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

• Decision Date: 23 December 1911
• Citation: 142 S.W. 279,238 Mo. 605
• Parties: STATE ex Inf. COLLINS, Pros. Atty., v. ST. LOUIS & S. F. R. CO.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

142 S.W. 279

238 Mo. 605

STATE ex Inf. COLLINS, Pros. Atty., v. ST. LOUIS & S. F. R. CO.

Supreme Court of Missouri, Division No. 1.

December 23, 1911.

1. STATUTES (§ 241)—PENAL STATUTES—CONSTRUCTION.

A penal statute must be strictly construed, which means that it will not be regarded as including anything not clearly and intelligibly described in the words thereof, and manifestly intended by the Legislature.

2. STATUTES (§ 184)—CONSTRUCTION—LEGISLATIVE INTENT.

The court in construing a statute must consider the conditions to which it is to be applied, and which its remedial provisions are designed to correct.

3. RAILROADS (§ 58)—REGULATIONS—MAINTENANCE OF DEPOTS—STATUTES—CONSTRUCTION.

Rev. St. 1899, § 1075, requiring every railroad corporation to maintain at all crossings of other railroads a passenger depot, where the crossing is on the same grade and the character of the land at the crossing admits of the erection of a depot, is a penal statute, and must be strictly construed; and it does not require a railroad company to build and maintain a depot at each railroad crossing on its line or lines, but the duty is confined to the crossings of other railroads, and the statute refers to two railroads, on each of which separate trains are run.

4. RAILROADS (§ 58)—REGULATIONS—MAINTENANCE OF DEPOTS—STATUTES—CONSTRUCTION —"CROSSING."

A railroad company operated a line of railroad from a junction at Kennett easterly to Pascola; thence east to Hayti; and thence east to Caruthersville. It constructed a branch from Pascola in a southerly direction to Deering, and subsequently extended the line so as to cross the Caruthersville branch at grade 400 feet west of the Pascola station, and ran north to Wardell. There was no separate operation of the two lines, nor any separate train run on the track between Deering and Wardell, but they were operated as two spurs, forming a part of the main line. Held, that the railroad company was not required to maintain a depot at the Pascola crossing, within Rev. St. 1899, § 1075, requiring every railroad corporation to maintain at all "crossings" of other railroads a passenger depot.

Woodson, J., dissenting in part.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Pemiscot County; Henry C. Riley, Judge.

Action by the State, on the information of L. L. Collins, Prosecuting Attorney of Pemiscot County, against the St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad Company. From a judgment for plaintiff, defendant appeals. Reversed.

This is an action to recover the penalty prescribed in section 1075, Revised Statutes of 1899, for an alleged violation of one of its provisions. The petition contained 506 counts, "consecutively covering each day from the 1st day of July, 1904, to the 17th day of November, 1905. Except as to the day charged, they are identical. Only the first count is set out, and the record is silent as to where the material for another count was obtained after the 505 days of the period named had been utilized. Judgment was given for $25 on each of the 506 counts, aggregating the sum of $12,650.

The first count of the petition, omitting formal parts, states that the defendant, a railroad corporation, "was, on the 1st day of July, 1904, engaged in the transportation, for hire, of passengers and property on its line of railroad running from the city of Caruthersville, in Pemiscot county, Mo., through said county to the city of Kennett, in Dunklin county, Mo., and on its line of railroad running from the town of Deering, through said Pemiscot county, Mo., to the town of Wardell, in Pemiscot county, Mo.; that the two said lines of railroad cross and intersect each other at the town of Pascola, in Pemiscot county, Mo.; that said defendant was, on the 1st day of July, 1904, operating, managing, and running both of said lines of railroad and engaged in the transportation of passengers and property on both of said lines of railroad; that the two said lines of railroad, where they intersect and cross each other at said town of Pascola, Mo., were and are upon the same grade; that the character of the land at such crossing, intersection, and junction of the two said lines of railroad at the place aforesaid will now, and would on the 1st day of July, 1904, admit of erection, building, and maintaining of a depot, or passenger house, or waiting room or rooms, sufficient to comfortably accommodate all passengers awaiting the arrival and departure of trains at such junction, intersection, and crossing of the railroads aforesaid; and that the defendant, on the date aforesaid, failed, neglected, and refused to build and maintain at said junction, railroad crossing, and intersection of the two lines of railroad, as aforesaid, at Pascola, Pemiscot county, Mo., as aforesaid, as a railroad corporation and company engaged in the transportation of passengers and property over the said line of railroad running from the city of Caruthersville, Mo., to the said city of Kennett, Mo., or as a railroad corporation and company engaged in the transportation of passengers and property over the said railroad running from Deering, Mo., to Wardell, Mo., either jointly or separately for said lines of railroad, a depot, passenger house, and waiting room or rooms sufficient to comfortably accommodate all passengers awaiting the arrival and departure of trains at such junction, railroad crossing, and intersection aforesaid of the two lines of railroad aforesaid at Pascola, Pemiscot county, Mo."

The facts so stated were put in issue by proper pleading, and at the trial the defendant objected to the introduction of any evidence, on the ground that the petition did not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action. This objection was overruled by the court, and defendant excepted. The trial then proceeded, and the following facts were developed and remain undisputed:

The defendant railroad company, on and before July 1, 1904, had a line of railroad, called in the evidence the Caruthersville branch, extending from a junction at Kennett, in Dunklin county, easterly about 14 miles to Pascola, in Pemiscot county, where the scene of this suit is laid; thence east, about 5 miles, to Hayti, a junction; thence easterly, about 7 miles, to Caruthersville. In the spring of 1903, a branch had been constructed from the little village of Pascola in a southerly direction, about 6 miles, to Deering, where there was a mill or two for the manufacture of lumber, and in the fall of that year this line was extended, so as to cross the Caruthersville branch at grade about 400 feet west of its Pascola station, and run north about 6 miles to Wardell, where there was also a lumber mill. From each end of this line, spurs extended to similar industries. The excuse for this construction seems to have been the carriage of logs and sawed lumber, and such traffic as might be incident to such industries. During the time involved in this inquiry, there has been no separate train service on the line between Deering and Wardell, but the freight and passenger business was done by a mixed train, which ran between Kennett and Hayti. At first it carried a combination baggage and passenger car. This did not prove strong enough to stand the usage it received, and a caboose was substituted. Sometimes the passengers had to be content with a box, or even a flat car. The junction of the two branches was effected by a wye track, occupying the southwestern of the four angles formed by the crossing, connecting with the line running in the direction of Kennett, about 1,300 feet westerly from the crossing, and with the line running to Deering, about the same distance in a southerly direction. The depot was on the line extending toward Hayti, about 400 feet easterly from the crossing. It has, since the beginning of this suit, been moved to the crossing. From 4 to 6 passenger trains per day passed Pascola on the line between Kennett and Caruthersville. There is no depot building on the Wardell-Deering line, other than that at Pascola.

During the time covered by this suit, there seems to have been no daily train service, either to Deering or Wardell. There was, during the most of that time, triweekly service, operated about as follows: The Hayti local freight would leave Kennett in the morning, proceed to Pascola, do its local work at that station, leave its train, except...