Baker v. Pennsylvania Railroad

Citations

• 182 Pa. 336
• 37 A. 933
• 1897 Pa. LEXIS 814

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Railroads—Grossings—“Stop, look and listen” — Contributory negligence.</p> <p>In an action against a railroad company to recover damages for death, it appeared that the deceased, a woman, with the senses of sight and hearing unimpaired, started in broad daylight to cross three tracks of a railroad. A train was approaching about a quarter of a mile distant, which she could have seen seventy feet distant before she set foot on the track nearest her; before she left that track she could have seen it one hundred and sixty feet distant; before she put her foot on the next, the middle track, she could have seen it two hundred and twenty-four feet distant; before she stepped on the track whereon the train was coming, she could have seen it nine hundred feet distant. She stepped on the last track and was instantly killed. Held, that, as the only two inferences from the undisputed testimony were that the deceased either did not stop, look and listen, or that, if she did, she must have seen the approaching train and knowingly attempted to cross in front of it, in full view,'the court should have charged as a matter of law that she was guilty of contributory negligence, and should therefore have withdrawn the case from the jury.</p>