Cagwin v. Chicago & Northwestern Railway Co.
Cagwin v. Chicago & Northwestern Railway Co.
Opinion of the Court
The case was tried upon an agreed statement of facts. It appears that plaintiff’s cattle were •struck and killed upon a highway crossing. For a short distance west of the place of the accident the highway runs parallel with the track and adjoining the right of way. At a -■point not far west of the crossing, both railway and wagon-road pass over a small creek. The railway crosses on a high bridge of two spans. Except in extreme floods there is water under only one span of the railway bridge. The fence along •defendant’s right of way was built up to a point opposite •each abutment, and connected with the abutment by wing fences. There was no fence or barrier across in front of the bridge. One Bratt owned the land immediately north of the bridge, and plaintiff’s cattle were in a pasture which adjoined Bratt’s land on -the north. There was a break in the fence between plaintiff’s pasture and the land of Bratt, and the cattle, escaping through this, walked down under the bridge, and onto the highway, and upon this to the railway crossing, where they were struck and killed by a train on defendant’s road. The bridge was so high that cattle could not get upon the railway at that point. It was a fence within the meaning ■of the statute (Code, section 2055), as this court has heretofore construed it. Hilliard v. Railway Co., 37 Iowa, 442. But plaintiff insists that the right of way should be fenced
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.