Clark v. K. C., St. L. & N. R. Co.
Clark v. K. C., St. L. & N. R. Co.
Opinion of the Court
The horse wTas turned into a pasture through which the road was operated on Saturday afternoon, and was found on the Monday following standing on three legs twenty-five rods from the track. One hind leg was broken a few inches above the pastern joint. The evidence tended to show there were two or three slight abrasions of the skin on other parts of the horse. No other injuries were observed. No one saw the horse struck by the train, and the several engineers who ran trains over the road during the time aforesaid testified their respective trains, to their knowledge, did not strike any animal; and some of them, at least, testified the train in their charge might strike an animal and they not observe it. The evidence also tended to show that one end of the fractured bone was square, the other oblique, and that, a portion of the bone was missing. There was no evidence tending to show there was any blood or other signs of the horse being struck by a train, nor showing liow the horse got
I. It is assigned as error that the verdict is not supported by the evidence. It was held in Stutsman v. B. & S. W. Ry Co., 53 Iowa, 760, that the character of the injury might be considered by the jury for the puiqiose of determining it had been caused by a train. This evidence would be more persuasive in some cases than in others, depending on the character of the injury. In the present case the jury must have so concluded, and we cannot say it was not. It follows, therefore, there was a conflict in the evidence, and we cannot interfere, although, looking alone at the record before us, we might conclude the preponderance of the evidence was with the defendant.
If the verdict had been for the defendant we should have been better satisfied, but, as the Circuit Court refused to set it aside, Ave cannot, under the established rules, do so.
Affirmed.
Reference
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- Clark v. The K. C., St. L. & N. R. Co.
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