Pittsburgh, Cincinnati & St. Louis Railway Co. v. Knutson

Citations

• 69 Ill. 103

Syllabus

<p>1. Evidence—sufficiency to prove ownership or control of a railway train. In a suit against a railway company to recover for an injury inflicted by a train of cars, alleged to have belonged to the company, or operated by it, full and undoubted proof of the fact that the company owned the train, or was operating the same, is not required of the plaintiff. In the absence of positive proof on the subject by the company, it will be sufficient if the plaintiff's evidence is prima facie sufficient to show the fact.</p> <p>2. Negligence—resulting in death to a human being in a public street, by a railway train running at loo great a speed. In a suit against a railway company to recover damages for causing the death of the plaintiff’s intestate through negligence, it appeared that the deceased was struck by the train while attempting to cross the track on a public street in a populous city; that there were a great many tracks at the place, and much switching of trains, and that the deceased at the time was watching for another train a few feet ahead of him to pass, and while so waiting was struck by another train coming from behind, and which was running at the rate of ten miles an hour, in violation of the ordinances of the city. The jury found the defendant guilty: Held, that if the deceased was guilty of negligence it was not gross, but slight, as compared with that of the company; and that it was guilty of gross negligence in running its train at such a speed in a great public thoroughfare, and that the verdict was not unsustained by the evidence. ,</p>