St. Louis & S. F. R. Co. v. Blythe

• Citation: 126 S.W. 386
• Parties: ST. LOUIS & S. F. R. CO. v. BLYTHE et al.
• Decision Date: 07 March 1910
• Court: Supreme Court of Arkansas

126 S.W. 386

ST. LOUIS & S. F. R. CO. v. BLYTHE et al.

Supreme Court of Arkansas.

March 7, 1910.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Crittenden County; Frank Smith, Judge.

Action by A. K. Blythe and another against the St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad Company. From judgments for plaintiffs, defendant appeals. Reversed and remanded for new trial.

Alice Blythe and A. K. Blythe instituted separate suits in the Crittenden circuit court against the St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad Company to recover damages for their alleged ejection from one of its passenger trains. By consent of parties, the cases were ordered consolidated and were tried together. The defendant has appealed to this court from the judgment rendered against it.

The facts necessary to a determination of the issues involved, briefly stated, are as follows: On or about October 1, 1908, A. K. Blythe and Alice Blythe his wife, went to the station of appellant at Big Creek, Ark., for the purpose of taking passage on one of its passenger trains. The ticket agent was also baggage agent, express agent, and mail clerk. Appellees wished to go from Big Creek to Marked Tree. Big Creek is a junction where the main line of appellant's railroad is intersected by its branch line to St. Louis. A large number of passenger trains arrive and depart from this junction daily. Appellees testified that they applied at a reasonable time at the ticket office in the station to purchase tickets, and that the agent was not there to serve them. They then started to get on the train without tickets. The brakeman demanded their tickets. They explained to him that they were unable to procure tickets because there was no one in the ticket office to sell them. They offered to pay their fares to the brakeman before entering the car. The brakeman informed them that they could not enter without tickets. They again informed him why they had not procured tickets, and the brakeman again told them they could not enter the car without tickets. Mrs. Blythe was on the second step and the brakeman jerked her back, and said, "You can't go without a ticket," and knocked her back against her husband. They remained in Big Creek from that time, about 5:30 o'clock p. m. to 9 o'clock p. m., when they took another train for home. On behalf of appellant the brakeman testified that he did not use any violence or rough language toward appellees. He said that he told the parties that a rule of the company required passengers to have tickets before entering the cars, and that it was his duty to enforce the rule. The ticket agent testified that he was in his office before the departure of the train for the purpose of selling tickets, and that he did sell tickets to other persons for passage on the train in question. He also testified that the railroad company had a rule in force at that time requiring passengers to purchase tickets before boarding the train, and that notices to that effect were posted around the station. He stated the rule had been in force for about two months.

W. F. Evans and W. J. Orr, for appellant. J. F. Gantney, for appellees.

HART, J. (after stating the facts as above).

Counsel for appellant rely for a reversal upon the action of the court in refusing to give to the jury the following instruction: "No. 2. The defendant railroad company had the right to establish a rule requiring passengers to purchase tickets before entering trains. If the jury finds that it had established such a rule, and that the passengers were afforded a reasonable opportunity to purchase tickets before the departure of the train on which they wished to take passage, and did not do so, and the brakeman refused politely to allow the passengers to enter for the reason that they had not procured tickets, the jury will find for the defendant." It is undoubtedly competent for a railroad company as a means of protection against imposition and to facilitate the transaction of its business to require passengers to procure tickets before entering the car, and, where this requirement is duly made known and reasonable opportunities are afforded for complying with it, it may be enforced either by expulsion from the train...