Baton v. Hammond Lumber Co.
Baton v. Hammond Lumber Co.
Opinion of the Court
Plaintiff received serious injuries from a log which fell on him from a train of defendant company on the 2nd day of April, 1923. He sues defendant for $10,000.00 based upon various items of damages declared upon in his petition. His demand was rejected.
The accident occurred in the morning alongside the track of a logging road of defendant company. Plaintiff had been in the employ of defendant for some time prior to the occurrence, but on the day of the accident was not in the employ of the company, as it is by him alleged. On the day he was injured, had gone to the commissary department of the company to buy a few articles he needed. In company with one, Simly Hughes, he went to the house of Mattie Hughes which was situated a short distance from the track of this logging road. He had gone there with his companion on a friendly visit. There was a large camp of railroad laborers there or in that vicinity. Plaintiff had been many
The log train had stopped about opposite the Mattie Hughes’ house to take some water. Plaintiff and his companion, Simly, who were in the house at that time, proceeded to walk towards the train. Simly was in the lead. He says, he get next to the train, so close he could have put “his hand on it;” that he looked back, saw plaintiff as near to the train as he was, coming towards him, walking fast, and “right by the train.” He says that the train started to move and that he walked back from the track as he knew it was dangerous to be that close to a train when moving. He says, he then hollered to plaintiff to “look out,” and that instead of plaintiff running back from the track, he ran in the same direction the train was going. He explains that there was only a little mud on the side of the track where they were standing which plaintiff could have easily jumped if he had attempted to get away from the train. Plaintiff admits in his testimony that Simly hollered at him to “look out”. In this respect these witnesses agree. There can be no doubt that plaintiff remained in dangerous proximity to" this moving train, because if he had stepped aside which he could have easily "done, he would have escaped injury as was the case with Simly, his companion.
Anthony Magee, the brakeman on the log train in question, says, plaintiff came up 'close to the train which had started after taking water, and made a motion or attempt to catch it as it was moving on. He says, he told him to get back, that he stepped aside about one foot, still-remaining close to the car. Magee explains he was then on the ground taking- water, and was at a distance of about five feet from plaintiff. He says, after plaintiff had thus stepped aside, he again tried to catch on to another car of that train, and this, after he had- warned him from the top of the car, not to attempt it. He testified, that “time and again” prior thereto, he had told plaintiff that it was against the rules of the company to ride on log trains, with the exception of those of the crew employed to operate trains of that character. Jenks, manager of the log department of the company says that such are the rules of the company. Plaintiff unquestionably knew these rules existed when he thus tried to board the train. The proof shows besides, that for five years prior to the accident he had been working on logging trains as a member of the steel gang. He admits that he had seen where a log had fallen alongside of the track, but disclaims that he knew there was any danger of. logs falling from such trains, and causing damage to persons that might be walking along railroad tracks. In his rebuttal testimony, he says, however, that he was trying to get where Simly, his companion, was, because he did not know what would happen, and he was afraid the log would roll over him. It is therefore plain that plaintiff, when hurt, whs acting in direct violation of the rules of the company, and also with full knowledge of- the danger and risks incidental to the position in which lie placed himself at the time of the accident. Plaintiff said that the logs on that train had not been properly tied or chained, as the rules of prudence and safety required. Defendant made a strenuous effort to prove that they were not. If that be "true, as plaintiff was aware thereof, the greater became his negligence, in thus attempting to board that train under such a perilous situation. In the case of Walker
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.