Stuart v. Dickinson

• Citation: 290 Mo. 516,235 S.W. 446
• Decision Date: 30 November 1921
• Docket Number: No. 21789.,21789.
• Parties: STUART v. DICKINSON et al.
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Missouri

235 S.W. 446

290 Mo. 516

STUART v. DICKINSON et al.

No. 21789.

Supreme Court of Missouri, in Banc.

November 30, 1921.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Jackson County; Clarence A. Burney, Judge.

Action by William A. Stuart, a person of unsound mind, by Ida Stuart, his guardian, against Jacob M. Dickinson, receiver of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway Company, and another. Judgment for the plaintiff, and defendants appeal. Reversed and remanded.

Luther Burns, of Topeka, Kan., and Guthrie, Conrad & Durham, of Kansas City, for appellants.

T. J. Madden and H. G. Pope, both of Kansas City, for respondent.

RAGLAND, C.

This is an action under the Employers' Liability Act for personal injuries received in a head-on collision between two freight trains on a line of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway Company. The plaintiff was the locomotive engineer in charge of one of the trains; and whether negligence on his part, or negligence of the crew of the opposing train, or that of the telegraph operators or signalmen who gave the signals under which the two trains were being operated, caused the collision was the mainly contested issue in the trial below.

The collision just referred to occurred June 27, 1915, near Platt River, a station about 9 miles east of St. Joseph, Mo., The colliding trains were both regular time-table trains running on schedule, one known as 1-93, bound from Trenton, Mo., to Horton, Kan., and the other, known as from Horton to Trenton. At that time the entire Rock Island System was being managed and operated by the defendant Dickinson, as receiver (hereinafter called the receiver), the orders of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Consequently the plaintiff and all other persons then engaged in the operation of the roads of the defendant Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway Company (hereinafter called the railway company) were employés of the receiver.

The manual of rules and regulations governing the operation of trains or the Rock Island Lines was introduced in evidence. The rules that have been stressed as applicable to the situation under consideration will be set out. Under the general head, "Movement of Trains," are found rules 87, 88, 92, 99, and 106, as follows:

"87. An inferior train must keep out of the way of opposing superior trains and failing to clear the main track by the time required by rule must be protected as prescribed in rule 99.

"88. At meeting points between trains of the same class, the inferior train must clear the main track before the leaving time of the superior train."

"92. A train must not leave a station in advance of its schedule leaving time."

"99. When a train stops or is delayed under circumstances in which it may be overtaken by another train, the flagman must go back immediately with stop signals a sufficient distance to insure full protection; one-fourth mile from the rear of the train he will place one torpedo on the rail; continuing back three-fourths mile from the rear of the train, he will place two torpedoes on the rail, two rail lengths apart. During foggy or stormy weather, or in the vicinity of obscure curves or descending grades, or if other conditions require it, the flagman will increase the distance, placing two more torpedoes, two rail lengths apart, at the farthest point reached. He may then return to the single torpedo, where he must remain until relieved by another flagman or is recalled. When recalled but not before, if he does not see or hear an approaching train, the single torpedo will be removed. In stormy or foggy weather, or if the view for at least one-quarter mile to the rear of the train is not clear, or if other conditions warrant, he will leave a burning red fusee to protect the train while returning. * * *

"When it is necessary to protect the front of a train, or if any other running track is seen to be unsafe or obstructed, the same precautions shall be observed."

"106. In all cases of doubt or uncertainty the safe course must be taken and no risks run."

Under the title, "Manual Block System Rules," the following are found:

"301. Home Block Signals.

                signal.       Occasion for Use.    Indication.               Name
                Color       The signal will be    For enginemen             As used in rules
                              displayed when      and trainmen
                (a) Red     Block is not clear.   Stop.                     Stop signal
                (b) Yellow  Block is not clear.   Proceed under control.    Caution signal.
                (c) Green   Block is clear.       Proceed.                  Clear signal.
                

"Where the semaphore is used, the governing arm is displayed to the right of the signal mast as seen from an approaching train, and the indications are given by positions.

