Memphis Co v. Southern Exp Co St Louis Ry Co v. Same Missouri Ry Co v. Dinsmore

• Decision Date: 01 March 1886
• Citation: 6 S.Ct. 628,117 U.S. 1,29 L.Ed. 791
• Parties: MEMPHIS & L. R. CO. (as reorganized) v. SOUTHERN EXP. CO. (Appeal from the Circuit Court of the United States for the Eastern District of Arkansas.) ST. LOUIS, I. M. & S. RY. CO. v. SAME. (Appeal from the Circuit Court of the United States for the Eastern District of Missouri.) MISSOURI, K. & T. RY. CO. v. DINSMORE, President, etc. (Appeal from the Circuit of the United States for the District of Kansas.) Filed
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

6 S.Ct. 628

117 U.S. 1

29 L.Ed. 791

MEMPHIS & L. R. CO. (as reorganized) v. SOUTHERN EXP. CO. (Appeal from the Circuit Court of the United States for the Eastern District of Arkansas.)

ST. LOUIS, I. M. & S. RY. CO.

v. SAME. (Appeal from the Circuit Court of the United States for the Eastern District of Missouri.)

MISSOURI, K. & T. RY. CO.

v. DINSMORE, President, etc. (Appeal from the Circuit of the United States for the District of Kansas.)

Filed March 1, 1886.

John F. Dillon, R. J. Morgan, B. C. Brown, and Jas. O. Broadhead, for the railroads.

C. A. Seward, Geo. F. Edmunds, and John A. Campbell, for the express companies.

WAITE, C. J.

These suits present substantially the same questions, and may properly be considered together. They were each brought by an express company against a railway company to restrain the railway company from interfering with or disturbing in any manner the facilities theretofore afforded the express company for doing its business on the railway of the railway company.

1. The St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway Company. This suit was begun May 21, 1889, and the business of the express company is thus described in the bill: 'Your orator, the Southern Express Company, is a corporation duly created, organized, and now existing under the laws of the state of Georgia, for the purpose, and with the powers necessary thereto, of receiving and forwarding upon railroads, steam-vessels, and other vehicles of rapid transportation, in a safe and secure manner, and with the greatest practical expedition, in the special, care and custody of its own employes, and at destination personally delivering packages of money or currency, gold and silver bullion, bonds, bank-notes, deeds, and other valuable papers, jewels, silks, laces, and other articles of great value, requiring for their security extraordinary care and precaution, and also parcels of goods, wares, and merchandise requiring great dispatch or careful handling, and also fruit, vegetables, fresh meats, fish, oysters, fish spawn, and other articles liable to decay or other injury from delay; and also live animals requiring particular care and attention during transportation; and also for receiving and forwarding for collection bills, notes, drafts, and accounts, and receiving and returning payment thereof; and also for receiving and forwarding all articles of trade and commerce with the bills and charges of the shipper thereto attached, to be collected of the consignee on delivery of such articles, and returned to shipper; and in so doing to afford the public, under a single contract, and on assured responsibility, safe, reliable, and speedy transportation from and to all points accessible only over two or more railroads, and generally to perform for the public all offices that by usage are incident to the class of carriers now well known, recognized, and designated by the public as 'express carriers."

The St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway Company is a railway corporation existing in the states of Missouri and Arkansas, formed by the consolidation of the St. Louis & Iron Mountain Railroad Company, the Cairo & Fulton Railroad Company, and the Cairo, Arkansas & Texas Railroad Company. Its railway extends from St. Louis, and from a point on the Mississippi opposite Cairo, through Missouri and Arkansas, by way of Little Rock, to Texarkana, on the boundary between Arkansas and Texas, with certain branches.

