that the statute under which the complaint is made is unconstitutional on its face, not falling within the legitimate scope of the police power of the state, consequently being a taking of the property of this railroad company without due process of law; that, even if it is not unconstitutional on its face, it is unconstitutional as applied to the train in controversy,—in the first place, being an attempt on the part of the state to regu- late interstate commerce; and, secondly, being an unlawful interference with, and an attempt to regulate, the United States mail.'

The court denied the motion, and submitted the case to the jury, who...