Lehr v. Steinway & H.P.R. Co.

• Decision Date: 25 February 1890
• Citation: 118 N.Y. 556,23 N.E. 889
• Parties: LEHR v. STEINWAY & H. P. R. CO.
• Court: New York Court of Appeals Court of Appeals

118 N.Y. 556

23 N.E. 889

LEHR

v.STEINWAY & H. P. R. CO.¹

Court of Appeals of New York, Second Division.

Feb. 25, 1890.

Action by John H. Lehr against the Steinway & Hunter's Point Railroad Company, to recover for personal injuries. There was a verdict and judgment for plaintiff, which was affirmed by the general term, and defendant again appeals.

George W. Wingate, for appellant.

Louis S. Phillips, for respondent.

FOLLETT, C. J.

Appeal from a judgment of the general term of the second department, affirming a judgment entered on a verdict. In 1886 the defendant owned, and operated with horses, a street railroad extending from the ferry, at Hunter's Point, eastwardly, through Long Island city. Between 3 and 4 o'clock in the afternoon of Sunday, July 18, 1886, the plaintiff, accompanied by his wife, and by a girl about seven years old and her father, stood waiting at the ferry, (the western end of defendant's line,) to take a car for Bowery Bay Beach, a pleasure resort on the line of the road. More personswere waiting for a car than could be carried. A car approached from the east, and as soon as its passengers were discharged the plaintiff pressed forward, and secured a seat for the purpose of giving it to his wife, who, by reason of an injury, was unable to stand and sustain herself by grasping a rod or strap. When his wife entered the car he gave his seat to her, and she took and carried the girl on her lap until the plaintiff was injured. The plaintiff remained standing by his wife until their fares were collected. His friend, the father of the girl, found standing room on the front platform, where he rode until after the accident. After the plaintiff had paid the fares, he made his way to the right side of the rear platform, where he rode for a while, and afterwards stood on one of the stepts, steadying himself by holding on to the hand rail. This platform and the steps being crowded with passengers, and the plaintiff seeing that there was more standing room on the front platform, stepped from the moving car, and walked rapidly by the right side of it to the front platform, for the purpose of securing a better place to stand. This platform was so crowded that the plaintiff was unable to fully accomplish his purpose, but he boarded the car in safety, and stood with his left foot on the step and his right foot on the platform, and clung with his right hand to the rail of the dasher, and with his left to the hand-rail at the end of the body of the car. After riding in this position for a short distance, a movement of the passengers on the platform broke the hold of his right hand, which he was unable to regain; and thereupon he was forced by the pressure of the crowd from the steps, and fell underneath the car, the wheels of which passed over and crushed his lfet leg, rendering amputation at the knee necessary. Before the plaintiff left the rear platform he asked the conductor to stop the car, so that he might go to the front platform, but, receiving no reply, he, the conductor, and one Norton stepped from the rear platform at about the same time, and walked by the side of the car, for the purpose of reaching the front platform. His action and disclosed purpose were not objected to by the conductor or driver. After the plaintiff lost the support of his right hand, and before he fell, he called to the driver to stop the car, but h...