Hoover v. Beech Creek R. R.

Citations

• 154 Pa. 362
• 26 A. 315
• 1893 Pa. LEXIS 894

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Bailroads—Fellow servants — Brakemen.</p> <p>A telegraphic dispatch was sent by the train dispatcher to the conductor and engineer of train No. 3, of which plaintiff’s intestate was brakeman, requiring them to “ wildcat to Newberry Junction ahead of train 39 and report.” This order was delivered to conductor of train No. 3, at Jersey Shore before leaving that station. The conductor of train No. 3 testified that it was the usual custom to signal trains approaching from behind at the place where this accident happened, especially on foggy nights, by going back on the track and placing caps on the rails, and that plaintiff’s intestate was just about to do this when the collision occurred, but waited a few minutes to fix his fires. In these few minutes the collision took place which killed plaintiff’s intestate. Held, that the accident was caused either by the failure of the brakeman to put caps on the rails behind No. 3, as a signal to No. 39, or by the failure of fellow servants, the conductor and engineer, either to side track No. 3, or to give proper signals, and that in either case plaintiff was not entitled to recover.</p>