"In
the above entitled cause, the plaintiff complains of the
defendant and says, that on, to wit, the 27th day of May,
1891, he was appointed, by the Shelby Circuit Court,
administrator of the estate of Laura Beynon, deceased; that
he qualified, gave bond, entered upon the discharge of his
duties as such administrator, and is now the legally
qualified and acting administrator of said estate; that said
Laura Beynon died intestate in said county on, to wit, the
23d day of March, 1891, leaving surviving her three children,
whose names and ages are, respectively, Lewis Beynon, aged 11
years; Maggie Beynon, aged 8 years, and Alvin Beynon, aged 1
year; and also her husband, William Beynon, and that said
children
and husband are her next of kin and sole heirs at law; that
said decedent was, at her death, 30 years old. And the
plaintiff further says, that the defendant negligently and improperly constructed and caused to be
constructed a county bridge on, in, and across the public
county highway in said county, leading from the city of
Shelbyville, in said county, to Boggstown, in the same
county, and that said bridge was not within the corporate
limits of of any town or city; that said bridge was
negligently and improperly constructed in that, to wit, said
bridge was not constructed of sufficient width to make it
safe for persons to pass over it in vehicles drawn by horses
in case said horses should shy or become frightened from any
cause; that said bridge was constructed without any side
rails or protections at the sides thereof to prevent horses
from running off said bridge at the sides of the same, or to
prevent their backing off or running off said bridge the
vehicles to which they were attached, while passing on and
over said bridge; that the boards in the floor of said bridge
were loose and movable, and made much noise and motion when
either ridden or driven over, and were not of sufficient
thickness to make a good and sufficient roadway; that the
boards in said floor were so laid as to make cracks and holes
through which horses, when crossing said bridge, could see
running water beneath; that the defendant permitted said
bridge to remain as so constructed, up to and including the
time hereinafter named, at which it is alleged said Laura
Beynon was injured, with this exception, that the defendant
suffered and permitted said bridge and the floor thereof to
rot and fall in decay, and the cracks and holes on the floor
of the same to become greatly enlarged and so remain for a
long time, to wit, five years before the time at which said
Laura Beynon was so injured; that said bridge was of the
length of, to wit, thirty feet; of the height of, to wit,
fifteen feet from the ground below, and of the width of only
ten feet, and was situated and located over and across a mill
race, through which a large quantity of
water flowed rapidly, making much noise; that the defendant
has accepted and maintained said bridge so constructed, and
had used it as a county bridge in, across, and forming a part
of said highway over which the public did travel for more
than fifteen years immediately preceding the time when said
decedent was injured; that there is now, and has been, for
twenty years last past, much travel over said highway, and,
at the time said decedent was so injured, there was no way by
which persons lawfully traveling on said highway could cross
said mill race, except by going on and over said bridge; that
at said time there was a county bridge constructed and
maintained by the defendant across Brandywine creek, at a
point a little southeast of the bridge across said race, and
at a distance of, to wit, seventy-five feet from it, and said
bridge across said Brandywine creek was and is a part of said
public highway leading from Shelbyville, Indiana, to
Boggstown, Indiana; that both of said bridges were
constructed at points where the defendant had a right to, and
it was its duty to, construct them; that the floor of said
bridge, at the time of said injury, was ten feet above the
floor of the bridge across said race; that the said highway
extending from the bridge across said race to said Brandywine
bridge, ran over an approach to said bridge, which approach
was also the approach to said race bridge, was constructed by
the defendant, was steep and sharply curved, so that in
passing over said highway from said Brandywine bridge, to
said race bridge, there was a tendency, by reason of the
steep grade and sharp curve, for vehicles to which horses
were attached to run on the horses, and to run them and the
vehicle off said race bridge, at the left hand side, all of
which would have been avoided had such approach and said
bridge been properly constructed and
maintained; that such approach was constructed by the
defendant, was a part of said public county highway, and had
been such for more than five years immediately preceding the
time of said injury; that on the 27th day of , 1888, said
bridge and approach were in the condition herein described,
and the defendant then knew and had known, for all of five
years immediately preceding, that they were in such
condition; that on said day decedent was in a wagon with, to
wit, twenty children from the age of five to ten years, and
was being carefully driven over said public highway and down
said grade from said Brandywine bridge on her way home, and,
while being there driven, the horses attached to said wagon
became frightened by the wagon running on them in going down
said grade, and at the movement and noise of the boards in
the floor of the bridge across said race, and at the sight
and sound of the water underneath said bridge, and at other
things unknown to the plaintiff, and ran off the said bridge
at the left hand side, and ran the wagon off said bridge at
said side, and without any fault or negligence of said
decedent, or of any of her next of kin, or of any one who was
in said wagon with her, she was thrown out of said wagon and
from said bridge into the water below, and on to some large,
rough timbers with sharp corners which the defendant had
placed and permitted to be placed and remain at the side of
said bridge, and was seriously and fatally injured in her
abdomen, back, spine, and lower parts of her body, both
internally and externally, from which injuries she languished
and suffered until the 23d day of March, 1891, when she died;
that her death was due to the injuries she received on said
27th day of July; that she did not know it was dangerous for
her so to travel over said highway on said day; that the
defendant
invited her to travel over said highway on said day, and that there was no other way by which she
could pass to her said home; that said highway leading from
said city of Shelbyville to said town of Boggstown was and
had been a public highway for more than fifty years before
said 27th day of July, and that on said day the public
generally were using and traveling over said highway and down
said approach and on and across said race bridge; that the
death of said decedent was caused by the negligence and wrong
of the defendant as herein set out, and not by the negligence
or fault or wrong of any one else; that by said negligence
and wrong the said children have lost their mother and a
mother's support, care, and love, and said husband has
lost the service, companionship, and support of a faithful
and loving wife, who, at the time of her death, was thirty
years old, and prior to her injuries had been strong,
healthy, and free from disease and pain, and they have
thereby been damaged in a great sum of $ 10,000.
"Wherefore
the plaintiff asks judgment for $ 10,000, costs, and all
other proper relief."