St. Louis, I. M. & S. R. Co. v. Bragg
| Decision Date | 15 June 1901 |
| Citation | 64 S.W. 226 |
| Parties | ST. LOUIS, I. M. & S. R. CO. v. BRAGG. |
| Court | Arkansas Supreme Court |
Appeal from circuit court, Nevada county; Joel D. Conway, Judge.
Action by Emma R. Bragg against the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railroad Company. From a judgment in favor of plaintiff, defendant appeals. Reversed.
Mrs. Emma Bragg, who lived at Gurdon, Ark., on the night of November 26, 1897, took passage on one of the Iron Mountain's trains from Gurdon to Bierne, a small village and station on the same road, about four miles south from Gurdon. She was going on a visit to her father, who lived at Bierne, and had with her two children, of whom one was about 3 years and the other about 9 months of age. After she got on the train, she walked back, and took a seat with her two children in the chair car. When the train going south stopped at Bierne, the engine and front coach were opposite or near the depot, but the chair car in which Mrs. Bragg rode was several coaches away. There is a public crossing some 40 or 50 feet north of the depot. North of this crossing the railroad track is inclosed by a wire fence, and this inclosed track is separated from the crossing by a cattle guard. Mrs. Bragg was assisted by the porter, and alighted from the front end of the chair car, which was standing on the inclosed track north of the public crossing. Mrs. Bragg supposed that she was getting off at the crossing, but after she got off the brakeman said to her: She then asked him to take her back on the train, but she did not know that he heard this request, for the train had commenced to move, and did not stop. She could see the depot by the light of the train, but after the train left she says there was no light there. On realizing that she was left in the dark, with the cattle guard between her and the crossing, she says that she was frightened very much. But in a minute or two she saw two persons approaching, who proved to be a Mr. Oglesby and his son, who knew Mrs. Bragg, and, seeing her alight from the train alone with her children, had gone to assist her. They assisted her to cross the cattle guard, and accompanied her to her father's house, about 300 yards away. She made no complaint to them of fright or injury, but afterwards claimed that her health was permanently injured by fright from being put off the train away from the depot and crossing, and brought this action to recover $10,000 as damages. On a trial there was a verdict and judgment in favor of the plaintiff for $1,000, from which judgment the company appealed.
Dodge & Johnson, for appellant. Scott & Jones, for appellee.
RIDDICK, J. (after stating the facts).
This is an action against a railway company by a female passenger to recover damages for being put off at a place away from the station. It is evident, though, that she was put off near the station, and only a few yards from the public crossing, where she wished to alight. But she was frightened, she says, by reason of the fact that it was dark, and that a cattle guard separated her from the crossing. Now, it is doubtless true that the employés of the train were guilty of carelessness in putting off the appellee and her young children at night, at a place where they would have to pass the cattle guard before reaching the depot or public crossing. If she or her children had been injured in attempting to pass the cattle guard, it would have been entirely just to have held the company responsible for the damages suffered. But no such injury followed. A neighbor saw them alight, and went to them at once, and assisted them to cross the cattle guard, and to reach their destination in safety. Admitting that the...
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