McCoy's Adm'r v. Williamson & P.C.R. Co.

• Decision Date: 23 February 1917
• Citation: 192 S.W. 45,174 Ky. 186
• Parties: MCCOY'S ADM'R v. WILLIAMSON & P. C. R. CO.
• Court: Kentucky Court of Appeals

192 S.W. 45

174 Ky. 186

MCCOY'S ADM'R v. WILLIAMSON & P. C. R. CO.

Court of Appeals of Kentucky.

February 23, 1917

Appeal from Circuit Court, Pike County.

Action by Willie McCoy's administrator against the Williamson &amp Pond Creek Railroad Company. Judgment for defendant on directed verdict, and plaintiff appeals. Affirmed.

Flanery & Harris, of Catlettsburg, and Staton & Pinson, of Pikeville for appellant.

J. R Johnson, Jr., of Pikeville, Holt, Duncan & Holt, of Huntington, W. Va., and Theodore W. Reath, of Philadelphia Pa., for appellee.

CLAY C.

In this action against the Williamson & Pond Creek Railroad Company by the administrator of Willie McCoy, deceased, to recover damages for his death, the trial court sustained defendant's motion for a peremptory instruction. Judgment was entered accordingly and plaintiff appeals.

The Williamson & Pond Creek Railroad runs down Pond creek in Pike county, and after crossing Tug river connects with the Norfolk & Western Railway in the city of Williamson. The Williamson & Pond Creek Railroad maintains a bridge across Tug river. This bridge is a single track railroad bridge, without any walkway for pedestrians, and at each end thereof is a warning board notifying the public not to trespass thereon. The bridge is about 100 yards long and, except at the piers, is not wide enough to enable a pedestrian to stand on the end of the ties and escape injury from a passing train. The Kentucky end of the bridge is in Leckieville, a small village, and the West Virginia end curves down the Tug river and extends into the Norfolk & Western's yards and east Williamson. The death of decedent took place under the following circumstances: On the evening of March 11, 1914, decedent and four companions went from Leckieville to the city of Williamson to attend a theater. On their return about 10:30 o'clock they stopped at the West Virginia end of the bridge and looked and listened for a train. Not hearing any, they started across the bridge. The three companions of decedent, who were in front, reached the Kentucky side in safety. The decedent and a young girl about 16 years of age, when within 20 or 30 feet of the end of the bridge, were struck by a train and killed. According to the evidence for plaintiff, the train consisted of 13 cars with the engine in the rear, and was being backed across the bridge at the rate of about 25 miles per hour. While Leckieville is a small village, the city of Williamson contains 7,000 or 8,000 people, and from 500 to 800 people cross the bridge each day.

About 50 feet from the end of the bridge on the Kentucky side the...