Reed v. Minneapolis St. Ry. Co.

• Decision Date: 01 March 1886
• Citation: 34 Minn. 557,27 N.W. 77
• Parties: REED v MINNEAPOLIS ST. RY. CO.
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

34 Minn. 557

27 N.W. 77

REEDvMINNEAPOLIS ST. RY. CO.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

Filed March 1, 1886.

Appeal from an order of the district court, Hennepin county.

Hart & Brewer, for appellant, Philemon P. Reed.

Randall & Truesdale and Wilson & Lawrence, for respondent, Minneapolis St. Ry. Co.

DICKINSON, J.

There was evidence sufficient to be submitted to the jury as to negligence on the part of the driver of the car by which the child was run over. It was enough for this purpose that the evidence went to show that the car was driven over the crossing of two of the principal thoroughfares in the city of Minneapolis, at a trot, and at about the ordinary speed with which cars move between street crossings; that at such speed the car passed the car standing still upon the next track, obviously for the purpose of receiving or discharging passengers, and from which this child and her grandmother were alighting; that the speed was such, or the inattention of the driver such, that the car passing over the child at the crossing did not stop until it had reached the opposite crossing of the street.

The more serious question is as to whether the case conclusively shows contributory negligence on the part of the child's grandmother, in whose care she was, so that the court was right in refusing to submit it to the jury. The tracks upon which the cars passed were four feet apart. The cars, as one passed the other, were 14 inches apart. The rear platform of the car from which these passengers alighted was a short one,- “quite a little shorter than the width of the car.” The grandmother had been sitting facing the other track, and as she arose to go out she looked through the opposite windows, and saw nothing upon the track. She allowed the child, eight years of age, to pass out of the car first, she closely following. As she passed out of the car she looked to her left, from which direction her car had come, to see if there were teams approaching. She stepped off the platform on the side nearest the other car track, and, without having the child by the hand, stepped immediately upon that track, with the child at her side, to go to the sidewalk, evidently without having looked to the right past the car she had left, and without attention towards possible dangers from that direction. As she was crossing the track she looked in that direction, and saw the car horse right upon her. She jumped and got safely across, trying at the same time to rescue the child. The child hesitated, was struck down, and injured. The car which these...