Murray v. Pennsylvania Railroad

Citations

• 242 Pa. 424
• 89 A. 557
• 1913 Pa. LEXIS 897

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Railroads—Fedestrian—Contributory negligence— Choice of ways — Case for jury.</p> <p>1. If the danger of the way he chooses is imminent, a pedestrian at a grade crossing may be said as a matter of law to be negligent in not .taking a safra1 way which is open to him, but he is under no duty to leave a public highway, if, after he exercises due care, he finds no cause to apprehend danger.</p> <p>2. Plaintiffs husband ivas killed in a grade crossing accident, where defendant maintained four tracks crossing a public highway in a borough; at one side of the crossing the defendant maintained a foot bridge across its tracks and twenty feet above them, which was used by it fo:.1 signals and by pedestrians who chose to use it as a passageway. Wfien deceased reached the crossing it was obstructed by a moving freight train, and he stood several minutes near the tracks and within a few feet of the steps that lead to the overhead bridge before starting to cross; he was struck on the third track by a train running sixty miles an hour through a dense fog and which appiro.iched without signals. Held, the question of defendant’s negligence and the deceased’s contributory negligence were for the jury, and a verdict and judgment for plaintiff was sustained.</p>