Mobile & Ohio R. Co. v. Farrior

• Decision Date: 18 June 1917
• Docket Number: 19415
• Citation: 75 So. 777,115 Miss. 96
• Parties: MOBILE & OHIO R. CO. v. FARRIOR
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

75 So. 777

115 Miss. 96

MOBILE & OHIO R. CO. v. FARRIOR

No. 19415

Supreme Court of Mississippi

June 18, 1917

Division A

APPEAL from the circuit court of Lauderdale county, HON. R. M HEIDELBURG, Judge.

Suit by Mrs. Ether Farrior against the Mobile & Ohio Railroad Company and another. From a judgment for plaintiff, defendant appeals.

The facts are fully stated in the opinion of the court.

Reversed and remanded.

Baskin & Wilbourn, for appellant.

Fewell & Cameron, for appellee.

OPINION

SYKES, J.

The appellee, Mrs. Farrior, instituted suit against the Mobile &amp Ohio Railroad Company in the circuit court of Lauderdale county for actual and punitory damages based upon the following facts as testified to by the plaintiff in the court below:

Mrs. Farrior testified that she had been to West Point, Miss., with her husband, and that on her way to the station with him he gave her two dollars and ninety-five cents with which to purchase a ticket from West Point to Meridian; that she told the ticket agent at West Point to sell her a ticket to Meridian. He told her the price was two dollars and ninety-three cents. She gave him two dollars and ninety-five cents and he returned three cents in change. Her husband also gave her five cents to buy, as she said, a "dope" on the train. The three cents and five cents she deposited in her suit case. She boarded the train for Meridian, and nothing transpired until it reached the town of Macon. We now quote the testimony of Mrs. Farrior:

"The train stopped, and the flagman came through and called out Macon, and nobody didn't get off, and then I believe Mr. Sweatman came in as far as the door and hollered, 'Macon,' and I happened to look up, and he was looking at me. I turned around behind me to see if there was anybody back there. I says: 'Are you looking at me?' He says: 'Yes; are you going to get off?' I said: 'No; I bought a ticket to Meridian.' He says: 'What did you pay for the ticket?' I said: 'I paid two dollars and ninety-five cents for it.' He said: 'That is the fare all right, but you didn't pay that.' I said: 'Yes; I did.' He says: 'What is your name?' I said: 'When I bought a ticket I didn't have to give my name.' He says: 'Well, you didn't buy a ticket to Meridian; I will wire the agent at West Point.' So, with that, he walked on out, and in a few minutes he came back, and he was very excited, and said: 'The ticket agent at West Point says you didn't buy a ticket.' I says: 'He must be mistaken; I did.' He says: 'The train has been delayed longer than it ought to be; we have to go, and you will have to get off.' I says: 'No, sir; I am not going to get off, because I don't know anybody in Macon, and besides I have no money to pay my expenses.' He says: 'I will go out and wire the superintendent and see what he says.' And he went on, and he came back and says: 'Have the marshal of the town take you off.' And with that I felt very embarrassed and started to crying. He said something. He didn't come to my seat, but stood way up in the aisle. I told him that my father worked for the Mobile & Ohio Railroad Company, and he was going to meet me at the train and he would pay my fare, and he wouldn't do that. He says: 'Give me that suit case and I will hold it for your fare.' I didn't say anything. He says: 'Are you going to give me that suit case?' I said: 'There it is.' And he took the suit case and handed it to the flagman, and he took out a piece of paper and wrote something on it, but I didn't take it; it dropped on the floor. After he went out I picked it up. Well, there was nothing more done about it then, and in a few minutes--well, there was two or three men said--Mr. Breland said before he would see Mr. Sweatman put me off he would pay my fare. Then Mr. Sweatman carried the suit case out, and in a few minutes Mr. Sweatman came back with a note saying that some Mr. Ellis wrote on the note and said he had paid my fare and I could get my suit case and he would be at the Meridian Hotel for a week, and if I wanted to pay him back it was all right. I told Mr. Sweatman I didn't want him to bother me any more, that I had paid my fare, and didn't intend to pay it any more, but in a few minutes the man himself came and says: 'Lady, I have paid your fare, and you can get your suit case.' I says: 'I have paid my fare.' And he went off and laughed as he went off, and that was all that was done then."

At another place in her testimony she stated that the conductor said that the ticket agent at West Point wired him that he had not sold any tickets to Meridian at all. The piece of paper given the plaintiff was a cash...