St. Louis, I. M. & S. Ry. Co. v. Staples
| Decision Date | 26 January 1914 |
| Citation | 163 S.W. 514 |
| Parties | ST. LOUIS, I. M. & S. RY. CO. v. STAPLES. |
| Court | Arkansas Supreme Court |
Appeal from Circuit Court, Saline County; W. H. Evans, Judge.
Action by John D. Staples against the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway Company. Judgment for plaintiff, and defendant appeals. Affirmed.
E. B. Kinsworthy, T. M. Mehaffy, and T. D. Crawford, all of Little Rock, and H. S. Powell, of Camden, for appellant. Hoeppner & Young, of Little Rock, and W. R. Donham, of Benton, for appellee.
The plaintiff, John D. Staples, had been in the employment of the defendant, St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway Company, for a great many years as tie inspector and superintendent of loading ties. His duties were to go out with a tie train, consisting of box cars into which the ties were to be loaded and boarding cars for the crew, and superintend the loading of ties and inspect the same. He was struck and injured by his train at Farrell, a station in Saline county, and instituted this action to recover damages. His injuries were very severe, and the jury awarded him a substantial amount as compensation therefor, and it is not claimed that the amount of the verdict is excessive. The tie train was equipped with the usual complement of men, conductor, engineer, fireman, and two brakemen, who performed the usual duties with respect to the movement of the train, except that the conductor took orders from the plaintiff concerning the places where the ties were to be loaded and the setting out of cars. There was a force of men engaged in loading ties, and they were in charge of a foreman. A lot of ties were being loaded about two miles south of Farrell, when a regular freight train was expected from the north, and when the smoke of that train was seen at Farrell, the tie train was moved up to Farrell to permit the freight train to pass. The tie train headed in on the passing track when it reached Farrell, and cut off the caboose, leaving it standing on that track, the freight train then being headed south on the main track. Plaintiff had instructed the conductor to have a certain car set out on the spur track, and while this was being done he remained for a time in the caboose, making out a waybill for that car. After finishing the performance of that duty he stepped out from the caboose and walked on up to the train, to look for the train crew to give some instructions about where he wanted to go, as they had completed gathering the ties south of Farrell. When the tie train cut loose from the caboose, it headed north on the passing track until it passed the switch of the spur track, and then backed in on the spur track, leaving the car there which was to be set out. After this was done, it headed back on the side track and stopped there to await the passage of the freight train which was then beginning to pull out. Nothing was left to be done but to back down for the purpose of coupling onto the caboose. While the tie train was standing there, the plaintiff came up to the end of the train, and started to walk northward between the two tracks, alongside of the rear box car of the standing tie train, and the freight train moving southward on the main track. Before proceeding very far he noticed a bad order car in the moving freight train. He and other witnesses testified that the side of the car was torn loose and was hanging down so that it nearly touched the side of the box car on the passing track and hung so low that it was dangerous for a man to stand between the tracks. Plaintiff testified that, when he saw this dangerous situation, he turned back and stepped on the...
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