Morgan v. Camden & Atlantic R. R.

Citations

• 1 Monag. 122
• 16 A. 353
• 1889 Pa. LEXIS 1277

Syllabus

<p>A passenger, in broad daylight, in alighting from a railway train, at a crossing, a regular stopping place to discharge and receive passengers, without either a station-house or a platform, stepped off on the side on which was another track and was injured by a passing train. In an action for damages for negligence on the part of the railroad company, the plaintiff testified that the reason he got off on the track side was because the step on the other side overhung a ditch. He further testified that there was such a curve in the railroad track that, in alighting, he could not see around the engine of the train from which he was alighting; that he looked up and down the track, saw nothing, heard nothing, and started to cross, when he was struck. Plaintiff’s son testified that the curve in the track was so great that one, standing on the track, could not see up the track further than 200 or 400 feet. He also testified that the plaintiff stopped and looked before starting to cross. There was evidence that no signal was given by the approaching train. Witnesses, produced by the plaintiff, gave evidence of contributory negligence by testifying that the plaintiff stepped down immediately in front of the approaching train. The court entered a compulsory non-suit.' Held, not to-be error. *</p> <p>Per Curiam. — Had the plaintiff used his eyes, he could not have failed to see the approaching train, and at a sufficient distance to have avoided the accident. . . . There was neither allegation nor proof that it was unsafe to get off on the side wheré passengers usually alighted, and if, to avoid it, the plaintiff voluntarily got off at a Jenown place of danger, he has no one to blame but himself. ,</p>