Neering v. Illinois Cent. R. Co., Gen. No. 41999.
| Decision Date | 18 September 1942 |
| Docket Number | Gen. No. 41999. |
| Citation | 315 Ill.App. 599,43 N.E.2d 604 |
| Parties | NEERING v. ILLINOIS CENT. R. CO. |
| Court | United States Appellate Court of Illinois |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Appeal from Circuit Court, Cook County; William F. Borders, Judge.
Action by Agnes Neering against Illinois Central Railroad Company. Judgment for plaintiff, and defendant appeals.
Reversed and remanded with directions.
HEBEL, J., dissenting. John W. Freels, Herbert J. Deany, Edward C. Craig, Vernon W. Foster, and Charles A. Helsell, all of Chicago, for appellant.
Ringer, Reinwald & Sostrin, of Chicago, for appellee.
In a complaint filed in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Agnes Neering asked for damages because of injuries suffered on September 6, 1938, as a result of being assaulted, beaten, raped and robbed while she was awaiting the arrival of a suburban train at the Riverdale Station of the Illinois Central Railroad. A trial before the court and a jury resulted in a verdict in her favor for $5,000. The court overruled defendant's motion for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict and for a new trial, and entered judgment on the verdict, to reverse which this appeal is prosecuted.
Agnes Neering, 23 years of age, lived at Riverdale, Illinois, and for several years prior to September 6, 1938, had been employed as a waitress at Harvey, about three miles south of Riverdale. She used the defendant's suburban service to go to her work, and for several years she had regularly taken a southbound train from the Riverdale Station at 4:59 A. M. The regular employees on this train knew her as a daily passenger, and on occasion held the train for her when she was late. Riverdale is a village of 3,200 inhabitants, adjoined on the north and east by the City of Chicago. The village extends from 130th Street on the north to 146th Street on the south, and Indianapolis Boulevard is its eastern boundary. The main north and south line of the defendant passed through Riverdale on an elevated embankment built by the railroad. This embankment was an earth and cinder fill about 18 feet high. On top of the embankment were 6 sets of tracks, the 2 most westerly being for electric suburban service, and the 4 on the east side carrying passenger and freight trains. In September, 1938, 82 suburban trains stopped every 24 hours at the Riverdale Station, and 68 freight and passenger trains passed there on the main line, or 150 trains daily of all types. This main line from Chicago to New Orleans passed through several southern states. The defendant had two stations for surburban service in Riverdale. The main one was between 137th and 138th streets, with entrances from each street, and was called the Riverdale Station. The other was a half mile further south and had an entrance only from 144th Street. The latter station was known as the Ivanhoe Station. The main line between 130th and 146th Streets was wholly within the limits of the village of Riverdale, and both stations were within the police jurisdiction of that village. The main business and residential part of the village was east of the Riverdale Station. Illinois Street lay just at the east edge of the railroad embankment. There was a school at 137th and Illinois Streets. Homes on Illinois Street nearer 138th Street faced the embankment. On the west side of the embankment the entire space between 137th and 138th Streets was taken up by a park or playground which extended to Wentworth Avenue. West of the park lay large open areas and vacant ground and prairie. Both 137th and 138th Streets pass under the railroad embankment through concrete subways, each about 200 feet in length. Stairs from each subway lead up to a passenger platform constructed between the two sets of suburban tracks. Where they reached the level of the elevated roadbed, these stairs were covered by a canopy. The platform between the two canopies was about 600 feet in length. At the south end it was level with the track for 138 feet, during which distance there were railings 3 feet high of iron pipe on each side. Then came 5 steps which led up to the main platform referred to as the “high platform”. This was about 450 feet in length and 15 feet in width. This platform was 4 feet 8 inches above the surface of the roadbed, being at the same level as the floor of the trains which stopped alongside the platform. The north end of the high platform was roofed. A small ticket office was at the top of the stairs leading from 137th Street. Then came a 16-foot space open at the sides, but roofed. South of this space was a warming house 48 feet in length containing benches and a stove. This warming house occupied only the center of the platform, leaving a ledge about 3 feet wide on each side. It was glassed in on all sides, the glass in the doors and windows being about 2 or 3 feet above the floor. The south end of the warming house was a little over 500 feet north of the steps leading from 138th Street. Between the warming house and these steps were 2 windbreaks, roofed partitions, built in the center of the platform so that people could stand on either side and be protected from the wind or rain. The most northerly of these windbreaks also contained benches. Outside of the lights in the warming house itself, there were 24 lights on the high platform, and 4 of these lights were over the ledge on each side of the warming house. Others were in each of the windbreaks and at other points on the platform. There were also 3 high lights over the walkway between the high platform and 138th Street. The lights on these poles were 100 watt. There were also lights on the stairs leading to the subways and in the subways. These were 40 and 60 watt.
