State ex rel. Welch v. Baltimore & Ohio Railroad

Citations

• 117 Md. 280

Syllabus

<p>Witness: impeachment of — j testimony different from previous statement. Res gestae: discretion of Court. Evidence: shoe worn at time of accident. Negligence-, rail-roadsj trespassers on tracks; lacking engine.</p> <p>A party calling a witness can not be permitted to impeach bis general reputation for truth and veracity. p. 283</p> <p>If a witness had made to the party who calls him, or to the attorney of such party, a statement totally variant from his sworn testimony, and on the faith of which statement he was called, he may be asked if he made such a statement, and if he denies it the proof of such previous statement may be given, not for the purpose of impeaching the witness’s general character, but for the protection of the party calling him. p. 283</p> <p>It is in the discretion of the judge before whom the case is tried to apply the rule. p. 284</p> <p>Where it is desired to offer in evidence a shoe which was worn . by a party killed in a railroad accident, it must first be shown that the shoe was in the same condition as it was when the accident occurred. p. 284</p> <p>Where it is decided to prove by expert witnesses what was the condition of the tracks and switches, etc., where an accident occurred, and how far a person can see looking from the windows of a backing engine with a tender in front of it, the evidence must be confined to the conditions existing at the time of the accident. p. 285</p> <p>For declarations and statements to form part of the res gestae they must not be the result of premeditation or design, but upon the “immediate spur” of the transaction and need not necessarily be spoken at the identical point of time when the principal fact happened, yet must bave been made so soon thereafter as fairly to be a part of the transaction and of the elucidating and explaining it. p. 285</p> <p>After lying some minutes on the tracks where he had been injured by a backing engine, and talking with a witness, a boy was carried some distance to the sta