Naylor v. New York Cent. & H.R.R. Co.

• Decision Date: 21 January 1888
• Citation: Naylor v. New York Cent. & H.R.R. Co., 33 F. 801 (N.D. N.Y. 1888)
• Parties: NAYLOR v. NEW YORK CENT. & H.R.R. CO.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of New York

33 F. 801

NAYLOR v. NEW YORK CENT. & H.R.R. CO.

United States Circuit Court, N.D. New York.

January 21, 1888

W. C Holbrook, for plaintiff.

W. H Adams, for defendant.

WALLACE J.

The proximate cause of the accident which resulted in the death of the plaintiff's intestate was the carelessness of a switchman, the co-employe of the deceased engineer, in misplacing a switch which connected the main tracks of the defendant's road with a side track, whereby the engine in charge of the deceased ran off the track, causing his death. The change in the running direction of trains on the two freight tracks, made by the defendant four months previously did not increase the risks of the employment in which the deceased was engaged, although it may have shifted the risk from one track to the other when the direction of the trains were such that they would run against the switch-head instead of the switch-heel. The result was that a risk which had formerly been encountered when a train was moving westward was encountered only when the train was moving eastward, and vice versa. But the mode of connecting the side track with the main tracks is wholly immaterial, because it did not enter eventually into the cause of the accident. If the engine of the deceased had not been moving against the switch-head it would have run off the track, because the switch was misplaced. The further fact that the target at the switch was painted green is relied upon, and the argument is advanced that if it had been of a red color it would have been more readily...