Page v. Wabash R. Co.

• Decision Date: 16 December 1947
• Docket Number: 27306
• Parties: PAGE v. WABASH R. CO
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

206 S.W.2d 691

PAGE
v.
WABASH R. CO

No. 27306

Court of Appeals of Missouri, St. Louis

December 16, 1947

Editorial Note:

This Pagination of this case accurately reflects the pagination of the original published, though it may appears out of sequence.

'Not to be reported in State Reports.'

Joseph A. McClain, Jr., Oliver J. Miller and Lashly, Lashly, Miller & Clifford, all of St. Louis, for appellant.

Henry D. Espy and Virgil H. Lucas, both of St. Louis, for respondent.

OPINION

HUGHES; PER CURIAM [206 S.W.2d 693]

Appellant operates a branch railroad from Columbia, Missouri, to Centralia, Missouri, where it connects with the main line of the railroad, and passengers from Columbia to St. Louis are required to change trains at Centralia. On the evening of November 6, 1944, the respondent in company with two other women boarded appellant's train at Columbia to return to their home in St. Louis by way of Centralia. The train was scheduled to leave Columbia at 6:30 p. m., and did start on the run to Centralia at that time. In about 15 minutes after starting engine trouble developed, and the train was stopped while yet in the limits of Columbia and near a round house maintained by appellant, and so that the entrance to the one passenger coach of the train was at Court Street crossing in the city. The conductor went to a nearby house to telephone and endeavor to procure two automobiles in which to have the St. Louis passengers conveyed to Centralia, a distance of about 20 miles, in order to make connection there with one of appellant's St. Louis trains on its main line, in the meantime leaving the brakeman in charge of the passengers. On the conductor's return he directed the brakeman to have the St. Louis passengers leave the train in order to take the automobiles to Centralia. There is some dispute as to the number of St. Louis passengers, the respondent's evidence is that there were seven men and the three women, while appellant's evidence is that there were nine men and the three women. However the number is immaterial, except that only one automobile was sent to the scene, and it was loaded with seven men passengers, and the conductor was unable to procure another automobile to take respondent and her companions to Centralia. Respondent's evidence was that the conductor told all of the St. Louis passengers to leave the coach and they would be conveyed to Centralia by automobile; that the men passengers were in the forward end of the coach and were first to leave it; that respondent and her two companions were at the rear end of the coach, and proceeded to the front end to leave the coach; that, as they afterwards ascertained, the lower step to the coach was from three to three and one half feet above the ground; that it was dark and there was no portable step placed on the ground, and no assistance from the train men to aid the women in leaving the coach; that one of the train men was with the men passengers at an automobile which was at the side of the road some 60 feet away; that this train man was calling to them to 'come on;' that respondent stepped off the coach step into space and fell, landing on top of one of her companions who had preceded her and had fallen; that respondent received serious injuries. The conductor was unable to procure another automobile, and the three women were directed to go back to the coach, which they did, and the train was backed to the Columbia station. That respondent was crying and she or one of her companions complained to the train men that she had fallen and was injured and the complaint was ignored. At about 9:30 p. m., another engine was procured, and [206 S.W.2d 694] the train taken on to Centralia, where it arrived about 11 or 12 o'clock p. m., too late for a connecting train to St. Louis before 5 o'clock the next morning. The women remained in the waiting room of the Centralia station, which was unheated, until 5 a. m., when they boarded the St. Louis train arriving in St. Louis about 8 a. m. The man in charge of the Centralia station informed them that there would be no St. Louis train until the next morning and he gave them some medicine or tonic and told them they could remain in the depot waiting room until morning, but that it was not heated. Respondent on reaching her home in St. Louis went to bed and sent for her family doctor. The doctor found her in bed apparently suffering excruciating pains and discomfort; one of her teeth was loose and later came out; she had severe pain in her back; her arms, the right arm especially, was swollen, with bruises or contusions on the right arm, and with limited motion; there were bruises and contused wounds on her thigh and knee, with considerable pain evidenced on motion; there was considerable pain in her abdomen. The doctor saw her every day for several weeks. Respondent developed a severe case of influenza. She has been under the care of her doctor since the injuries occurred, and still suffers pain as a result thereof.

The defendant's evidence, consisted of the testimony of the conductor and brakeman, and a photograph of the coach taken a day or two after the alleged injuries to plaintiff. The testimony of the conductor and brakeman was to the effect that the brakeman was in charge of the passengers, and while the conductor was seeing to the transfer of mail pouches from the train to the automobile, the brakeman was assisting the passengers, including respondent and her two companions, to leave the coach and prepare for the automobile trip to Centralia; that the lower step of the coach was well lighted both by a light in the vestibule of the coach and by the brakeman's lantern, and the lower step from the coach was only about 10 inches higher than the ground; that the brakeman assisted the three women from the coach step to the ground, and none of them fell or were injured, and neither of them complained to either the conductor or brakeman of any fall or...