Texas & P. Ry. Co. v. Woods

• Decision Date: 10 October 1894
• Citation: 28 S.W. 416
• Parties: TEXAS & P. RY. CO. v. WOODS.
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

28 S.W. 416

TEXAS & P. RY. CO. v. WOODS.

Court of Civil Appeals of Texas.

October 10, 1894.

Appeal from district court, Wood county; Felix J. McCord, Judge.

Action by John H. Woods against the Texas & Pacific Railway Company for damages to plaintiff's wife. Judgment for plaintiff, and defendant appeals. Reversed.

This suit was instituted in the district court of Wood county, Tex., on November 10, 1890, by the plaintiff, John H. Woods, to recover from the defendant the sum of $2,000, as damages alleged to have been sustained by his wife, alleging for cause of action, in substance, as follows: That on May 22, 1890, plaintiff's wife purchased a ticket at Mineola, and took passage on defendant's regular west-bound passenger train, of same date, to go to Mesquite Station, in Dallas county, on defendant's said line of railway; that she had her child, of about 18 months of age, with her; that, when the conductor of said train took up her ticket, he promised her that, upon arrival at Mesquite, he would assist her off the train; that as the train approached Mesquite, the name of the station was announced by some of the employés of defendant in the car, and she thereupon prepared to leave the train, and got on her feet with the child and baggage (a valise), but, before she could reach the platform of the car, said train was leaving the station, and gaining speed so rapidly that she could not get off; that said train did not more than come to a standstill, if it stopped at all, and not a sufficient time for her to alight with safety, notwithstanding she acted promptly; that, as soon as plaintiff's wife saw that she could not get off at the station, she called to said employés of defendant to put her off at Mesquite, but they did not do so, but carried her by and beyond Mesquite about one-half mile, and stopped the train, and one of said employés on said train took her valise, and told her to hurry, and, when she reached the platform of the car, he told her to jump, and in the excitement she obeyed the order of said employé, and jumped from the platform of said car to the ground, several feet, with her child in her arms; that, just as she jumped from said car, said employé ordered the train to start up, and the train moved on, leaving plaintiff's wife and child and her baggage in the open prairie, at about dark, with no protection whatever; that plaintiff, being at the station waiting for the arrival of his wife, and knowing that she had been carried by, went on, and met her, and assisted her back to the station; that the jump made by plaintiff's wife from said car injured her in one of her hips, from which she has suffered great pain since said time; that she was in bad health, which could be seen by any one; was at the time, and had been for some time, suffering from internal complications, and was under treatment of physicians for the same; that said excitement and injury and worrying by child and valise caused her to grow worse, and from which she has suffered great pain since said date; that defendant's conductor did not offer to take her on to a place of safety, but left her, her child and baggage, as aforesaid, on the prairie, away from any shelter and protection; that plaintiff's wife suffered great mental anguish and bodily pain, — all of which was caused by the negligence of defendant's agents and employés in not stopping said train at Mesquite a sufficient length of time for plaintiff's wife to alight with safety, and by putting her off at a place of safety, and in causing her to jump from said train, etc., to her actual damage in the sum of $2,000. To this cause of action defendant answered by its amended answer, filed December 8, 1891, setting up a general denial and a plea of contributory negligence. The cause was tried before the court, with a jury, on November 24, 1892, resulting in a verdict and judgment for plaintiff in the sum of $1,500.

Cate & Teagarden, for appellant. Giles & Stafford and B. B. Hart, for appellee.

FINLEY, J. (after stating the facts).

The facts that Mrs. Woods was carried beyond her station; that the train stopped a quarter or half mile from the station for her to get off; and that she jumped from the platform to the ground, and was injured thereby, — were uncontroverted on the trial. Whether the train was stopped at Mesquite, the place of her destination, a reasonably sufficient time for her to get off of the train, and the circumstances surrounding and causing her to jump from the train at the time she did, were controverted issues under the evidence. The court, in substance, charged the jury that if the train was stopped a reasonably sufficient time at Mesquite for Mrs. Woods to get off, and, when she did get off the train, if she did so voluntarily or upon the invitation of some person who was not a servant or agent of ...