Barnett v. Chicago & Alton Railroad
Barnett v. Chicago & Alton Railroad
Opinion of the Court
There was evidence tending to prove all the allegations in the petition, except the one relating to the manner of the refusal by defendant’s servants to permit the plaintiff to take passage on the two trains which passed Mexico on the night he purchased his 'ticket. On this point the evidence of the .plaintiff is, that after the purchase of a round-trip ticket from Mexico to Farber, about 9 o’clock in the evening of March 21, 1894, without any examination of its contents, he remained at the station until the arrival of one of defendant’s passenger trains, between 11 and 12 o’clock of the same evening.
His evidence as to what occurred thereafter, is to wit:
evidence. “Q. What did you then do with reference to getting on that train, if anything? A. I told the conductor I wanted to get on the train to go to Farber; and he asked me where I wanted to go, and I told him, and he said I could not get on that train. Q. y0U show him your ticket? A. Yes, I did. Q. What did he say? A. He said I could not get on that train. Q. Did he examine the conditions of the ticket? A. No, he did not examine it at all. I took out the ticket and showed it to him, and told Mm I had bought a ticket from the agent to go, and he said I could not get'on that train. Then I told him the reason I wanted to go, and he said I could not go under any circumstances. Q. What reason did*452 you give him for wanting to go? A. I said I had got a telegram that my brother was about to die, and he said I could not go under any circumstances; that it mattered not what was going on. Q. What next did you do? A. I waited for the next train. Q. What time did that arrive? A. Along about 1 o’clock — an hour or so apart. Q. Of the next day? A. No, that night. Q. After 12 o’clock? A. Yes, it was after 12 o’clock. Q. It was on the 22nd? A. Yes, sir. Q. Was that a passenger or a freight? A. A passenger train. Q. What did you do with reference to getting on that train, if anything? A. I done just about the same thing that I done on the first train. I presented my ticket and told them that I wanted to go to Farber, that I had my ticket; and he said that he would not take me. Q. -You did not go on that train? A. No sir; no, I did not get on any of them. They would not let me go. Q. Both of these trains to which you have referred were- passenger trains running along the line of the defendant company? A. Yes, sir. Q. Through Mexico to Farber? A. Yes, sir. Q. After you were refused admission to either of said passenger trains what did you next do? A. I waited until 2 o’clock the next day. Q. You waited to go until 2 o’clock the next day? A. Yes, sir. Q. Then what did you do? A. I went down on a passenger train running through the next day at 2 o’clock. Q. You went down the next day? A. Yes, sir. Q. What did you do with reference to paying your fare on that train? A. I paid the money. Q. You paid the money? A. Yes, sir. Q. You did not ride on this ticket which you purchased the evening before? A. No, sir. Q. What did you pay — how much did it cost you — what was your fare? A. I think it was fifty-five cents, I believe. Q. What time, about what time did you arrive in Farber the afternoon of the next day?*453 A. Somewhere after 2 o’clock; 2:20 or 2:30, I do not know exactly. Q. About how far is Farber from Mexico ? A. About twenty miles, I guess. Twenty or twenty-five.”
The painful purpose of his journey gave him no higher right to embark on the cars than he would have had if his object had been a pleasure trip. Neither can the distress and disappointment, occasioned by the frustration of his trip, be considered as changing the nature of the acts of the two conductors in declining to accept the ticket held by him for passage on the trains under their charge. The bare facts attending the transaction between them and the plaintiff being insufficient in law to show a wanton or malicious tort, the right to claim punitive damages thus excluded could not arise upon the superadded disappointment and mental distress occasioned to plaintiff. Newman v. Western Union Tel. Co., 54 Mo. App. 434; Connell v. Western Union Tel. Co., 116 Mo. 34; Trigg v. R’y, 74 Mo. 147; Marshall v. R’y, 78 Mo. 610. Our conclusion is that the verdict and judgment for punitive damages was nnsustained by the evidence in this record. The judgment is therefore reversed and the cause remanded.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.