"We
the jury, having been required to find a special verdict in
this action, do find the facts in the case to be as follows:
That said defendants are respectively railroad corporations
of and in the State of Indiana, and were such at the time of
the injury hereinafter mentioned; that at the time of such
injury, and for several years prior thereto, the said
defendants were respectively controlling and operating
railroads, the road of said Pennsylvania Company running
through the State of Indiana from east to west, and through
the counties of Laporte and Porter in said State, and the one
of said defendant Louisville, New Albany and Chicago Railway
Company running through said State from north to south, and
through said county of Laporte; that said railroads at the
time of such injury, and for twenty-five years prior thereto
had, crossed each other at grade and nearly at right angles,
at the village of Wanatah, in said county of Laporte; that
those in control of said respective railroads had, during all
said twenty-five years, solicited and invited an interchange
of freight and passenger traffic at said point of crossing,
and at the time of such injury said defendants were doing,
and for five years prior thereto had been doing, a large
business in the way of interchange of freight and passengers
at said point, each maintaining a regular station, with
passenger, ticket and freight offices, at said point, and
transferring freight and the baggage of passengers from one
to the other; that the said defendant Louisville, New Albany
and Chicago Railway Company, to the north of said crossing
had a main track and one side-track east of and immediately
adjoining the same, and about ten feet east of said
side-track had a building thirty-six feet long, the north
half of which was used and occupied by said company as a
passenger waiting-room, and ticket and telegraph office, and
the south half thereof as a freight-room; and in front of
such building, and extending to the said side-track, a
platform at an elevation of about one foot from the grade of
its tracks, which building was forty-seven
feet north of such crossing; that said defendant, the
Pennsylvania Company, to the east of said crossing had one
main track and a side-track north of and immediately
adjoining the same, and about ten feet north of said
side-track a freight-house forty-one feet long, and in front
of such freight-house and extending to said side-track, a
platform at an elevation of about three feet from the grade
of its tracks, without any steps leading down therefrom to
the ground, which freight-house was forty-one feet east of
said crossing; that said defendant Pennsylvania Company had a
passenger ticket office on the south side of its main track,
about one hundred and seventy-five feet east of such
crossing, with a gravel walk on the grade of its track
extending from a little east of said ticket office nearly to
the crossing, along which walk it received and discharged its
passengers; that there was a platform about twenty feet wide
extending from the said Pennsylvania Company's
freight-house, and connected with and joining on to the said
platform in front thereof, and so extending thence westward
along and abutting on said side-track to a point where it
joined and connected with a like platform, about ten feet
wide, extending southward from said platform in front of said
passenger and freight-house of the defendant Louisville, New
Albany and Chicago Railway Company, and so joining and
connecting at the angle formed by said crossing; that such
platforms, and the respective extensions thereof aforesaid to
such junctions thereof, were under the charge and control of
the respective defendants on whose tracks they abutted as
aforesaid, and were used by both said defendants for the
entire length thereof for their joint use and convenience for
the transfer of freight and baggage by one to the other
respectively; that said platforms were so constructed and
joined together as aforesaid as to form, and they did form,
one continuous passage-way, without interruption or any
visible hindrance to the use thereof by passengers, and were
so constructed and joined
together as to lead one unfamiliar with the
locality to suppose that they were intended for the use and
convenience of passengers in going to and from the said
station-house of the defendant Louisville, New Albany and
Chicago Railway Company to that of the other defendant, and
so as naturally to invite such use.
"There
was, however, a way of going from said station of the
Louisville, New Albany and Chicago Railway Company to the
other, consisting of a plank walk about five feet wide, on a
grade with their tracks, and leading from said elevated
platform across said side-track and thence southward between
the main and side-tracks to a point about 15 feet north of
the main track of the Pennsylvania Company, and thence
southeastwardly diagonally across such last mentioned track,
to the south side thereof, and connecting there with the
aforesaid gravel walk, which last mentioned route and way was
the one ordinarily used by passengers. That the foregoing, so
far as therein stated, represents the situation, condition,
use and control of all the premises in question at the time
of the injury hereinafter mentioned, and for five years prior
thereto.
"At
the time, however, of such injury, the said platform, so
extending from said Pennsylvania Company's freight-house
to such junction and connection, was old, decayed and greatly
dilapidated and out of repair, and about 15 feet east of such
junction there was a hole in said last mentioned platform
caused by the breakage of planks therein, of the size and for
the space of three to five feet either way, which hole was
then, and had been, and remained, open and wholly unguarded
for the period of four months prior to such injury, and the
existence thereof, as well as such general condition of such
platform, was, during all said time, well known to both the
defendants; that there was, during all said time, a ditch
running under said platform and immediately under said hole
and open space, and the distance from the top of such
platform to the bottom of such ditch was seven and one-half feet; that, on the 12th day of November, 1885,
the plaintiff in this cause was a passenger for hire, on one
of the regular passenger trains of the defendant Louisville,
New Albany and Chicago Railway Company, from the south,
destined for Wanatah aforesaid, and intending there to take a
train on said Pennsylvania Company's road; that such
train on which plaintiff was so travelling arrived at and
stopped in front of the said passenger-house of said
Louisville, New Albany and Chicago Railway Company, at
Wanatah aforesaid, at 6:30 p. m. of that day; that it was
then after nightfall, dark and raining; that she alighted
from said train, and the train immediately moved on and away;
that said platform was wholly unlighted, and there was no
light visible in or about said passenger-house or the
platform, or the tracks in front thereof, nor any person in
attendance thereon or present thereabouts; that plaintiff was
wholly unfamiliar with said premises, only knowing the
general direction from one station to the other; that she so
alighted between said tracks, and discerning the outlines of
said elevated platform in front of such passenger-house, she
stepped at once to and upon the same, and from there looking
around she did not, and by reason of the darkness could not,
discover such walk between the tracks, nor any entrance to
such station-building, but could and did discover the said
elevated platform, extending southward in the direction of
the other road; that she had no notice or knowledge of the
existence of such walk between the...