Glascock v. Chicago & Alton R.R. Co.

• Decision Date: 30 April 1879
• Citation: 69 Mo. 589
• Parties: GLASCOCK v. THE CHICAGO & ALTON RAILROAD COMPANY, Appellant.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

69 Mo. 589

GLASCOCK

v.THE CHICAGO & ALTON RAILROAD COMPANY, Appellant.

Supreme Court of Missouri.

April Term, 1879.

Appeal from Audrain Circuit Court.--HON. G. PORTER, Judge.

Mcfarlane & Trimble for appellant.

Forrist & Duncan for respondent.

NORTON, J.

The petition states substantially that on the 11th day of September, 1875, plaintiffs were the owners of seventy-nine head of cattle, which were then ready for market, and defendant was then a railroad company and common carrier from Laddonia, in Audrain county, Missouri, to Chicago, Illinois; that on said day plaintiffs delivered said cattle to defendants at Laddonia, and defendant promised, for compensation paid it, to convey them, without delay and in a reasonable time, to Chicago; that under the directions of defendant, plaintiffs loaded said cattle on the cars provided by defendant; that defendant did not forward said cattle as agreed, but negligently permitted them to stand in the cars at said station for ten hours after they had been loaded and should have been on their way, by reason of which they were greatly damaged and reduced in weight, and, by reason of which, also, there was a decline in the market at Chicago between the time said cattle should have arrived there and the time they did arrive, by reason of all which plaintiffs were damaged in the sum of $500, for which sum they prayed judgment. Defendant's answer denied the delay, the negligence, the damage to the cattle and the decline in the market. It also set up a special written contract between the plaintiffs and defendant for the shipment of these cattle, by which plaintiffs, in consideration of shipment at reduced rates, agree to take the risk of injuries which said cattle should sustain from any delay, and all risk of damages which should be sustained by reason of delay in the transportation of said cattle to Chicago, and they would load and unload said cattle at their own risk, and they would assume all risk of damage to said cattle while in defendant's stockyards awaiting shipment. Defendant averred performance, on its part, of said contract, and that any injury that plaintiffs had sustained, was through the causes excepted in said contract, and through plaintiffs' own negligence. The verdict was for plaintiffs for $280.

The evidence tended to show that plaintiffs' cattle were loaded at Laddonia, a station on defendant's road, on Saturday, the 11th day of September, at 9:55 a. m., for shipment to Chicago, to be carried on a train of defendant due at said station about that time; that the train by which they were to be shipped did not arrive on time, in consequence of detention at Mexico waiting for stock that had been delayed on the St. Louis, Kansas City & Northern Railroad; that the train did not arrive till six o'clock in the evening, at which time the cattle were shipped without further delay, arriving in Chicago at 8 o'clock p. m. on Sunday, and that, but for the delay at Laddonia, they would...