"Horizontal as the equivalent of (a).

"Diagonal as the equivalent of (b).

"Vertical as the equivalent of (c).

"302. Block signals control the use of the blocks but, unless otherwise provided, do not supersede the superiority of trains; nor dispense with the use or the observance of other signals whenever and wherever they may be required."

"317. (To be used for opposing and following movements.)

"To admit a train to a block the signalman must examine the block record, and if the block is clear, will give `1 for (No. 19)' to the next block station in advance. The signalman receiving this signal, if the block is clear, must display the stop signal to opposing trains and reply `S. D. for (No. 19).' If the block is not clear he must reply `5 of (No. 73).' The signalman at the entrance of the block must then display the proper signal indication.

"A train must not be admitted to a block which is occupied by a passenger train, nor a passenger train admitted to a block unless it is clear, except as provided in Rules 332, 381 and 382, or by train order.

"To permit a freight train to follow a freight train into a block, the signalman must give '17 for (No. 87)' to the next block station in advance, to which the reply `5 of (No. 95) S. D. for (No. 87)' must be made. The approaching train will then be admitted to the block with a block restrictions card.

"322. Should there be any indication of conditions endangering a train, the signalman must immediately notify the signalman at the next block station in advance, and each must display stop signals to all trains that may be affected and must not permit any train to proceed until it is known that the track is not obstructed." "325. A signalman informed of any obstruction in a block must display the stop signal and notify the signalman at the other end of that block. The signalman at the other end of the block must immediately display the stop signal. The clear signal for that block must not be displayed until the obstruction is removed."

"332. If, from any cause, a signalman be unable to communicate with the next block station in advance, he must stop every train approaching in that direction. Should no cause for detaining the train be known, it may then be permitted to proceed, with a caution card (form D), provided ten (10) minutes have elapsed since the passage of the last preceding train."

"381. When trains are to meet or pass at an intermediate siding, train orders to that effect must be given them. This must be done, whenever practicable, before they reach the block stations at the entrance to the block within which the intermediate siding is located.

"The signalmen at these block stations must be given copies of the order addressed to them. They will deliver a copy of such orders to each conductor and engineman of the trains concerned, together with the clearance cards (form A) on which shall be stated the block restrictions. Having received these, the trains concerned may proceed and fulfill their train orders.

"382. A train accepting a signal to proceed to the next block station on its schedule or right, and failing to do so, must take an intermediate siding or protect itself as prescribed by rule 99. A superior train (in either direction) will be permitted to enter the block under block restrictions."

On the time card, a copy of which was delivered to all employés engaged in the operation of trains on the division of which the Horton Line was a part, this rule was printed:

"While it is important to make schedule, safety must be given first consideration."

The caution card referred to in rule 332 contained this language:

"You may proceed * * * with caution, expecting to find track obstructed."

On receiving such a card an engineer was required to proceed with his train under control; that is, at such a rate of speed that he could stop it at any time within the distance that the track was seen to be clear.

Under the general rules governing the movements of trains a superior train was defined as one having precedence over another train. This superiority might arise from class or direction; 1-93 and 1-98 were both second class trains, but 1-98 was the superior train because east-bound.

In June, 1915, the line from Trenton to Horton was operated under the manual block system. A "block" is defined in the book of rules offered in evidence as "a length of track of defined limits, the use of which by trains is controlled by block signals." On the line in question a block consisted of the track from one open telegraph station to the next—in either direction. A siding between such stations was called an intermediate siding. The first telegraph or block station east of St. Joseph was Platt River; the next was Clarksdale. Between Platt River and Clarksdale there was an intermediate siding called Stockbridge. The distance between Platt River and Clarksdale was about 11 miles and that between Platt River and Stockbridge about 4 miles.

1-93, with plaintiff in charge as engineer, left Trenton about 6 o'clock on the morning of June 27, 1915, for Horton via. St. Joseph. It arrived at Clarksdale about six hours behind its schedule. According to the operator at the latter point, he endeavored...