Williams v. Jacksonville, T. & K.w. Ry. Co.

• Citation: 26 Fla. 533,8 So. 446
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Florida
• Decision Date: 23 December 1890
• Parties: WILLIAMS et al. v. JACKSONVILLE, T. & K. W. RY. CO.

8 So. 446

26 Fla. 533

WILLIAMS et al. v. JACKSONVILLE, T. & K. W. RY. CO.

Florida Supreme Court

December 23, 1890

Error to circuit court, Duval county; JAMES M. BAKER, Judge.

Syllabus by the Court

SYLLABUS

A wife is, under the statutes of Florida, a competent witness as to her own interests in an action brought in her own right by herself and her husband.

COUNSEL R. B. Hilton, for plaintiffs in error.

Fletcher & Wurtz, for defendant in error.

OPINION

The plaintiffs in error, Alice Williams and her husband, sue the defendant in error, alleging inter alia, in the declaration, that the wife was, at a time stated, a passenger for hire on its railroad, and was in a passenger coach, holding a ticker of said company, which she had paid for, and which entitled her to ride in a first-class passenger car; and that under these circumstances, she being decently and becomingly dressed, and behaving in a modest decent, and lady-like manner, the conductor illegally wrongfully, and willfully ordered her, on account of her color,--she being a woman of color,--to leave this car fitted up and set apart for the use of ladies and gentlemen traveling on the railroad, and to go into and ride in another, and inferior, less comfortable and less decent car, a second-class car, set apart for negroes and persons of color; and upon her failing to do so, as commanded by said conductor, he, with the aid of another servant of the company, willfully, violently, ruthlessly, wrongfully, and illegally, with force and arms, made an assault and battery upon her, seized, pulled, and dragged her, and cast her down from her seat to the floor of the car, and prostrated her thereon, and, while she was thus prostrate, pulled and dragged her in like manner, and with great violence and indignity, across the platform dividing the two cars, and into the second class car,--the smoking-car of the train,--and left her there prostrate, sore, wounded, bruised and disabled. By all of which the declaration alleges (reading to its conclusion as follows:) 'She was grievously wounded, hurt, and injured, and subjected to great shame, indignity, mortigication, and disgrace, and from said violence, dragging, and assault and battery, received great injury and hurt to her womb, by which it became inflamed, irritated, displaced, and diseased, by reason whereof she suffered and continued to suffer great pain and agony, and was disabled and disqualified to perform her duties, and was compelled to give up her housekeeping for a long time, to-wit, to the time of the commencement of these proceedings, and thereby great expense for medicines and medical attention was incurred by the said Alice. And the defendant other wrongs and enormities then and there did to the said Alice, to her damage of ten thousand dollars. Whereupon plaintiffs bring suit.'

The defendant pleaded the general issue, and numerous other pleas, all of which other pleas were demurred to, and the demurrer was sustained as to some, and overruled as to others, and upon those sustained issue was joined and the cause coming on for trial before a jury, the plaintiffs, as appears from the bill of exceptions, offered as a witness the plaintiff Alice, who, being duly sworn, was interrogated as to her age, place of birth, and residence, and having duly answered, she was then asked by defendant's attorney if she was not one of the plaintiffs and the wife of the other, and having replied that she was, the same attorney objected to her competency as a witness, on the ground that she was a plaintiff, and also the wife of the other plaintiff in the suit, and the objection was sustained; and the plaintiffs,...