Louisville & N.R. Co. v. Renfro's Adm'r

• Decision Date: 07 March 1911
• Citation: 142 Ky. 590,135 S.W. 266
• Parties: LOUISVILLE & N. R. CO. v. RENFRO'S ADM'R.
• Court: Kentucky Court of Appeals

135 S.W. 266

142 Ky. 590

LOUISVILLE & N. R. CO. v. RENFRO'S ADM'R.

Court of Appeals of Kentucky.

March 7, 1911

Appeal from Circuit Court, Bell County.

Action by William Renfro's administrator against the Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company. Judgment for plaintiff, and defendant appeals. Reversed, and new trial ordered.

Charles W. Metcalf, J. W. Alcorn, and Benjamin D. Warfield, for appellant.

W. F Davis, for appellee.

CARROLL J.

In July, 1908, William Renfro, a colored man, while a passenger on one of appellant's trains, was shot and killed in the compartment set aside for colored passengers by Carlo Jones a white man, also a passenger, who went from the compartment for white passengers into the compartment for colored passengers. This action was brought by the administrator of Renfro to recover damages for his death, the ground of the action being that the appellant company subjected itself to liability for the death of Renfro by permitting, through its employés, Jones to be and remain in the colored compartment in violation of the statute. Upon a trial before a jury, a verdict was returned in favor of the appellee, and it is the judgment on that verdict we are asked to reverse.

The errors complained of are that the trial court erred in the admission and rejection of evidence, in giving and refusing instructions, and in declining at the conclusion of the evidence to direct a verdict in favor of the railroad company.

The facts are substantially as follows: Renfro, Jones, and a number of other white and colored passengers got on the train at Middlesboro in the night. The first passenger coach on the train was divided by a partition, with a door in the aisle into two compartments; one being set apart for colored passengers, and the other used as a smoking car for white passengers. Renfro and a number of his colored companions and friends took seats in the colored compartment; and Jones and a number of other white persons took seats in the smoker. Shortly after leaving Middlesboro, the conductor commenced taking up tickets in the colored compartment, which was at the front of the train, and from there went into the smoker where the white passengers were, and thence into other cars in the rear of the train. It appears from the evidence that, as he passed through the colored compartment taking up tickets, there was at least one and probably two white passengers, Jones not being one of them, in this compartment, and that he saw or could have seen them, and was requested by one or more of the colored passengers to make them go into their own compartment, and was also asked to keep the partition door closed, but that he did not give any attention to either of these requests, but went on about his business of collecting tickets. Jones did not go into the colored compartment until after the conductor had passed out of it, and there is no evidence whatever that the conductor or the brakeman on the train knew that Jones had gone into the colored compartment or that he was in there until after the trouble between himself and Renfro. But the colored porter testifies that he saw Jones in the colored compartment a few minutes before the shooting occurred that resulted in Renfro's death, but he did not request him to leave it, nor did he inform the conductor that he was in the colored compartment. About six miles from Middlesboro there is a station called Ferndale, and it was here that the train made the first stop after leaving Middlesboro. Some place between Middlesboro and Ferndale--the weight of the evidence conducing to show that it was shortly before the train reached Ferndale--Jones went from the white compartment into the colored compartment, and was engaged for the few minutes that elapsed between the time he entered until the train reached Ferndale in friendly conversation with an old colored man he had known for many years. This old man left the train at Ferndale, and about the time the train started Jones went to the front end of the colored compartment where Renfro was, and in a moment Renfro and Jones commenced shooting at each other, with the result that Renfro was killed, and Jones dangerously, but not fatally wounded, although he died from other causes before the trial. What occasioned the difficulty between Jones and Renfro is entirely unexplained. There was no quarrel or disturbance between them preceding the shooting. They were seen engaged in conversation, and Jones was heard to say to Renfro "What did you say anything about that for?" and this was the only part of the conversation between them that any of the witnesses who testified heard, but immediately after these words were spoken the shooting commenced. Renfro, who was a man of bad reputation, had been drinking, but to what extent he was intoxicated is not shown. Jones was perfectly sober, and, except for the difficulty with Renfro, he did not do or say anything that did or would have caused the slightest disturbance. Nor is there any evidence that the other white men who were in the colored compartment created any disorder or attempted in any manner to insult, abuse, or harm any of the colored passengers. Indeed, although several of the white as well as colored passengers were drinking, and in a more or less degree under the influence of liquor, there was no disorder or quarrel or excitement on the train, except between Jones and Renfro.

Under these facts the first question to be disposed of is: Should the request for a peremptory instruction have been granted? Section 795 of the Kentucky Statutes (section 5343 Russell's St.) reads in part: "Any railroad company or corporation, person or persons, running or otherwise operating railroad cars or coaches, by steam or otherwise, on any railroad line or track within this state, *** are hereby required to furnish separate coaches or cars for the travel or transportation of the white and colored passengers on their respective lines of railroad. Each compartment of a coach divided by a good and substantial wooden partition, with a door therein, shall be deemed a separate coach within the meaning of this act. ***" Section 797 (section 5345) reads in part: "That any railroad company or companies that shall fail, refuse, or neglect to comply with the provisions of sections 795 and 796, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor. ***" And section 799 (section 5347) provides: "The conductors or managers on all railroads shall have power, and are hereby required, to assign to each white or colored passenger his or her respective car or coach or compartment, and should any passenger refuse to occupy the car, coach or compartment to which he or she may be assigned by the conductor or manager, said conductor or manager shall have the right to refuse to carry such passenger on his train, and may put such passenger off the train. ***" And section 800 (section 5348) reading: "That any conductor or manager on any railroad who shall fail or refuse to carry out the provisions of section 799, shall, upon conviction, be fined. ***" It will be noticed that under this statute railroad companies are required to provide separate compartments or coaches for white and colored passengers, and that the conductors or managers of trains are required to assign white and colored passengers to the respective cars or compartments set apart for their use, and to compel them upon pain of ejection from the train to occupy such cars or compartments. There is no complaint that the railroad company did not provide...