From approximately January 1, 1938 to August 15, 1938, plaintiff and her sister Margaret took the southbound 4:59 A. M. train every morning. No other transportation was available to them at that hour. About August 15, 1938, Margaret gave up her job in anticipation of her approaching marriage, and thereafter Agnes took the train alone. Plaintiff's home was three blocks west of the railroad and a half block south of 138th Street. At that hour of the morning the sisters seldom saw any automobile traffic or people on 138th Street. Plaintiff and her sister both testified that in 1937 and 1938 they saw hoboes and tramps once or twice, sometimes three or four times a week, on the Riverdale platform; that occasionally the hoboes would be sleeping and that often the girls were afraid to go into the warming house. Plaintiff also testified that she often saw such men walking on the right of way. Both testified to complaints made to the ticket agent. They testified that a northbound train always arrived 3 or 4 minutes before the southbound train was due, and that 2 or 3 times a week a bus driver got off the northbound train, and that for months no one but themselves boarded either of these trains at that time. They rode on 10 ride tickets, which made each ride between Riverdale and Harvey cost 6 cents. Plaintiff testified that on Tuesday, September 6, 1938, which was the day following Labor Day, she went alone to the Riverdale Station. She followed her regular route down 138th Street and entered the platform from that end. She arrived 10 minutes before her train was due. She walked all the way to the warming house on the north end of the platform. She saw no one on the platform. It was dark, but it was not raining or windy. The platform was brightly lighted at the time. It was a warm day. She went into the warming house. While she was seated in the room a colored man entered, came up to her and pressed his knees against her so she couldn't move. She started to scream and he knocked her to the floor, sitting on her stomach and hitting her with a blackjack. She told him someone was coming and in the confusion got up, passed him, and backed out of the door. She turned immediately and ran screaming down the platform. He caught her toward the south end and knocked her off the platform, at which time her back struck a rail. He jumped down, pulled her under the platform and robbed and raped her. He took two rings and a brooch. He kept her under the platform 3 to 5 minutes and then left on the east side, going north along the tracks. She came out on the same side of the platform and ran down the track toward 138th Street. She climbed up on to the platform by some two by four props, nearer 138th Street. Just after she got on to the platform the northbound train came up and stopped. She was opposite the middle of this train. She saw the headlight of this train. A bus driver whom she knew, got off the train. She called to him, and he remained with her until her southbound train came along. After she boarded the southbound train she told the conductor what had happened. She got off the train at Harvey and walked to the restaurant where she worked. She went to the kitchen and washed up and put on her uniform. She did not realize that she was badly hurt. In about 10 minutes she tried to walk but could hardly move. Arthur P. Miller, a special policeman for the railroad, came in and accompanied her to the Illinois Central Hospital. She was in the hospital three days. The physical examination at the hospital showed that she was suffering from a slight swelling and discoloration of the right side of the neck, a contusion over the left elbow and superficial excoriations of the left shoulder. She returned to the hospital on September 15, 1938. She did not receive any further medical treatment until December 2, 1938, when she visited Dr. Myers. He treated her 12 times. She had no medical treatment since March 29, 1939. She was confined to her bed for about 6 weeks after leaving the hospital. She was sleepless at night and sometimes became hysterical. She also testified to the loss of weight and that she was very nervous. She was off from work for about 14 months. She earned $15 a week, plus tips...
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