St. Louis, I. M. & S. Ry. Co. v. Ross
| Decision Date | 28 May 1892 |
| Citation | 19 S.W. 837 |
| Parties | ST. LOUIS, I. M. & S. RY. CO. v. ROSS. |
| Court | Arkansas Supreme Court |
Appeal from circuit court, Saline county; A. M. DUFFIE, Judge.
Action by Josephine Ross, administratrix, against the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway Company. Judgment for plaintiff, and defendant appeals. Reversed.
Dodge & Johnson, for appellant. A. D. Jones and Blackwood & Williams, for appellee.
The appellee brought this action to recover of appellant damages for the killing of her husband, which she alleged, in her complaint, was caused by the negligent backing on him, by the appellant's servants, of a tender pushed by an engine on the railway of appellant, at Alexander, in Saline county, in this state. The appellant denied negligence, and alleged that the plaintiff's intestate was a trespasser on its track, and was guilty of contributory negligence at the time he was struck by the tender. A jury trial resulted in a verdict of $10,000 for the appellee. Appellant brought the case to this court by appeal.
No exceptions were taken on the trial to any evidence, or to any instructions given by the court, and there is no contention that the damages were excessive. The grounds of the motion for a new trial were: First, that the verdict was contrary to the evidence; second, that it was contrary to the law as declared by the court. The facts in evidence were about as follows: George Ross, the deceased, was killed near his sawmill and lumber shed in the incorporated town of Alexander, on the 6th day of August, 1890. The shed was built on the right of way of the appellant, and fronted about 20 feet on a spur track of the appellant, on the east side, and ran back 30 or 40 feet. Through the center of this shed, reaching back to the sawmill, was a tramway, upon which lumber was brought from the mill to the shed, to be loaded onto cars on the spur track. The shed was built several years ago, by consent of the company, to facilitate the loading and shipping of lumber from the mill, from which George Ross had shipped a considerable quantity. The spur track runs south from the main track of the railroad at Alexander, and passes the shed a short distance. A flat car was cut off and sent down this spur track. At the time a box car was standing on the spur track in front of the shed. Ross, the deceased, hallooed to the brakeman on the flat car and requested him not to let the flat car move the box car standing in front of the shed. The...
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