St. Louis, I. M. & S. Ry. Co. v. Grafton

• Decision Date: 01 June 1889
• Citation: 11 S.W. 702
• Parties: ST. LOUIS, I. M. & S. RY. CO. <I>v.</I> GRAFTON <I>et al.</I>
• Court: Arkansas Supreme Court

11 S.W. 702

ST. LOUIS, I. M. & S. RY. CO.v.

GRAFTON et al.

Supreme Court of Arkansas.

June 1, 1889.

Appeal from circuit court, Nevada county; C. E. MITCHELL, Judge.

Dodge & Johnson, for appellant. Arnold & Cook, for appellees.

HUGHES, J.

In March, 1886, in the time of the great strike upon the Missouri Pacific Railway System, the appellant offered a reward of $500 each for the arrest and conviction of any one found interfering with the switches, side tracks, or railroad property in the county of Miller, in this state. Appellees brought suit to recover $6,000 of appellant for the arrest and conviction of 12 persons, alleged to have interfered with a switch on appellant's road. Appellant filed a demurrer to the complaint, and a motion for change of venue, and the cause was transferred to Nevada county for trial. Appellant answered, admitting the offer of the reward, denying the arrest of the 12 persons named in the complaint, or any or either of them, or that any or either of the appellees prosecuted said 12 persons, or either or any of them, to conviction for interfering with defendant's (appellant's) switches, side track, trains, or railroad property in the county of Miller, and denied that the 12 persons, or either of them, were ever arrested and convicted by plaintiffs of the offense of interfering with defendant's property as charged in the complaint. The second paragraph in the answer avers that the 12 men were arrested by the sheriff of Miller county; that, at the time of said arrests, said plaintiffs were each acting as a posse comitatus, and as special deputy-sheriff, and as a member of the Arkansas state militia, and under the direction and immediate control of the sheriff of Miller county, and were simply discharging their duty, and were not entitled to any reward. The case having been submitted to a jury upon the testimony and instructions of the court, they returned a verdict for the plaintiffs for $6,000. Defendant filed a motion for a new trial, which was overruled, and it appealed to this court.

Without going into the evidence in detail, or discussing the instructions of the court below, we think that the evidence in the case shows that the appellees were at the time of the arrests of the men, for the arrest and conviction of whom they claim the rewards offered by appellant, acting as a part of the posse comitatus of the sheriff of Miller county, called out to aid him in preserving the peace, and in preventing the interference with the railroad tracks, engines, trains, etc., in Miller county, and that they cannot be heard to say that in making the arrests they ignored the sheriff, and acted as private individuals. We are of the opinion that the verdict is without evidence to support it. The policy of the law forbids a public officer, or those called to aid him in the discharge of a public duty, receiving any...