Warren v. Southern Kan. Ry. Co.
| Decision Date | 05 November 1887 |
| Parties | FRANK WARREN, by his next friend, W. H. Washburn, v. THE SOUTHERN KANSAS RAILWAY COMPANY |
| Court | Kansas Supreme Court |
Error from Johnson District Court.
ACTION to recover damages for personal injuries. Trial at the March Term, 1886, and judgment for the defendant Railway Company. The plaintiff Warren brings the case here. The material facts appear in the opinion.
Judgment affirmed.
John T Little, and Samuel T. Seaton, for plaintiff in error.
Geo. R Peck, A. A. Hurd, and F. R. Ogg, for defendant in error.
OPINION
This was an action brought in the district court of Johnson county by Frank Warren, by his next friend, W. H. Washburn, against the Southern Kansas Railway Company, for personal injuries alleged to have been caused by the negligence of the railway company. The case was tried by the court and a jury; and after the plaintiff had introduced all his evidence, and rested, the defendant demurred to the evidence, upon the ground that it did not prove any cause of action; and the court sustained the demurrer, discharged the jury, and rendered judgment in favor of the defendant, and against the plaintiff, for costs; and the plaintiff, as plaintiff in error, brings the case to this court for review.
The alleged injuries were received on July 13, 1885, at about 9 o'clock in the morning, at the railway company's station, in the town of Edgerton, in Johnson county, Kansas. At the time of receiving the injuries the plaintiff was nineteen years and four months old. He had lived in the town of Edgerton for about one year, and seems to have been well acquainted there, and with the railway company's mode of business and signals. The injuries seem to have occurred in the following manner: The plaintiff desired to go from Edgerton to Wellsville, a town on the company's railway about five or six miles southwest of Edgerton. He knew that a freight train would soon be due, and that no passenger train would be due until about 12 o'clock. He went to the company's ticket agent at Edgerton, William Walton, and inquired of him if the freight train was on time, and the ticket agent answered substantially that it was; and the plaintiff then said to the ticket agent, "Do they carry passengers on that train yet?" and the ticket agent answered, "They do;" and then the plaintiff said to the ticket agent, "Well, then, Billy, give me a ticket to Wellsville;" and the ticket agent then stamped a ticket for Wellsville, and handed it to the plaintiff, and the plaintiff paid him therefor sixteen cents. This was about all that was said or done at the time. No one at any time told the plaintiff when, or how, or where to get on the train, or what car to get on. Soon afterward the train came in from the northeast, and stopped, with the engine standing at the water tank southwest of the station platform and about 100 feet therefrom. The caboose was about 300 or 400 feet northeast from the platform. The train remained several minutes while taking in water, and then backed up about 300 or 400 feet to the east end of the yard for some switching to be done, where it remained about twenty or thirty minutes. The plaintiff, after purchasing his ticket, and during all the time that the engine was in taking water, and the train backing, and the switching being done, and until the train started to leave, stood on the southwest corner of the station platform talking with a friend. Prior to this time the company's freight trains sometimes stopped at Edgerton with the caboose at the platform, and sometimes they did not. This was all well known to the plaintiff. When the switching was all done, the conductor gave a signal for the train to start. The plaintiff understood this signal. The train then moved slowly in the direction of the platform, and the plaintiff went to the edge thereof; and when the first car, the one immediately behind and attached to the engine, came opposite to the place where he stood, he attempted to jump upon it, but fell to the ground between the car and the platform, and received the injuries of which he now complains. The car was an ordinary stock car. The principal injury received by the plaintiff was the crushing of his left foot in such a manner as to require the amputation thereof, just above the ankle-joint.
Do these facts show a cause of action against the railway company? In order that the plaintiff shall recover in this action it is necessary for him to show that the defendant through its...
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