Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Co. v. Wilson

Citations

• 133 Ill. 55
• 24 N.E. 555
• 1890 Ill. LEXIS 1091

Syllabus

<p>1. , Negmgenoe—approaching railroad crossing—of the care required. It is the duty of a person approaching a railroad crossing, to exercise care, diligence and caution in looking and listening for approaching trains. It is his imperative duty to exercise all reasonable care, and his failure to exercise such care will be such neglect on his part as. will preclude a recovery by him for a personal injury.</p> <p>2. Same—absence of proper signals—warning persons approaching railroad crossing. A railway company, by stationing a flagman at a street crossing, and making it his duty to display proper signals of warning whenever an engine or train is approaching, may give the public the right to rely upon the absence of signals of warning, and. presume that the tracks are clear.</p> <p>3. On the trial of an action against a railway company for a personal injury received at a street crossing, the defendant asked, and the couitrefused, this instruction: “The court further instructs you, that when there are several tracks crossing a street or highway, a train passing upon one of them is, of itself, a warning that persons about to cross the-tracks are bound to take notice of:” . Held, that the instruction was-properly refused, as being a mere abstract proposition, and as being otherwise erroneous. A train passing over one of several tracks is not a warning of the approach of other trains or engines on the other tracks.</p> <p>4. Same—negligence as a question of law or fact. It can not usually be laid down as a rule of law, that in any given case certain specific-acts are essential to the exercise of ordinary care, or that the absence of such acts is negligence. What will constitute ordinary care in any given instance must depend upon the circumstances of the case.</p> <p>5. The question of negligence of a railway company in failing to-give proper warning of the approach of an engine at a public street crossing, whereby one attempting to cross the track is personally injured, a