Welsh v. Erie & Wyoming Valley Railroad

Citations

• 181 Pa. 461
• 37 A. 513
• 1897 Pa. LEXIS 567

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Evidence—Presumption••</p> <p>A presumption must be based on a fact or facts, and not on a presumption.</p> <p>The law does not presume that the presence of a person upon a railway track is'lawful, but only that a traveler on a highway leading to a railroad track crossing is lawfully upon the track for the purpose of crossing it.</p> <p>In an action against a railroad company to recover damages for the death of plaintiff’s son, it appeared that between nine and ten o’clock at night the deceased was found in a dying condition, lying between the tracks of a railroad a few feet from a street crossing. The railroad company maintained gates at the crossing, and a man to operate them during the day, but not at night. It also maintained three lamps, lighted during the night at the crossing. ' No one saw the deceased on the crossing, and no one saw him struck by a train. Held, (1) that the evidence was not sufficient to connect the railroad company’s negligence, if any, with the injury to the deceased, so as to afford a presumption that the negligence caused the injury; (2) that, therefore, it was error to submit the case to the jury.</p>