On the thirtieth of April, 1872, and before the consolidation, the St. Louis & Iron Mountain Company entered into a contract in writing with Adams Express Company, by which the railroad company agreed to furnish the express company 'one- half the baggage car on each of its passenger trains on main line and branches for carrying express freight,' and also 'the use of a part of the baggage car on accommodation trains between St. Louis and Potosi to an extent not in excess of the amount allowed in passenger trains.' The cars were not to be loaded with over 7,000 pounds at any one time, and the railway company agreed that each of the cars should run each way daily on the passenger trains. The company also agreed that it would 'prohibit its conductors, agents, and baggage masters from transporting on its passenger trains, or from accepting compensation for, any matter except extra baggage;' and, further, that it would not 'permit any person or company to do an express business on its passenger trains on any better terms, or for any less payment, than that given the Adams Express Company.' In consideration of this service the express company agreed to pay $125 a day, and a proportional increase for every 10 miles operated by it on an extension of the railroad, 'for the transportation of its messengers with safes and package chests, and an average amount of freight not exceeding ten thousand pounds per day,' and an agreed rate for all freights in excess of that amount. The express company also agreed 'to carry all money and other valuables for the said railroad company to and from points on the line of its road free of charge, and for such matter as may be sent to, or received from, points off the line to charge the railroad company not exceeding two-thirds the rate charged the public.' It was also stipulated that 'the railroad company should be exempt and indemnified by said express company against all loss or damage to goods or money transported by said express company;' and that settlements should 'be made on or before the tenth day of each month for the business of the preceding month.' The contract also contained this clause: 'This agreement to remain in full force one year from the first day of May, 1872, and thereafter until thirty days' notice shall be given by either party to the other of its desire to discontinue the same.'

On the first of February, 1874, also before the consolidation, the Southern Express Company entered into a contract in writing with the Cairo & Fulton Railroad Company and the Cairo, Arkansas & Texas Railroad Company, by which the railroad companies agreed to furnish the express company 'one-third of the room in the baggage car on each passenger train over the Cairo & Fulton road and the Cairo, Arkansas & Texas road for the carriage of express matter, not to exceed six thousand pounds per day for each car.' This contract also contained provisions similar to that between the Adams and St. Louis & Iron Mountain Companies as to the regulation of the duties of conductors, agents, and baggage masters, and the privileges of other persons for doing an express business on passenger trains. The Southern Company agreed to pay for the transportation of its messengers, with safes and package chests, and an average amount of express matter, not to exceed 6,000 pounds per car, $50 a day to the Cairo & Fulton Company, and $10 a day to the Cairo, Arkansas & Texas Company, and an agreed rate for all excess over 6,000 pounds. There were also other provisions as to the carriage of money packages and valuables by the express company for the railroad companies, and as to the details of the business, at the end of which was the following: 'This contract to remain in force until terminated on either party giving the other sixty days' notice of its intention to thus withdraw therefrom.'

The consolidation took place May 16, 1874, and the two express companies continued their business upon the road under their respective contracts until April 1, 1878, when the Adams Company, with the assent the and permission of the consolidated railway company, relinquished its business on the line to the Southern Company, and that company thereafter conducted the whole express business on the entire line under the two contracts.

On the twenty-sixth of March, 1880, the railroad company, having come to the conclusion to change the mode of doing the express business over its line, gave the express company the stipulated notice for a termination of the existing contracts. All efforts by the express company to secure facilities for a continuation of its business over the road having failed, this suit was brought, and the prayer of the bill is '(1) that during the pendency of this suit the defendant, its officers, agents, servants, and employes, may be restrained and enjoined by a proper preliminary or provisional order or injunction, and until the further order of the court, from interfering in any manner with, or disturbing in any manner, the enjoyment by the Southern Express Company of the facilities now accorded to it by the said defendant, upon its lines of railway, for the transaction of the business of the said Southern Express Company, and of the express business of the public confided to its care; and from interfering with any of the express matter or messengers of the Southern Express Company; and from excluding or ejecting any of its express matter or messengers from the depots, cars, and lines of the said defendant, as the same have been heretofore and are now enjoyed and occupied by the said Southern Express Company; and from refusing to receive and transport, in like manner as the said defendant is now doing, over its lines of railway, the express matter and messengers of the said Southern Express Company; and from interfering with or disturbing the business of the said Southern Express Company, or its present relations in reference thereto with the said defendant, in any way or manner whatsoever, and so long as the said Southern Express Company shall be willing and ready and offer to pay, according to all legal rates therefor; (2) that if any dispute or disagreement shall arise between the parties hereto during the pendency of this suit, and before a final decree herein upon the question of what is a lawful or reasonable compensation to be paid by your orator to the defendant for the transportation of express matter, your orator may be permitted to bring the same by way of interlocutory application to this court for its...