Petrie v. Columbia & Greenville Railroad

Citations

• 29 S.C. 303
• 7 S.E. 515
• 1888 S.C. LEXIS 144

Syllabus

<p>1. In action by an administrator to recover damages for the killing of his intestate by a railroad train, evidence taken at the inquest is incompetent testimony, nor is it made competent by its introduction without objection at a former trial, for a new trial should be conducted as if there had been no previous trial.</p> <p>2. Whether the evidence sTimos the existence of the facts alleged is for the jury. A non-suit can be demanded only when there is no evidence tending to show the material allegations.</p> <p>3. Where the statute requires the whistle of a moving railroad engine to be blown and its bell to be rung, continuously for 500 yards before crossing a highway, a failure to do so is evidence of negligence; and the evidence hero that the death of intestate resulted from such negligence was sufficient to carry the case to the jury.</p> <p>4. The question of contributory negligence is a matter of defence to be passed upon by a jury. It cannot be determined on a motion for non-suit.</p> <p>5. Our statute, which gives a right of action to the administrator of one negligently killed, for the benefit of the wife, husband, parent, and children of the deceased, and which declares that in such action the jury may give such'damages as they may think proportioned to the injury resulting from such death to the parties, c%c., does not exclude an action for the benefit of adult children of the deceased, although such children had no legal claim on their mother for support.</p> <p>6. There was no error on the part of the judge in saying to the jury, that if the deceased went on the track for the purpose of committing suicide, it would be gross negligence, his charge showing that ho only said this by way of illustration and not as excluding other acts from the class of gross negligence.</p> <p>7. The attention of the engineer to the air-pump, not required by any unexpected emergency, is not sufficient excuse for his failure to give the signals required by statute.</p> <p>