Moss v. Philadelphia Traction Co.

Citations

• 180 Pa. 389
• 36 A. 865
• 1897 Pa. LEXIS 930

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Street railway — Infant—Speed of ear — Evidence.</p> <p>In an action against a street railway company to recover damages for the death of a child three years and eight months old, run over by a car while playing in the street, it appeared that the child when last seen before the accident was jumping rope and running across the street from one side to the other, at some distance from the crossing. The car stopped almost immediately after the child was struck. No witness called saw the accident. The plaintiff’s case rested upon the allegation that the oar was run at undue speed. Some of the witnesses stated that the car was going fast, but their statements as to the speed of the car were indefinite, and they acknowledged upon cross-examination that their estimates were mere conjectures. There was no evidence of want of care on the part of the motorman, either before or after the child had been seen by him. Held, (1) that no inference of negligence can be drawn from the indefinite statements of witnesses as to the speed of the car which is not repelled by the fact that the movements of the car were under such complete control that it was stopped at once; (2) that it was not error to enter a compulsory nonsuit and to refuse to take it off.</p>